At this moment, Dionysius gaze at everyone in the tent, with his eyes finally landed on a man in the corner, “Androstini, explain yourself! The Theonian fleet used such a strange device, and you didn't even know about it, causing our fleet to suffer such a great loss! How do you think your punishment should be?!”
Androstini suddenly became pale. Hipparinus is the chief intelligence officer of Syracuse, while he was just one of the officers that followed the army. In fact, the Theonian fleet was already training their new tactics before the start of the war, and Androstini even remembered the intelligence that had come from Thurii back then, which said that the Theonian fleet was training confidentially in the Crati River. However, neither Dionysius, Hipparinus, nor he paid attention to it. At most, they only cared about the number of triremes Theonia has, who the navarch is, and so on. After all, Syracuse's advantage in naval matters was too great for anyone to put Theonia's insignificant fleet in their sights.
But who would think that Dionysius would lay all the blame for this defeat on him, but Androstini dared not refute as he was neither the tyrant's brother nor his father-in-law.
Androstini could only swear mentally while replying with fear on his face, “Milord, I…I…”
Dionysius waved his hand and said, “Your crime would be investigated carefully after the war ends! Thus from now on, you must collect Theonia's intelligence much more carefully without missing anything! Understood?”
Dionysius hated his brother's incompetence, but he still had to defend him as defending him is equal to defending his dignity. Thus he had to share the blame for the naval defeat subtly.
Although he wasn't punished now, Androstini still complained to himself that it would be challenging to get information now that Thurii and Krimisa are under strict military blockade.
“Leptines, what do you think about the feasibility of installing this wooden bridge of the Theonian ships on our ships?” Dionysius turned his gaze to the navarch, still on his knees.
Everyone present was surprised. After all, that was tantamount to abandoning the naval experience and traditions that Syracuse and even the Greek city-states have proven effective for centuries, just to learn from a new city-state union that had only won one naval battle.
But Dionysius was not a traditionalist. On the contrary, he is a reformer and a realist, evident by his integration and reformation of his army and the advancement of siege technology.
“I…am not sure as we had never trained in this era…” Leptines, on the other hand, was clearly a conservative. He reluctantly said, “And I am afraid that there are some special devices on the Theonian ship as the wooden bridge could turn so flexible. I think…it is impossible to do it in such a short time to use it against the Theonians, and…we would still need time to train with it…”
“Then work on it with the engineers and craftsmen!” Leptines' dim-wittedness made Dionysius angry again, “When the Theonian fleet comes to attack, it still isn't too late to equip our ships with enough soldiers! Didn't the Theonians want to turn a naval battle into a land battle? Then let's have a good battle at sea!”
“But milord…” Leptines warned with caution, “We don't have enough triremes…”
“Stupid!” Dionysius cursed, “Call back the fleet in Messina, and the ones in Syracuse's port as well! Also, send someone to inform Philistus to speed up the construction of new ships. Do you understand?!”
Leptines kept nodding his head like a chicken pecking at grains.
“Leave now and execute my order immediately!” As soon as Dionysius' voice fell, Leptines exited the tent far more quickly than when he entered.
Dionysius didn't even pay attention to this as he knew well in his heart that the Theonian fleet had the upper hand despite these measures.
Sea dominance was crucial for the Syracusans fighting overseas. Once they lost it, it meant that their army’s connection with their mother-state would be cut off. The Syracusan army’s morale fluctuating is just a small matter. But the lack of access to local resources and the inability to control Syracuse's political issue is what scared Dionysius the most. Besides, Davos had already returned with his main force, and now without the encroachment and restraint of the Syracusan fleet, he could lead his army southward at any time, which made Dionysius waver about whether to go-all-out in attacking Crotone.
At this moment, Dionysius forced himself to calm down and said, “Now that our fleet has suffered a defeat, tell me what we should do next?”
