The strict secrecy that Secrean had enforced in the navy had an effect, and the populace knew little about it, except that a handful of people had vaguely heard drunken sailors in the tavern say: "It seems to be called a raven, and it is said to have been designed by King Davos, and it can be used to defeat the enemy......"

"It turned out to be the invention of King Davers!" The people who heard the answer suddenly realized, and they seemed to have a little more confidence in the victory because of their absolute trust in Davers, and did not ask more carefully how to defeat the Syracuse with that device. Of course, even if you ask, the other party can't tell why.

"How to use this strange thing? Was it really designed by my father? Adoris, who was sitting on the slave's shoulder, asked Henipolis next to him curiously.

In the face of this life-and-death battle, Davers's mansion could not maintain the previous peace, not only Cynthia, Adoris, and Little Chloe clamored to see Davers off, but the two ladies were also very moved. But Christoya had just given birth, was weak, and had Eunice to take care of at any moment; Agnes' belly grew and her mobility was impossible, and it was dangerous to be in such a noisy and crowded crowd, so neither of them could come, so they had to entrust Hennipolis with four or five slaves, both sexes, to take care of the three children.

Henipolis, who was carrying little Chloe on his shoulder, was slightly embarrassed when he heard this, because Davers had never told him anything about the Dionian navy, and he coughed dryly twice and said perfunctorily: "Yes, of course it is." ”

The clever Cynthia looked at him with a smile and did not try to expose him.

At this time, the crowd erupted in even greater cheers: a larger, longer and majestic warship sailed in the military port, and unlike the other warships, a statue of Hades was placed on the top of the middle mast of this warship, which was particularly dazzling. At the same time, there was a man standing in the bow of the ship, and unlike the other soldiers, he was dressed in shining silver armor, only the helmet crown was decorated with a distinctive black hat, which hung down to the back, facing the rising sun in the east, and his whole body exuded a dazzling light, like a god.

The cheers of the crowd reached their peak. Yes, they recognized him, for they had just put him into the kingdom, and now that the beloved king of Hades was going to battle to fulfill his promise, he was where their faith depended, where their hope was!

"King Davers, !! Victory" The cheers were higher and higher, mixed with the screams of several children: "Come on, father!" Father Wan Sheng! ”

In the deafening sound, in the face of the crowds of people on both sides of the strait, of course, Davers could not see his child, he just smiled and waved his hand non-stop.

The warship sailed into the sea, and suddenly the sky was wide and the sea was wide, which immediately gave Davers a sense of his own insignificance, but the sound of oars and flutes from the warships that were only a few dozen meters apart enveloped him, making him realize that he was in a large fleet.

He turned his head to look at the shore not far away: the people were along the coast, supporting the old and the young, and kept following the warship......

Davers knew what they were up to, and he took a deep breath to calm himself over the discomfort of being accustomed to fighting on land and suddenly turning to the sea.

And following Davers's ship out to sea was the flagship of Admiral Secolian, who was much more comfortable on the ship than Davers, and he walked from the stern to the bow of the ship, and after inspecting the whole ship again, he came to the middle mast, looked up and shouted, "Did you find it?!" ”

The lookout on the mast immediately replied: "General, there is no news yet." ”

Sekrian clenched his fists, and seeing that Davers's boat ride in front of him might be a little slow due to the large number of people, and his mood seemed to be less anxious, he calmed down and gave the order: "Let the whole army advance at a lower speed than normal!" ”

The normal speed of the three-layer oared warship was about eight knots (i.e., 15 kilometers per hour), and Sekrian considered that the whole fleet was not skilled enough to cooperate for the first time at sea, and the three-layer oared warships merged from the various city-states were different in shape and size, such as the warships of Crotone were lighter and narrower, which was conducive to assault; Lijim's ships were large and heavy, making them easy to defend...... The difference in the size of the three-layer oared warship, which was the main force of naval warfare, would inevitably cause a difference in speed, so Sekrian took a more cautious attitude before engaging the enemy, so as to avoid the disconnection of the fleet in the middle of the march.

To this end, he went on to say: "Raise the banner of Apollo!" "Apollo is the god of the sun, every day driving the cloud chariot shining with golden light, the flag of Apollo that Sekelian said is actually a slender linen cloth dyed golden yellow, it is pulled by ropes to rise to the main mast, facing the sea breeze, beckoning, its meaning is: with the ship as the center, the fleet shrinks inward, and the distance between the ships in the front and rear is about 20 meters.

It was also a cautious attitude of warfare, keeping the entire fleet within the control of Secrean.

