Chapter 490: Battle of the sea near Crotone (II)
Chapter 490: Battle of the sea near Crotone (II)
Furthermore, This would be the first time the Theonian fleet would step out of the sea near Thurii and truly headed for the Mediterranean since its establishment. Thus, Seclian and even the sailors of the whole fleet were very excited, resulting in the trireme’s normal speed being faster than usual.
The whole fleet consisted of 150 corvus ships and 30 penteconter refitted from ordinary transport ships sailed southward in the six-way column. But due to the westward breeze at their departure, the Theonian fleet didn’t put their sails.
Today, Seclian only has one mission, ‘Completely defeat the Syracusan navy!’
Hence when they were in the sea near Krimisa, Seclian ordered the whole fleet to slow down and set up the corvus.
He also ordered them not to rush when they spot enemy scouting ships approaching and allowed them to come and observe.
Once the winter sun rose to the centre of the sky, the Theonian fleet had sailed close to the sea near Crotone. At this moment, the foremost trireme hoisted a yellow flag on its mast, causing Seclian, in the centre of the fleet, to become excited after learning that the Syracusan navy, which has suffered a disastrous defeat, was lured out so easily!
Regardless of the enemy ship’s number, whether they adopt “Periplous” or “Diekplous” tactics, Theonia’s corvus fleet has only one tactic – Starry Night.
“Raise the black and red flags! Sound the salpinx!!” Seclian gave the order without hesitation.
The sailors began wolfing down their prepared rations allowing them to be on their best in the next battle. However, they are now more excited than their anxiety and tension in their first battle. Not only because the last victory gave them confidence but also because the new bill issued by King Davos before their departure added more strength to the sailors who are mostly freemen, “Win the war, and we’ll become Theonia’s preparatory citizens!” became their common goal.
The heavy infantry, on the other hand, was much calmer when they heard the salpinx. They picked up the long shield covering their heads to block the sun, stood up from the deck, and began slowly moving their hands and feet.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In Crotone’s port’s lighthouse, Dionysius stares at the blue sea in the distance with some of his men and Phidias, watching the countless ships rapidly approaching. The naval battle that would affect Dionysius’ next plan, whether they won or lost, was about to begin. Therefore, Dionysius held his hands nervously at this moment.
The Theonian ships at the forefront did not increase their speed to the fastest because after the last naval battle, they had learned from experience that releasing the corvus wouldn’t hit if the ship’s speed were too fast.
However, the Theonian captains felt that the enemy ship rushing towards them was equally not as fast as the last time, ‘Why?’
Unfortunately, they no longer had spare time to think about it as the ships of both sides were already close to each other.
“Bang!…Bang!…” Suddenly, a corvus fell down and firmly nailed itself to the deck of the Syracusan ship.
“HADES!!” The soldiers of the first legion of Theonia shouted the name of Hades as they rushed across the corvus.
At the same time, the enemy ship also sounded “Apollo!!” Then more than 40 Syracusan heavy infantry rushed from the bottom of the ship and immediately filled the deck.
The Theonian captains were taken aback, ‘No wonder the Syracusan ships became slower. It turns out that there was much heavy infantry hiding in the bottom of their ships!’
For Leptines to compete with the enemy fleet, he accepted Dionysius’ advice.
Seclian soon received the news from the penteconter. But despite his surprise, he still believed that with the strength of Theonia’s legionaries, they would win this “land battle on the sea”!
And for the legionaries, apart from their initial surprise, what followed was excitement because cutting down the sailors in the last battle was too easy, so they didn’t feel any accomplishment, whereas this was a real battle!
“Send a squad over there, and the rest follow me!” The platoon captain, Melisander, quickly gave instructions while rushing to the front.
The deck surface of the trireme was not completely paved with wood, with the middle having a huge gap connecting to the bottom cabin. And since the ship’s wideness was only six-seven metres and one side of the deck could only accommodate at most two or three people in parallel. Thus the soldiers fighting on the deck are divided into two.
As the ship swayed up and down with the waves, the soldiers couldn’t ram at each other closely. Therefore, the battle between the heavy infantry on the ship was more of a 1-on-1 and cooperation between two-three men.
Holding a long shield in his left hand, Melisander meets the enemy’s spear. Melisander pressed his whole body to the shield as he slammed it violently at the Syracusan soldier and broke his spear. Although Melisander’s whole body staggered backwards, the comrades behind him quickly supported him up.
Then like a maggot in a tarsal bone, Melisander took advantage of his opponent’s unsteadiness to quickly close up and slammed his long shield again on the other party’s round shield, which revealed an opening.
