"I'm worried that Tarantum would not save Manduria first, but let us go and rescue Brindisi first! Because Manduria is at least safe now, and with only two thousand soldiers stationed and Brindisi who is far away from Tarantum, it is much more dangerous!" Cappus said worriedly.

"If that's the case, we absolutely cannot agree!" Dracos looked at Davers and said firmly.

"Sir, don't fight back the enemy of Manduria, and go north rashly. Once Manduria is captured, the Mesapis can cut off our transportation line and we will also be in danger of being attacked on both sides. Therefore, it is best to obtain the command of the coalition forces. If not, we must also ensure the autonomy of our Dionysian army!" Phelisius also solemnly suggested.

Davers nodded in agreement.

……………………………………………………………………

After Capps and Drax left, Davers left Phelisius alone.

"How is the preparations made by the troops before the expedition?"

"All the soldiers of the First and Second Legion have returned to the city to stand by, but there are still many soldiers who have not replaced new weapons and equipment." Phelisius said, seeing Davers' expression slightly unhesitant, he hurriedly explained: "It's not that they don't actively replace them, but that there are only three weapons shops in Turiyi and Amendorala. They can't complete the production of tens of thousands of new armor and shields in a few months. Tanning cowhide alone is a time-consuming process, and its number is so large. If it weren't for the large number of cattle and sheep grazing by Lucanian citizens of Niutum and Grummentum, it would take several years to raise cowhide..."

"Since that's the case, it's better to use old equipment in this battle. Ask the soldiers to go to the weapon shop to temporarily exchange their original copper helmets and copper shields." Davers said with a little regret. Suddenly, he remembered something: "I heard that a Corinthian merchant built a large weapon workshop in the handicraft area of ​​Amendolar. I can consider giving him a part of the order, but I don't know if he is willing to accept the conditions for the old to trade in the new."

"The merchant is called Theos, I've talked to him, and he's very happy to accept it."

"Oh, this is a smart man, but unfortunately he is a Gentile." Davers remembered the simple hydraulic forging hammer that the Mathematics Institute has successfully developed, and was considering finding a suitable big business to cooperate with it. As a machine that can greatly save manpower and improve the efficiency of forging copper and iron tools, Davers certainly has to put it in his own hands to use it in order to keep it confidential.

"In addition, I have contacted the Port Civil Vessel Association (this is a non-area official shipping organization proposed by Davers and planned by Marigi. All merchant ships and passenger ships from Dionys are joined by the purpose of maintaining port order, preventing vicious competition, improving industry efficiency, and facilitating cost management). Polydorus also said that at that time, Tarantum's ships will also come to the port to help with transportation, so that we can transport all the soldiers of the two legions to the port of Tarantum at one time. Perhaps our army will be ready to take a boat to Tarantum." Phelis continued with a little excitement.

"How many days will it take for Phelisius, when wars arise in Greek city-states?"

Davers' question made Phelis stunned. He thought Davers wanted to make a comparison, so he said: "From war mobilization to selecting citizens, arranging family affairs, preparing weapons and equipment, organizing troops, and determining team officials... it takes about three or four days, and we only need two days at most."

"What if tens of thousands of people were dispatched?"

"Then the time may be longer, probably six or seven days, but to us Dionia--" Before Phelis could finish his words, Davers waved his hand and said, "Then don't be too anxious, go on the battle in five days."

Phelisius thought he had heard it wrong, Davers leaned forward, stared at Phelisius, and said in a deep voice: "Although Tarantum had often fought with Mesapi in the past, he had never completely ignored the lives of citizens and attacked Mesapi like this time. Do you know why?"

Phelisius is not a fool, not to mention that after more than a year of experience, both administrative experience and vision have improved a lot. He immediately replied: "It's because of us."

"Yes, we!" Davers repeated powerfully: "The rapid and powerful force of our alliance puts pressure on Tarantum. Italy in the south is not too great. It can only accommodate one overlord, and this overlord can only be Dionia! Now Hades has given us help, putting Tarantum in trouble, and we must seize this opportunity."

Davers sneered: "Abide by the covenant and help Tarantum repel the Map coalition, but it is by no means help Tarantum destroy his enemies and consolidate their newly occupied territory!"

Davers was very calm, even cold, and his friendship with Acheta did not affect his decision on politics.

