Sekeley tightened his nerve and asked, "My lord, are we going to war?" ”

"War doesn't have to happen, but be prepared. I'm sure you heard the trial in Victory Square, Syracuse has ambitions for us Dionia. Davers was pleased with Sekerian's vigilance against war as an admiral, and looked at Sekrian with a solemn expression: "If there is a war, what are the chances of our entire Great Greek navy against the navy of Upper Syracuse?" ”

Sekelian's face also became nervous and solemn, but he could still keep a clear head, and said fluently: "Crotone can now put together a maximum of 20 three-layer oared warships due to the previous war with Lockley, Siriting can have about ten, Coronia about eight, and Trina has five...... As for these city-states in the Dionian League, the Lijim navy has the most three-layer oared warships, maybe 30, while Heraclia and Metapontum can make up five, Laos has not yet mastered the technology of making three-sculled warships, and Castlon and Elia do not have three-sculled warships, only small and medium-sized warships...... Oh, and Tarantum, I almost forgot about it, it has about 25 three-layer oars......"

Tarantum! This reminded Davers that the relationship between Dionia and it for the past two years was strange, but in the face of a greater threat, Davers decided that he would improve relations with it next.

"If you concentrate the naval forces of all the city-states of Greater Greece, there are about 130 three-decker oared warships, plus small and medium-sized warships...... Probably almost 250 ships. According to the previous information, there are nearly 400 three-layer oared warships in Syracuse, and the total number of warships may exceed 600. However, despite the huge disparity in numbers, it is not impossible for us to fight Syracuse, but—" Sekerian said with a gloomy face, "The point is that these ships of the Great Greek city-states are too scattered and can be easily broken by the enemy. Even if they can be assembled, they will easily lead to separate battles due to lack of training and unified command. ”

Davers pondered for a moment and said, "If all these Great Greek warships have been uniformly trained and have a unified command, do you think this Great Greek Combined Fleet will have a chance to defeat the Syracuse Navy?" ”

How could a newly formed fleet, which had no experience in naval warfare, want to defeat the mighty Syracuse navy? Sekrian was not shocked by Davers's question, but after serious consideration, he said decisively: "I think it is possible!" First of all, the morale of the sailors of the Ionian Navy is very high, and as you know, the quota of the various infantry legionnaires of Dionya is now full, and many freemen who have registered with the registry and some reserve citizens are unwilling to wait in the legionary reserve before becoming sailors, and these young men are eager to establish their merits as soon as possible, shorten their years, become full citizens as soon as possible, and share in the ' Therefore they trained hard, eagerly awaited the outbreak of war, and they were more eager than anyone else to fight and win. ”

Sekrian clenched his fists, as if to cheer himself up, and continued to say loudly: "Secondly, although the Syracuse navy is huge, it has not converged, but is anchored in Syracuse, Agrigento, and Catanay...... Oh, now there's one more Messina, so it's a very time-consuming task for Syracuse to get all the ships together. We can seize the opportunity and quickly break through one or two of its sub-fleets, and we can make a change in the naval strength of both sides......"

Davers stared at the young man. He has brains, ability, and is very energetic, brave in the face of strong enemies, enterprising, and from his previous very methodical analysis, he has thought deeply about naval warfare, and is not limited to the position of commander of a detachment, just training soldiers, cruising, etc., this is a naval talent!

Davers finally made up his mind in his heart, and he said in a deep voice, "You said it well! Our Ionian infantry has always been weak and strong, which led to today's Ionian Alliance. I hope that the Navy will also have this spirit of not being afraid of a strong enemy! ”

"Your Excellency, rest assured, the Dionian Navy will never be worse than the infantry in the future!" Sekrian immediately assured him.

Davers looked at him and said in a deep voice: "Seglian, although you are young, you have always performed very well in training and managing the fleet, and your prestige among the sailors is also very high. Given that Ianelous has now been imprisoned for breaking the law, and that the entire Dionian navy has no commander, it is impossible for this situation to continue like this......"

At this point in Davers's words, Seklian's heart beat violently.

