The battle lasted for four hours, and Tarantum eventually lost 15 warships, including four three-layer oar warships and four troop transport ships; the Map Combined Fleet lost twenty-three warships, including seven three-layer oar warships. In the end, the Map Navy took the initiative to retreat, while the Tarantum Navy, who was busy saving the soldiers who fell into the water, had no intention of pursuing it, and just wanted to leave this strange water area as soon as possible, arrive in Brindisi, and complete the reinforcement mission.

Just as the fierce battle at sea, the Map coalition had learned that Tarantum was about to reinforce Brindisi from sea, and despite his fatigue, he launched the largest siege. Twenty thousand Map coalition soldiers carried a ladder and pushed the siege car, attacking Brindisi City one after another...

The Tarantum defenders who had been fighting hard for two days were only a few hundred people left, and they were all supported by the assistance of the free people in the city to support them until today. Faced with the tide of enemies, the free people who lack combat experience became panicked...

………………………………………

The Tarantum Navy arrived at the port of Brindisi and had just put the soldiers ashore. Before they could gather them together, they were in a whole team. Brindisi was captured. The defeated soldiers, free people, and family members ran to the port in panic, trying to find a sail board and leave the occupied city as soon as possible. The soldiers who came to reinforce felt something was wrong and asked to get on the ship again. Everyone rushed to the ship, and then the defeated soldiers and their families cried and shouted for help. The entire port terminal was full of black crowds, and the order was in chaos. Many people fell into the sea while pushing...

Faced with this situation, the navy commander had no idea and allowed his subordinate warships to save people. However, the pursuit of the Map coalition forces caused the people who were eager to escape to push each other and rush to climb onto the ship, which caused the two warships to capsize due to overload.

The navy commander then felt something was wrong and had to urgently order the fleet to leave the dock. During this process, the soldiers and sailors fought, which caused several warships to fail to successfully leave the dock.

At this time, the soldiers of the Map coalition had arrived. They rushed towards the Tarantum people who were trembling with fear like hungry wolves. They killed them with spears and swords and surrendered. The blood quickly dyed the sea surface of the port red...

The soldiers of the Tarantum Navy, sailors, and survivors on the ship could not bear to witness this tragic scene and fled the port in a hurry. Unexpectedly, their disaster was far from over and was soon intercepted by the formerly retreated Maipu United Navy. Although Tarantum ships were numerous, the fleet full of people lost its speed and flexibility, becoming the target of the Maipu Alliance warships.

During the fierce battle, the Tarantum warship was overturned, but the people who fell into the water had no ships to rescue them. The sailors were frightened by the tragic phenomena of the port and were all determined to go home. The two sides changed positions on offense and defense. Recently, the remaining 45 warships and some troop transport ships in Tarantum left the battlefield.

However, the winning Mapp Combined Fleet still kept chasing...

…………………………

On the fourth day after Polydorus asked for help from Dionia, the Mep coalition forces that recaptured Brindisi advanced westward after a brief rest. By the afternoon, they surrounded Manduria again. Tarantum was in panic and sent one envoy to Dioria for help...

Early in the morning of the fifth day, the reinforcements of Dionia finally set off.

It was already early September and the weather began to turn colder in the morning.

First, after the soldiers of the Second Legion said goodbye to their families, they lined up in Victory Square.

After counting the number of people, Commander Davers announced his departure.

The entire army first marched to the northwest of the city, came to the foot of the Hades Temple, and knelt down to pray devoutly.

The bronze bell rings in the temple, and the priest in charge, Presinus led dozens of men and women, the Hades temple priests, sang Hades hymns to the soldiers and blessed them.

If we were in other city-states, we might have to divine good or bad luck before going to war, but Davers canceled this procedure. He believed that war was a major event related to the life and death of the alliance. Victory depends on strength, strict training, and careful planning, rather than on the illusory grace of the gods. He did not want the soldiers to develop this bad habit.

After the prayer ended, the entire army turned east and left the city gate, heading straight to the port of Tuliyi. The soldiers and families who saw him off were lined up on both sides of the road to see off the troops who were going to fight.

What made Polydorus sighed was that few families cried and refused to go to war. While they wished the soldiers safe, they also encouraged them to obtain military achievements. Other people envied the good luck of the soldiers who went to war and said that they would perform better if they went there.