“Milord, it is to take Crotone with all our might as discussed before!” Astagoras said without hesitation, “Although we no longer have an advantage at sea, the Theonians could still not withstand our powerful army on land! And as long as we capture Crotone, there will be no more major obstacles to the north and allow us to reach the city of Thurii. So even if the Theonians had more ships, it would still be useless. By then, it would still be up to you to decide whether to fight or make peace!”
“Milord, I also agree with strategos Astagoras' opinion.” Phacipessas seemed to read Dionysius' thought, so he also spoke up, “While Taranto still threatened Thurii in the north, we should seize the time to take Crotone! But if we retreat at this point and allow the Theonians to join up with Crotone, I fear that the number of soldiers that would cause us trouble would be even more!”
“Lord Dionysius.” The Campanian mercenary leader, Enamenus, also stood up and said, “Our soldiers' morale is high more because they all know that Crotone is a wealthy city-state, so if we give up attacking it…”
Everyone in the tent favoured attacking Crotone, which made the scale on Dionysius' mind tip to the side of attack. However, instead of immediately making a decision, he turned his attention to the only person who did not speak and asked, “Phidias, what's your thought?”
The always outspoken Phidias had a rare moment of hesitation. From the perspective of Sparta, a peace talk would be a better choice as it is more favourable for Sparta to maintain the balance between Syracuse and Theonia. However, Phidias was fascinated by Davos' excellent performance that he couldn't stop himself from wanting to defeat this young archon who the Magna Graecians praised. Thus he said, “They all made a good point about attacking Crotone as it would give us the initiative. But more importantly, it will force the Theonians to come to Crotone's rescue before settling the other battlefronts and getting fully prepared, which would ensure our advantage in a decisive battle against Theonia. If you are still worried that the Theonian army would suddenly come while we are attacking the city, then why don't you send a lot of cavalries further north to scout?!”
Dionysius glanced at Phidias, then to the others and laughed, “What is there to worry about?! The Theonians have only won a single naval battle. Do they think they can make us, Syracuse, back down?! No! This will only make us focus more on the land battles!”
Dionysius stood up suddenly, drew his sword, and cut the table. Then he said in a stern tone, “From now on, have all the troops make good use of the time to prepare for the attack. Two days later, we would take the city of Crotone with all our strength!”
“Take Crotone!!!” Everyone shouted simultaneously.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Mother, we are back!”
“We are back!”
With a bang, Cynthia pushed open the door in the inner courtyard.
“Mother, we won the battle! We defeated those horrible enemies! Even though they have many more ships, we still captured them all!” Adoris ran to Cheiristoya excitedly.
Before Cheiristoya could reply, the woman next to her said with a smile, “I am correct, right? You didn't need to worry as Davos…his majesty has the blessing of Hades, so he would definitely win!”
Before her voice fell, Agnes stood up with joy, “I am going to thank Artemis!”
With that, she walked towards Artermis’ statue on the other side of the garden while supporting her stomach.
“Walk slowly and take care of the baby!” Cheiristoya said with concern while Agnes' personal maid rushed up to assist her.
“I thought Agnes is the priestess of Hera?” The woman was slightly surprised.
“Before she came to Thurii, Agnes was the chief priestess of the Temple of Artemis in Rhegium. But during this time, when she had to stay at home because of her pregnancy, she had to pray to the goddess of hunting every day in order to wish Davos' safety. She really had a hard time!” Cheiristoya said emotionally.
“Hello, aunt Andrea.” At this time, Cynthia greeted the woman.
“Cynthia, it's been so long since I saw you. You have now become a big girl.” Andrea happily looked at Cynthia and held her hands.
“Mother, I tell you a secret. When we were celebrating our victory, there was a boy who hugged-”
“Shut up, Adoris! Stop talking nonsense, or else I would beat you up!” Cynthia blushed and threatened loudly.
“Oh, what happened?” Cheiristoya asked with a smile.
But under Cynthia's glare, Adoris did not dare to speak.
