ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 473 The Shock of the Syracuse People
After everything was arranged, Fasipesas was still a little worried: "Sir, if it still rains in the next few days..."

"You can rest assured on this question. I specifically asked several old fishermen who have lived here for decades, and they all agreed that it will be sunny from tomorrow on. You see, the rain today is much lighter!" Dionysius looked around at everyone and encouraged: "Everyone, you must seize these two days and build enough siege equipment as soon as possible! Fasipesas, your task is a bit heavy. In order to prevent the siege tower from being damaged by the ground It’s muddy and unable to push to the north gate of Crotone, you have to build at least five strong causeways, can you do it?!”

"General, you have assigned me enough manpower, there is no problem at all!" Fasipesas promised.

"Very good!" Dionysius looked at everyone with confidence: "Everyone, in two days, we will attack Crotone again! After this battle, I will go to the Temple of Apollo in Crotone I’m celebrating your success, don’t let me down!”

The generals swore in unison: "Apollo, we will definitely attack the city of Crotone!"

The atmosphere in the tent was warm, and Dionysius was also affected by it. He smiled and said to Master Phoebe who had been silent all the time: "That Davos dared to proclaim himself king. Didn't Sparta punish him for this?"

You must know that before the Greco-Persian War, Sparta used to be called "liberators", and they also claimed to be liberators because they overthrew tyrants one after another on the Greek mainland and even on the islands in the Aegean Sea. Regimes, such as the descendants of the tyrant Pisistratus in Athens, the Areuada family in Thessaly, etc., so the Greeks once believed that Sparta was extremely hostile to the dictatorship.

Phoebe Das glanced at Dionysius, and slandered: You only know Davos, why don't you look at yourself first? !
Of course, it was impossible for him to answer in this way, but he replied coldly: "Isn't it enough to have Syracuse as a punishment?"

Dionysius laughed.

At this moment, the tent opened and the attendant hurried in and whispered beside Dionysius.

Dionysius's smile suddenly froze on his face, and his expression immediately became extremely ugly. He roared "Ah!" and suddenly kicked over the table next to him, then grabbed the attendant with one hand and shouted angrily: " Where’s Leptinius! Where is this damn bastard?! Tell him to come over here and see me!!”

The attendant was shocked by Dionysius's anger and said with a trembling voice: "My lord... Lord Leptinis... was injured and is... receiving treatment in his camp..."

"Let this coward get out of here immediately! Even if he is dead, bring his body over to me!" Dionysius yelled in a cold tone with unabated anger.

"Yes...yes..." The attendant ran out of the tent in a hurry.

There was silence in the tent, except for Dionysius' rapid breathing and pacing back and forth.

"Did the fleet encounter a setback?" Someone finally asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

Dionysius glanced around and realized that the person speaking was Phoebidas. Only this Spartan dared to speak when Dionysius was angry.

Dionysius looked at him, turned back and sat back on the wooden chair, and exhaled heavily: "It's not just a setback, it's a defeat!"

Big defeat? !Everyone in the tent was shocked.

"My lord, could it be that... the Carthaginians participated in the war?" Fasipessas asked cautiously.

Everyone's hearts tightened: with the strength of Syracuse's navy, only the Carthaginians could rival it in the Western Mediterranean.If Carthage joins the war, Syracuse in Sicily may be in some danger!

Facing more than a dozen pairs of slightly panicked eyes, Dionysius felt even more breathless in his chest: "Don't think too much, Carthage didn't participate in the war, it was Dionia's fleet... defeated our navy alone, let We lost two-thirds of our more than 300 warships, of which nearly 200 triremes were lost..."

What! ! !It was like a pot exploded in the big tent, and everyone could not believe the fact that the Syracuse Navy would be defeated so miserably when faced with the Dionian fleet, which was far weaker than it!

You know, after the disastrous defeat to Carthage in the last naval battle, after several years of construction and accumulation, Syracuse finally managed to reach 500 warships, including more than 300 triremes.This time he went to Magna Graecia. Except for leaving dozens of warships to guard the port of Syracuse, Leptinius all accompanied the expedition. Later, he stationed dozens of warships in Messina to blockade Lisboa. Jim, control the channel.The rest of the warships were personally led by Leptinius, and all participated in this naval battle. As a result, they were defeated, and they were defeated by Dionia, which did not have a warship a few years ago!This is simply...

"Stop arguing!" Dionysius, who was already irritable, was even more upset by the generals' dispute: "What exactly happened in this naval battle will be known later when Leptinius arrives. Now keep quiet!"

As soon as he finished speaking, silence returned to the big tent again.Only this time, the restless and agitated people became everyone in the tent.