As the deputy of the army, Phelisius assisted Davers for more than two years and knew his leader more than other generals. For example, deliberately delaying the attack caused heavy losses to the citizens of Amendorala, deceiving Cornerus to make himself a lifelong consul, etc. The young consul was not as honest and honest as he showed, but perhaps because of this, he led the mercenaries to this level today, which was something that crude people like him, Capps, Amintas, etc. who only knew how to fight could not do.

Phelisius breathed a sigh of relief and exhaled Davers' enthusiasm and cold expression that had just faced Polydorus from his mind...

"I understand, sir," he said.

…………………………………………………………

In the following days, Davers commissioned Avinogis, the Lausian consul who was still watching the game in Turiyi and tasted delicious food, to try his best to understand the situation of the Brutis to prove whether the words of Sipoulos, the Trina, were true.

During the rest of the time, he carefully read some information collected by Alistilas about Tarantum and Mesapi in his residence. When he had time, he also accompanied his wife Cristoya and his one-year-old son Crotokataks.

Polydorus' mood was getting more and more anxious. He came to Davers or Philicius several times, but they were persuaded to retreat with legitimate reasons. Indeed, more and more soldiers gathered in Turiyi, and it did take a long time to mobilize tens of thousands of soldiers to fight, but the situation in Tarantum was getting worse and worse day by day, and Dionia's army was urgently needed to rescue him.

On the second day after Achita's defeat, Brindisi's clutch returned to Tarantum and informed the Senate: Achita died in battle. The Map coalition forces threw his head into the city, and used thousands of Tarantum soldiers' bodies to build a "corpse mountain" outside the city, intimidating the Brindisi's defenders to open the city and surrender. The people in the city were very panicked. The Map coalition forces waited for a long time, but had no reply, and had already begun to attack the city.

Brindisi asked Tarantum for help urgently, claiming that the enemy had strong troops and few defenders. Moreover, after Brindisi was captured last time, the broken city walls did not have enough time to be completely repaired. If there was no reinforcement, they would probably fall within two or three days.

When the Tarantum Senate was urgently discussing "how to rescue Brindisi", another news came: the Mesapi army besieged Manduria disappeared!

The senators led by Eumacas and Diomeras did not feel relaxed when they heard the news. Although the Mesapi cavalry blockade could not detect the whereabouts of Mesapi's main force, everyone could not think about it and could roughly guess: the biggest possibility of the Mesapi people is to advance eastward and meet with the Puchetti army, Brindisi is in danger!

Although he had received the reward from Turiy, Dionia would send tens of thousands of soldiers to reinforce. However, it would definitely not be possible to reach it in a short period of time. However, Tarantum himself had to send troops to reinforce from the land. Faced with the blockade of tens of thousands of Map coalition forces, the Senate felt that this was simply to die, so he finally decided to transport troops from the sea to reinforce Brindisi so that he could hold on to the rescue of the Tarantum Alliance and Dionia coalition forces.

Tarantum sent 80 large and small warships, including 40 three-layer oar warships, almost all of Tarantum's naval forces, escorting a fleet of 4,000 soldiers to Brindisi.

After the fleet bypassed the "heel" of the Italian Peninsula, it was intercepted by the Map Combined Fleet near the coast of Hodrum, the city-state of Mesapi.

Pucheti's navy is not strong, there is only one harbor city, Barium (now Barium). It would be great to be able to gather six or seven warships. However, the Mesapi people are different. Most of its city-states are port cities. Igratia, Brindisi, Uzhentum, Mesanie and Hodrum are all harbor cities. On the contrary, the largest city-state - Udie is an inland city, located in the center of the Mesapi area and is the capital of the Mesapi Kingdom. Therefore, the Mesapi people's navigation ability is not weak.

, maritime trade was also relatively developed. Later, with the help of the Athenians, they were able to not only make their own three-layer oar warships, but also skillfully use the Greeks' advanced naval combat skills. They also caused a lot of trouble to the Tarantum people at sea. This time, it was the largest naval battle between Tarantum and Mesapi. The Mesapi people gathered all the warships of all city-states, a total of 58, including 25 three-layer oar warships, plus the six Pucheti warships, a total of 64 warships.

One was anxious to reinforce, the other was trying hard to intercept, and the two sides fought fiercely at sea...

Although Mesapi had few warships, he had a brave attack; although Tarantum had many ships, he had to take into account the troops transport fleet behind him, but instead he was frustrated in the attack.

Thank you for not being sad and sad when you part, xjxzp123’s reward! Your support is my greatest motivation for writing!!
Chapter completed!