Afterwards, the short sword of Melisander quickly stabbed out like lightning, only for him to hear a scream as the other party covered his right rib and fell to the deck.
“Throw away your spear and use your kopis! Use your kopis!…” Hearing the enemy shouting anxiously at each other, Melisander thought, ‘It’s too late for you to realise it!’
He then took advantage of the fact that the enemy in front of him had not yet protected himself as Melisander turned to slash the enemy diagonally. But the other party could not dodge on such a narrow deck unless he jumped into the cabin below, so the enemy subconsciously dodged to the left while swinging his kopis and slashing Melisander’s wrist.
But unexpectedly, Melisander’s comrade took the opportunity to slam his long shield violently, causing the enemy to stagger and move backwards.
Melisander then seized the opportunity, turned his wrist and slashed upward. The sharp blade crossed the enemy’s arm, holding the kopis, leaving a deep wound showing the bone and a long stream of blood. His opponent’s grip became powerless as the kopis fell on the deck…
On every two ships connected by a corvus, the heavy infantry on both sides fought fiercely.
Overall, the Theonians have a clear advantage. Although Syracuse sent their elite soldiers, the one they faced was the first legion of Theonia.
The so-called “invincible” first legion not only has the most significant number of veterans but also has the most stringent requirements in the selection of recruits. And even though their training is the most difficult, many young men are still eager to join. At the same time, the soldiers of the first legion of Theonia also have a far richer experience in fighting at sea than their opponent as they had not only trained for more than a month but also carried out actual combat three days ago.
On the other hand, the Syracusan heavy infantry was sent into battle in haste and had not yet adapted to such a way of fighting. Furthermore, it was surprising that they still carried their spears, knowing that long weapons could not make accurate hits without long training on the rough sea.
But the most important is the difference in weapons and equipment. The Corinthian helmets, copper round shields and metal greaves are too heavy for the Syracusan soldiers to keep their balance on a shaking ship. Thus they could not fully utilise their strength and couldn’t compare with the Theonian soldiers, who were more flexible and better at close combat.
Another important thing that made the ship battle different from a land battle was that even if they lost the battle, they could not escape. So they were either captured or jumped into the sea, which forced the Syracusan soldiers to do their best to fend off the Theonian legionaries. In the end, they fought for their lives.
Some Syracusan soldiers used their round shields to fend off their opponent’s attack while risking injury and saw the opportunity to pull their opponent down to the sea together. And Melisander, who killed several Syracusan soldiers one after another, was accidentally pulled into the sea by the enemy.
However, Melisander did not panic after falling into the sea because they had trained in this area. He quickly took off his helmet and flipped his long shield, which surprisingly floated on the sea surface. Besides the bronze ram point on the centre, the long shield was mainly made of wood, and a thin layer of cowhide wrapped the outer part.
Melisander grabbed the long shield with one hand while waving to the legionaries watching him on the ship with ease through buoyancy, “I’m fine, you guys can just keep fighting! Keep fighting!”
On the other hand, the Syracusan soldier who fell into the water with him had cold seawater pouring into his tightly sealed Corinthian helmet, which immediately caused him to suffocate. He panicked and tried to take off his helmet, but he couldn’t unfasten it quickly due to his panic, and the round shield wrapped in a thin sheet of bronze caused his right arm to sink straight down. In addition, the heavy helmet and his greaves made him unable to float to the water surface no matter how hard he kicked with his feet. In the end, he drowned in the sea.
The corvus operator quickly handed out an oar to the floating Melisander and finally climbed onto the ship.
Just as he caught his breath, Melisander heard the lookout on the mainmast shouting, “Oncoming enemy ship! Oncoming enemy ship!” which caused everyone to be shocked.
But even when they saw a ship rushing towards them not far away, they couldn’t move at all since their ship and the enemy ship was still connected.
“Pull up the corvus now!” The captain shouted anxiously to the legionaries on the opposite ship, and Melisander echoed.
Although they managed to pull up the corvus, the enemy ship was only less than 20-metres away from them, and the bronze ram on its bow shone under the reflection of the sunlight on the seawater.
“Front right!” With the captain’s urgent shouting, the helmsman quickly turned the rudder.
The piper was already playing hard and fast when the captain uttered, “Speed up!”
The thranitai, zygitai and thalamitai quickly rowed the wooden oars. However, it takes time for the ship to get moving quickly and what the ship needs now the most is time.
The enemy ship that was rushing through the waves was already close, so when the thranitai saw through the oar-hole that the enemy ship’s ram was dramatically enlarging in their view, causing all of them to flee their seat in panic while shouting, “Run! Run! We are about to get hit!…”