With Dionysius's order, Leptinius came very quickly. He stumbled into the tent, knelt on the ground with a plop, and said in a trembling voice: "Sir, my lord, I... I am guilty. !”

Dionysius saw that his head and arms were wrapped in linen, and the blood dyed them red. He looked miserable. A trace of unbearability arose in his heart, and he was soon overwhelmed by anger: "You came at the right time, everyone really wants to know. How did you destroy more than 300 warships!"

There was so much hatred in his sinister voice that Leptinius couldn't help but tremble several times.

Seeing how useless he was, Dionysius became even more angry. He grabbed the iron sheet on the table that had just been picked up by the guard, and threw it violently, hitting Leptinius on the forehead, causing blood to flow immediately. He came out, but he didn't dare to scream.

"Say it!" Dionysius pointed at him and yelled.

"Yes! Yes!..." Leptinius responded repeatedly.

The generals who were originally angry with him now felt that he was a little pitiful, but Phoebidus looked calm.Spartans would be beaten with sticks by their instructors if they were disobedient since childhood. When they grew up, they would be beaten if they failed to pass the training test, and even more if they failed in combat... The Spartans were cruel to their own citizens, and even more cruel to the helots and allied soldiers. Cruel, this kind of stick violence often made other city-states reluctant to approach Sparta, and Spartan citizens had long been accustomed to it.Therefore, Phoebidas even felt in his heart: Generals like this who caused huge losses to the city-state should be hanged and beaten to death.

Leptinius trembled and briefly recounted the entire naval battle.

After listening, Dionysius looked solemn and fell into thinking: "You mean... the Dionysians installed wooden bridges on the warships, which can hook the approaching warships, and then rely on soldiers to board the ships to fight. And won?"

"Yes...yes. Their wooden bridge is very flexible and can rotate in all directions, making it impossible for our warships to attack from behind." Leptinius hurriedly defended.

"Now that we know that the ramming tactic doesn't work, why don't we retreat in time?!" Dionysius yelled angrily.

Leptinius was speechless.

"He wants to capture the new king of Dionia and end this war." Phoebe Das sighed: "So that Daves guessed your thoughts in advance, so he will use his own As bait, lure your warships to attack desperately, thus capturing a large number of your warships, leading to your disastrous defeat... Davos is really an amazing commander!"

Dionysius glared over, but Phoebedas didn't care at all.

Fasipesas discovered a problem from Leptinius's narrative and asked urgently: "General Leptinius, listen to you, there is nothing special about the warships captured by the Dionians." If the damage is huge, won’t they be able to use these warships to deal with us soon?!”

Everyone's face changed.

"Uh... this..." Leptinius didn't know how to answer.

"Hmph! If the Dionians want to expand their fleet, they need so many sailors!" Dionysius's words reminded the generals present: Yes, the three captured in Syracuse There are hundreds of stratified warships. To restore their combat effectiveness, at least thirty to forty thousand sailors are needed.Judging from what is currently known about the territory of the Dionia Alliance, their young and middle-aged people have been invested in the expanded army and navy to cope with the wars occurring in many places. They should not be able to produce such a large number of young and middle-aged manpower.And not everyone can become a qualified sailor immediately. This requires a long period of cooperative training.Experienced helmsmen are not so easy to come by!
The generals relaxed a little.

"Leptines, your failure has caused a lot of trouble to our army!" Dionysius looked angry and asked coldly: "I ask you now, if Dionysus The Asian fleet is coming to attack, do you have the confidence to lead the remaining warships to turn defeat into victory?"

The generals immediately turned their attention to Leptinis again, which made him feel even more nervous and afraid. He subconsciously touched the bandage wrapped around his head with his hand. The wound under the bandage was made by himself with a knife. , to gain some sympathy from his brother.

"Speak quickly!" Dionysius shouted angrily, frightening him and said quickly: "If...if we can lead the Dionysian fleet to the deep sea and slowly deal with them, I...I have a certain degree They must be sure to defeat them. Their warships erected such a large wooden bridge on the foremast, which easily caused the warships to be heavy at the front and light at the stern. Not only... not only was the speed and flexibility poor, but it also encountered wind and waves at sea. It is easier to capsize when it is large, but...if it is offshore -" Leptinius raised his head cautiously and glanced at Dionysius, then lowered his head and lowered his voice and said: "To resist their attack head-on, our fleet may be afraid ...will fail..." At the end of his sentence, his voice completely weakened.

Dionysius was no longer as angry as he was at the beginning. After calming down and thinking, he had to admit that Dionia's novel naval tactics caused a lot of trouble to Syracuse. Anyone who serves as the commander of this fleet will suffer a big loss without knowing it.

(End of this chapter)