Chapter 466: Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (V)

Chapter 466: Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (V)

The pace of the Thranitai(rowers at the upper layer of a trireme) changed according to the sound of the pipe: They pulled their arms back, leaned their body backwards, extended their legs and raise the oars; when they thrust their arms forward, they lean their body forward, bent their legs and pushed the oar diagonally into the sea; with a roar from the rowers, the oar made a backward arc…

At the lead of the Thranitai, the whole ship rowed hard with the rowers’ bodies kept leaning forward and backwards that even the leather cushions they were sitting on slid back and forth due to the grease applied underneath.

The low salpinx sound echoed the same rhythm of the pipe.

Seven knots! Eight knots! Nine knots! Ten knots!…the speed of the warship dramatically increased.

As the oncoming waves became denser and denser, they hit the ship’s bow and turned into a spray of water that kept pouring on the deck, causing Xanticles to feel that the whole ship was floating.

“Brothers, hold onto the mast and the corvus, and be careful when standing firm!” Mithridates loudly reminded the ten sailors on deck.

Just as he had just shouted, the sea poured over him and soaked him like a drowned chicken.

At this time, the salpinx was no longer needed as the lead ship’s sudden increase of speed became the signal, and the other ships all began to accelerate one after another.

As the rows of wooden oars batter the angry waves, the ships split the ferocious waves, and the neat salpinx sound coming from the ships was like a powerful condemnation to the invaders. In the face of the fierce Syracusan navy, everyone in the Theonian fleet stared at the enemy with wide-open eyes that were full of rage!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the other hand, even though the people of Theonia on the shore couldn’t properly see the battlefield, they were extremely nervous at this moment as they watched the ships of both sides on the sea approach each other quickly.

At this moment, those familiar and unfamiliar with each other held each other hands tightly, shouting and cheering loudly for their loved ones…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the Theonian ship got closer, the corvus that was swaying above the bow of each ship became visible, puzzling the sailors on the Syracusan ship as they had never seen such a strange thing before.

However, most of them looked down on Theonia’s “rookie” navy, so they thought this resulted from Theonia’s inability to build ships and random alteration. They charged even faster with such a mentality that they had difficulty maintaining their formation but didn’t care because they thought they already had the Theonians in the bag.

In Mithridates’ field of vision, he could see a Syracusan trireme rushing aggressively towards him obliquely, trying to pierce the side of his ship with its bronze ram.

However, his ship couldn’t do any wide evasive manoeuvre as it would be extremely dangerous. After all, a few dozens of metres behind the enemy ship was another ship that would take the opportunity to collide with the hull of Mithridates’ ship, which would be completely exposed if he were to evade. This is the famous Sailing line formation of the Greek navy.

Yet Mithridates just sneered. He didn’t even make any instructions because their helmsman could already make the correct response after this training period.

And sure enough, their ship turned slightly to the right in a quick burst and rushed towards the enemy ship.

Seeing the enemy ship enlarging in his eyes, Mithridates shouted towards the bottom of the deck, “Retract the oars!”

“Retract the oars!” The boatswain echoed.

The rowers immediately pulled back their wooden oars from the oar-holes with panic because of the tension.

At the same time, the ten sailors on the deck had gathered near the foremast. Some of them untied the ropes tying the corvus to the foremast and then pulled it together, while the others turned the pulley and made the base of the corvus turn.

Seeing the Theonian ships coming towards them head-on with a small part of the oars on the right-side were still left outside the oar-holes made the captain of the Syracusan ship happy. Although he failed to hit the hull, breaking the enemy’s oars would also affect the rowing speed of the enemy ship.

With the ship’s close distance from each other, it is now the time for the archers of both sides to play their strength. So when both ships were about to pass each other, the captain tried to go down to the cabin for shelter first. But at this time, he heard a “bang” as the strange device on the Theonian ship fell straight and hit his ship’s deck. It caused the whole warship to shake, and the tremendous force made their ship’s momentum suddenly slow down.

Then the captain heard a shout from the other ship, “Brothers, it’s finally our turn to fight!”

Under the captain’s astonished gaze, dozens of Theonian heavy infantry wearing black armour emerged from the other ship’s cabin and rushed towards their ships through that strange thing.