"So, I have decided to propose to the Senate that you take over as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. It is believed that this appointment may be issued tomorrow. ”

When the great happiness fell down as Sekrian had hoped, he was so excited that he didn't know what to say, but only thanked him vigorously: "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir! Thank you—"

"Don't thank me yet, you have to understand that this appointment is not an honor, but a heavy responsibility! If one day there is a war between Dionya and Syracuse, and the long coastline of Dionya will be attacked by the powerful navy of Syracuse, the fleet you lead must do everything possible to defend the land of the alliance from the enemy, and the property of the citizens will not be lost, so you have a great responsibility! Davers said with a serious expression.

Under Davers's gaze, Seklian's expression gradually became resolute: "I understand, my lord! He gave another military salute with great force.

The next day, the Senate voted to appoint Sekrian as commander-in-chief of the navy, along with two bills: first, to incorporate the warships of the Ionian League city-states into the Dionian navy, training and cruising together; The second is to increase the number of three-layer oared warships from the original five per year to 10 per year.

…………………………………

At the Dionysian Theatre in Athens, the famous playwright Aristophanes' new play "The Dionians" is being staged, which tells the story of an alien Dionysian citizen who participates in the Olympia Games. In the play, Aristophanes uses exaggerated banter to portray the image of a Dionian alien citizen who is extremely ignorant of traditional Greek culture and stupid and ridiculous. Since its release, it has been revered by the citizens of Athens, and the theaters in Athens are often full.

For example, when the referee announces the entry of the athlete in the center of the theater, the strangely dressed alien refuses to be naked, and the referee asks him why, and his reply is: "We have a lot of snakes and insects in the mountains, so we must wear good clothes, otherwise we will be bitten off if we accidentally go there."

"Hahaha......" The audience burst into laughter.

"I just love this paragraph, it's ridiculous!" One audience member clutched his stomach and laughed so hard that tears came out.

"The following paragraph is even more ridiculous, I've read it several times!" Another audience member said excitedly.

Hearing a whistle on the field, the actor of the Dionian alien citizen was desperately running, but the referee stopped the game and asked him why he ran into the circle of the runway, and he said innocently: "Our tribesmen have always taken shortcuts when they track their prey, and only in this way can they catch their prey." ”

After the referee told him the rules of the game, he complained: "How stupid these rules are!" No wonder I didn't see you wearing skins and feathers, for you couldn't have caught your prey. ”

……

The audience laughed almost from beginning to end.

In the end, the alien won the race, and the temple priest put a laurel wreath on him, but he threw it on the ground and said angrily: "Our consul has lied to me that these branches are worthless, but he said that there will be a reward for winning the championship!" ”

So he turned to the priest and asked for the golden scepter in his hand.

The greed of the aliens and the wrath of the priests become the finale of the play.

……

The audience stood up and clapped and cheered in one direction.

An old man with a white beard stood up and waved his thanks to the crowd, and he was Aristophanes, the revered playwright of Athens. Despite his age, he sits in the middle of the room as usual when a new work is performed, watching the audience's reaction and thinking about what needs to be improved in his work.

The Ionian is a work he wrote after hearing about the farce that had taken place at the Isthmus a few years earlier. Most Athenians just saw it as a hilarious comedy, and only a few understood the deep meaning of the play.

More and more city-states such as Dioonia in Greater Greece, Syracuse in Sicily, Napoli in Campania, Thessaly and Macedonia in northern Greece began to accept foreign people into Greek society, and began to have an impact on Greece's own traditional culture, which was exactly what Aristophanes, who had been committed to defending the traditional values of Greece, was worried about. He used this ridiculous alien in the play to warn the Athenians, and the Greek world as a whole, to be vigilant, but he himself was not sure how much it would work.

With the support of the slaves, he walked out of the theater and descended along the mountain road, where the crowd of people took the initiative to make way for the venerable old man.

At this moment, there was a burst of cheers ahead.

"What's going on?!" The audience patted each other on the shoulders and asked curiously.

"Win! We won! The fleet led by Conon defeated the Spartan navy at Knidos, and Athens won!! People rushed to tell each other, and some even cried with joy.