"Woo! ......" The extremely long sound of the trumpet echoed over the sea, and the golden flag could be seen by the lookout hand of every warship, and then the whole formation began to slow down and approach each other from the outside inward.

The reduction in the speed of the warships also allowed the people on the shore to barely keep up with the advance speed of the fleet, but the fleet was moving away from the coast, and even if the fleet was shrinking in formation, the Dionian fleet of 150 three-layer oars and other warships, a total of 200 warships, was spread out, and it also occupied an area of five or six nautical miles in a radius of five or six nautical miles, and it sailed towards the south......

………………………………………

Reptines was a little tired of carrying out such raids every day, he was deeply resistant to this brutality of slaughtering civilians, originally he only wanted to lure the Dionian fleet out of the decisive battle in this way, but the Dionian fleet was like a shrunken turtle, hiding in the harbor and not coming out, which made Laptines feel full of strength but nowhere to go.

His elder brother Dionysius, however, became more and more interested in this method of harassment, and it is said that Dionysius received some inside information from Crimesa and Aspraustum that the soldiers in these two cities were becoming strained due to the frequent attacks that had affected the transportation of food to the southern front. Dionysius therefore ordered Reptines to intensify and intensify his attacks on the long stretch of coast from Crimesa to Turiyi, especially against Castron.

It was rainy and muddy for several days in Crotone, and the Syracuse army had difficulty camping, let alone besieging the city. Since he could not attack for the time being, Dionysius used other brains. Yesterday he sent emissaries to Castelón in an attempt to make Castrolón fall to Syracuse. He even considered having Reptines' fleet loaded with tens of thousands of soldiers to devote itself to the destruction of the Dionian heartland, demoralizing its people and reducing the confidence of its allies in Dionia.

At the same time, Dionysius also sent an emissary to Tarantum to discuss whether to send reinforcements so that they could join forces to capture Heraclia as soon as possible and truly invade Dionia's territory from the northeast.

As the commander of the navy, Reptines did not have to think about it so much, he only had to lead the fleet every day to keep an eye on the north while the soldiers and sailors went ashore to rob and prevent a surprise attack by the Dionian fleet, so Reptines let his fleet cruise in the sea far from the landing site, so that he could play the role of not being out of sight and out of mind.

Just as he was dozing in a makeshift tent on the deck, the flagship captain shouted excitedly: "General! Checkmate! Good news! Good news! ”

"What's the good news?" Reptines rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"The clipper came to report that the soldiers who had come ashore to rob had captured a prisoner, and he confessed, 'Their consul Davers has returned, and was elected king yesterday by the people, and the new king has promised to personally lead the Dionian navy into battle today to repel us!' ”

"Davers is going to lead the navy?!" Reptineston perked up: he didn't care what king Dionya chosen, he only cared that the Dionian fleet, which had been hiding in the Klatty River, was finally coming out, and that it was led by his brother, the archon Davers, who had always been a little fearful.

He jumped to his feet: "Where are the captives?!" ”

"The captives have been brought on board, right in the bow!"

Reptines immediately strode to the bow of the ship and saw the seemingly timid and honest Dionian.

The captive trembled in fear, and not only confided all the news he knew, but also begged Reptines to release him and not to sell him into slavery.

Reptines said to him in a happy mood: "If what you confess is true, not only will you not become a slave, but you will also be rewarded by me!" ”

The captive immediately swore aloud to the gods: what he said was true!

Reptines ignored him, turned to the captain and shouted, "Give the signal at once and let the fleet go north!" Send all the clippers out and give me a full search! Whoever discovers Dionia's fleet first will be rewarded handsomely by me! ”

"Yes, General!" The captain was also excited, and after relaying Leptinies' order to the clipper ship close to the flagship, he turned to the cabins below deck and shouted: "Slackers, get moving!" Move it! Piper, with twice the pulp speed! Twice the pulp speed! ”

The sound of the horn and the sudden turn of the flagship, the sudden increase in speed, attracted the attention of the neighboring ships, who immediately made corresponding changes, and quickly transmitted the change from the inside out.

Note: Some readers have questioned that the Greek three-deck slurry warship could not be 60 meters long, but may be 60 feet. According to the archaeological excavation of the port of Piraeus in the city of Athens, the remains of the three-story paddle warship moored there were the largest dimensions of the bottom of the ship alone at 121.5 feet (37 meters), and according to the documents left behind by ancient Athens, Parson, the richest banker in Athens at that time, served as the "patron of the three-layer patron of the patronage of the patron of the patronage of the patronage of the patron As the seat of His Majesty Davers, I should not be exaggerating to slightly increase the length of the ship to 60 meters.