‘That thing was a small wooden bridge!’ The captain finally understood it, but it was already too late. The few Syracusan sailors on the deck who rushed forward to meet the enemies were no match for these wolf-like Theonian soldiers. Their fate was either stabbed down by the sharp short swords or knocked overboard by the long shields…

Face with the heavy infantry rushing in front of them, the remaining Syracusan sailors and lookouts could only raise their hands in panic. However, the Theonians clearly had no intention of taking them prisoner as they stabbed them to death one after another.

And the captain became so scared that his legs went limp and sat down on the deck.

Then he heard someone say, “He is the captain. We still need him to steer this ship.”

“The helmsman is already enough!” A cold short sword slid across his neck as soon as this was utter, and his blood flowed like water.

Then two soldiers ran to the stern to capture the helmsman while the other soldiers rushed directly into the cabin.

The rowers in the cabin were already panicking as they stood up from the leather mat one after another, trying to escape.

But the soldiers of the first platoon of the first brigade of the first legion of Theonia shouted, “Get back to your seats!” at the same time, they wielded their long shields and short swords and began their killing.

Although there were more than 170 strong men in the cabin, they didn’t have any protection, and they were like a sheet of loose sand as the only thing they wanted was to escape.

Soon, corpses and the groaning and struggling of the wounded littered the cabin, with the whole space stained red with blood.

The remaining rowers were frightened out of their wits that they squatted in the narrow cabin and raised their hands.

“Hurry up and get back to your seat!” At this time, the fierce roaring of the Theonian soldiers came into play.

And the remaining rowers of the Syracusan ship shivered all over and could only sit back on the leather mat.

Xanticles and the platoon captain, Aeneas, looked at each other with a mixture of joy and disbelief in their eyes as this was the first time they had encountered such an easy battle and even captured a trireme so easily!

Although Seclian declared many times that the corvus would change the tactics of naval warfare and bring a glorious victory to Theonia during their training, it was only after experiencing this battle first-hand that Xanticles appreciated the usefulness of this ugly-looking thing called corvus!

‘It’s all thanks to the cleverness of King Davos!’ Xanticles exclaimed in his heart. However, this was not time to sing praises, so he collected his thoughts and whispered to Aeneas, “You should take 30 of our brothers and go back to the ship, while I’ll stay here to watch.”

“Strategos, will 20 soldiers be enough for you?” Aeneas asked with concern.

Xanticles then glanced at the Syracusan rowers, who were still shivering, with contempt and said, “Actually, ten would be enough.”

Aeneas no longer tried to be modest as they all knew the battle had just begun.

Aeneas then led the 30 soldiers to the deck, quickly crossed the corvus and returned to their own ship. On the other hand, the remaining soldiers struggled to pull out the corvus, and the sailors tightened the rope tied to the corvus. They pulled back the small wooden bridge* gripping the foremast to free the Syracusan ship. (the bridge is 1.2 metres wide and 12 metres long with low railings on both sides)

“Turn the rudder and sail towards the coast, else you will die!” Threatened by the shining short sword of the Theonian soldiers, the Syracusan helmsman could only obey.

In the cabin, Xanticles and 15 terrifying soldiers stood in the aisle filled with corpses and blood and roared viciously, “All of you, listen to me! Take up your oars and row obediently! Or else-” As Xanticles said this, he stabbed his short-sword to the side and immediately pierce the chest of a wounded rower who was lying down.

The shrill scream of the rower before he died echoed in the cabin, causing the scared rowers to dare not disobey.

“At…normal…speed…” the piper spoke while gritting his teeth.

As the ship steered crookedly towards the coast, a few soldiers, wearing their striking black armour, stood in the bow, belly and stern to alert the other Theonian ships should they be mistaken for enemies.

While Mithridates’ ship was connected with the enemy ship through the corvus, another Syracusan ship rapidly approached. Although the enemy captain and sailors did not understand why the two ships in front did not separate and kept close to each other after their collision, their rich combat experience and cooperation made them not hesitate to turn their ship around a small corner and prepare to rush towards the most vulnerable flank of Mithridates’ ship.

But not far behind Mithridates’ ship’s left side, another Theonian ship rushed forward.

“Charge!” The captain shouted, causing the piper to play his pipe almost non-stop.

At this moment, the rowers were excited and nervous. And as they frequently leaned forward and backwards, the water splashing on both sides of the ship had not even disappeared before another layer of splashes appeared, forming two while parallel lines…