"The Dionians love war!" Bolidorus forgot who said this to him at the beginning, and now it seems different. He couldn't help but look at the commander of the army beside him. The 20-year-old man showed calmness and seriousness above his age: In addition, the Dionians have a warlike commander, so they will have the rise today!

But with the enemy's army approaching, the strength of the Dionian army made Polydorus feel a little relieved, because the Dionian army can be relied on!

Hundreds of cargo ships are densely docked in the port, including Dionia, Tarantum, Metapontum, Heraclia, and even Castron...

Under the guidance of the port managers, the troops entered the various docks in an orderly manner and boarded the ship one by one under the command of the team leader and the team leader, and everything was in order.

The passenger ship Polydorus was the first to leave the dock because he had to return to Tarantum first to inform the Senate and prepare to welcome the reinforcements of Dionia.

Antonios was also with him. He needed to coordinate with Tarantum to enter the port, resettlement, military rations and other matters. Originally, this task should be held by Philicius, but after Davers left Diony, Turiyi still needed someone to guard it in case of an accident. Philicius, the second-ranked army figure, is naturally the most suitable candidate. Philicius could not go there, and the two commanders Capps and Dracos were people who only know how to fight and were not good at socializing. Davers could only let Antonios, the first captain of the First Legion, be responsible for contact. In fact, the second captain Alexis is also a suitable candidate, but Davers felt that compared to Alexis, who was slightly noble, Antonios was more sleeker.

There are also some special personnel of the Dionian Legion on this passenger ship, such as the Legion engineers. Because the Dionian army's station in Tarantum has been determined in advance, the engineer will go to the site first to inspect the terrain, and plan in advance how to build a camp, the size of the camp, the layout of the tent, the width and narrowness of the trench, etc., so that the army can start construction immediately as soon as it arrives at Tarantum.

The soldiers stepped on the shaking deck and placed the dozens of pounds of helmets, linen breastplates, round shields, shin armor, and the javelins in their hands against the side of the ship, then waved goodbye to their relatives and friends on the shore.

Ships after ship, sailing out of the port.

In the morning, the Taranto Bay was blowing strong northeastern wind. All ships put down their sails and drove straight east with the wind. From time to time, waves slapped the hull from the side and back, splashing water, wetting the soldiers' clothes, but they did not affect their interest at all.

"I heard that the Tarantum people are very rich. This time we helped them defeat the indigenous people. Will they give us enough silver coins to thank us for our rescue?!" a recruit said excitedly.

"Follower, do you know how many soldiers we have in Tarantum this time? It's 14,000 people! This is not counting the cavalry brigade, engineering battalion, medical battalion... Even if Tarantum gives us dozens of tarants, except for the ones handed over to the legion fund, how many people can be assigned to each person!" Another soldier warned him disapprovingly: "You might as well kill a few more natives and accumulate more points of military merit to come back so that the alliance can allocate you a few acres of land!"

"When I think about this war, I'm so angry! Their three legions are lucky. They seized Asprostum and captured Grummentum. Why do we always fight?! Isn't it just because most of them are Lucanians? We finally went to fight to rescue the city-states in the south, but before the battle started, the Lokri people asked for peace. Tell me, is this angering! We went to Tarantum this time, and hope that the indigenous people will not learn from the Lokri people, so that we can go there again in vain!" Another soldier's words resonated with the soldiers around us and aroused their worries.

"Don't worry, the Mesapi people are no more than the weak Lockris. I heard that they are very fierce and the Tarantum people have never taken advantage of them. Otherwise, Tarantum would have established several sub-states nearby for such a long time, and this time, Mesapi united with the Pucheti people and defeated Tarantum one after another. The morale is rising. Maybe he is still holding the attempt to destroy Tarantum, so how can he make peace with us?" said a soldier who knew about Tarantum's situation.

"That's great! Only by defeating the Meshapi people can we show the power of our Dionia. We will become heroes and save Tarantum!" A soldier announced loudly, which attracted the excitement of others.

"I heard that Tarantum's women are all good-looking. When we become heroes, can we marry one?" someone said intriguingly, and was immediately pushed by others: "Don't dream, Peciars. Those Tarantum citizens are proud and never look down on people from other city-states in the Great Greek. Do you think they will marry their daughter to us 'farmers' in their eyes!"
Chapter completed!