Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Suddenly, the watchman blinked his eyes, hooked the mast with his right hand and his right foot, his whole body leaned forward, his left hand rested under his forehead, his eyes widened: under the dim sky in the distance, a few black spots appeared on the sea... ...After only a while, this black spot doubled, and after a while...

The wangwang hand was full of excitement, and immediately shouted: "Discover the enemy ship! The fleet of Dionysia is here!!!..."

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The news that "The Second Fleet of Ionian defeated the Iberian Fleet on the North Coast" made Seckley feel relieved. Although as the commander of the Sicilian Fleet, this victory in the naval battle also has a part of his credit, he disdain to go Grab the battle of Flarios.But the Carthage fleet never appeared on the south coast, making him unable to fight it.

At this time, because the land forces were about to attack Serinus, he saw the opportunity, so after consulting with Leotizides, he made a plan: by siege Serinus, lure the Carthage fleet to rescue from the sea , So as to achieve the purpose of decisive battle with it.

In order to ensure the victory of the decisive battle, Secrian also transferred the second fleet stationed in Messina, bringing the fleet of Dionysia’s fleet in Sicily to 600 ships and 485 three-layer paddle warships. This is A huge number, Sectrian firmly believed that the Carthage Navy could not compete with it.

Sekelian sends numerous clippers every day to the south coast of Sicily, and even ventures to the west coast to explore the enemy.

However, for a few days, the Carthage fleet still had no movement, and Leotizides could not sit still, because although the Dionysian army pretended to attack the city of Serinus, it also caused some soldiers to die every day. What's more, under the long-term garrison, the Lili's army is not far away. Although its strength is not too strong, the Iberian army in Palermos makes him worry, not to mention its distance. Not too far away, once several Carthage troops attacked at the same time, the Dionysian army that did not occupy too much strength would be in trouble.Therefore, Leotizides believes that he can no longer wait, and must immediately seize Celinus to enter the western Sicily controlled by Carthage and obtain a foothold.

Seckrian of course objected. His reason is: as long as the Carthage fleet is defeated, the Dionysian navy can gain an absolute advantage at sea, and the coast of western Sicily is under the control of the Dionysian Sicily fleet. The help for land forces will be greater.

He persuaded Leotizides to be patient and wait a little longer.

The two sides could not dispute, but letters from Daveus and the Military Department resolved the dispute between them.

In the letter, Davers asked Leotizides to step up his offensive against western Sicily.For Sectrian, Daphes has higher demands, hoping that he can completely defeat the Carthage navy, cut off the maritime link between Carthage and Sicily, and even threaten the basic city of Carthage.

Therefore, the letter obliged Leotizides to continue to implement the plan to "seduce the Carthage Fleet".

Early this morning, the movement caused by the large-scale build-up of Carthage warships on the sea of ​​Lilithium could not escape the eyes of the Dionysia Clippers survey.

When the news was quickly transmitted back to Agrigento, Seclion was overjoyed and immediately ordered: All warships assembled and ready to go!

Despite some worry, Flarios reminded him: "Master Commander, the weather conditions at sea today are not very good!"

However, Sekerian has always been known for his boldness and courage in combat. Even when he entered middle age, his characteristic has not been reduced, and he finally waited for this opportunity, how could he let it be missed, so he resolutely said: "Cartha Basic people dare to go to sea, why can't we!"

At the beginning of March 14 (379 BC) of the Kingdom of Dionysia, at noon on the third day of the day when Davos led the army, left Turri, and headed north to Latham, the Sicilian fleet of Dionysia was the same The Carthage navy encountered the sea near Serinus.

Under the strange weather of dark clouds, dark skies, but no wind or waves, this is arguably the largest naval battle in the history of Greece.

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After learning that the Dionyan Fleet appeared, Annobas was a bit surprised, but at the same time he was relieved.He stared out of the window, thought for a moment, and quickly made a decision: "The forward warship followed the original route, advancing to meet the enemy; the middle warship moved eastward and spread out as far as possible on the right side of the front; the rear Iberian fleet was tight Follow the front fleet to prevent the Dionysian vessel from breaking through the intercept and attacking the rear fleet.

The reason why Annobas made such a deployment is because according to his understanding of this sea area, although the current is calm, but from the weather, it may be windy and rainy, and there is a high possibility of southwest winds. The Taiji warship must first occupy an advantageous position in order to facilitate later operations.

Sekerian did not think about it for so long. He placed the main first fleet on the side close to the coast, and the third fleet led by Flarios against Carthage's continuously expanding wings.

His idea was to use all his strength to break the frontal enemy and pose a posture to attack the rear rescue Serinus fleet, forcing the formation of Carthage to retract and rescue, which consumed the enemy's physical strength , Can also make Carthage's ship formation chaotic.

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"Flade! Flute! Flute!..." The speed of the sailors pushing the wooden oars was accelerating with the sound of the double-barreled flute. Time after time, the seawater flew over and over again on the suspension bridge erected next to the front mast, and the water was splashing, almost making this 12-meter-long wooden bridge the waveguard of the warship.

Stefakas, he was a sailor of the Dionysian Navy during the Southern Italian War. He is proud that he has experienced all the battles that this new fleet defeated the powerful Siracusa Navy. Now he Already the commander of the second squadron of the First Fleet of Dionia, he is commanding the charge of the ship to be at the forefront of the ship array, and will soon be taken over by Carthage, the most powerful sea hegemony in the Western Mediterranean.

But he was far less excited than the sailors. Instead, he calmly focused on the oncoming Carthage ship. He felt that the speed of the opponent was not very fast, and experienced him immediately realized that the opponent might not be prepared to His battleship collided head-on, but controlled the inertia of the battleship in order to circumvent the front flexibly and avoid being caught by the crow suspension bridge.After all, the unique tactics of the Dionysian Navy is no longer a secret, not to mention that the Carthaginians were still defeated in naval battles, and I am afraid they have been prepared.

"Preparation for volley!" Stefacas ordered decisively and loudly.

The suspension bridge operator at the bow, the sailor in the cabin, and the helmsman at the stern immediately repeated the order, and the crew maintained a high degree of tension and concentration.

The two warships were quickly approaching.

Stefakas looked ahead, judging the best time to act, and suddenly he shouted: "Intercept left!"

The helmsman swings the helm, the sailor's oar on the left reduces the force, and the sailor's oar on the right increases the force, and the battleship quickly draws diagonally to the left front.

This is a very dangerous tactical maneuver. Taking the initiative to expose the waist of the warship to the collision angle of the enemy ship is undoubtedly a taboo for today’s naval battles, even for the Dionysian warship with the crow suspension bridge. Words are also very dangerous, because the distance is too close, and the enemy ship is advancing at high speed. If the crew is not focused enough and the coordination is not good, it is likely that the suspension bridge is too late to put down and the warship has been hit by the other party.

But Stefacas is confident in his crew's skills and tacit cooperation. This confidence comes from the results of rigorous training day after day, year after year.

Even so, the operator of the suspension bridge is still a highly intensive operation: some quickly turn the suspension bridge according to the direction of the enemy ship; others quickly loosen the rope attached to the mast, pulling it while tightening Staring at the rushing enemy ship, shouting... Everyone's face was covered with sweat, and the muscles on his arm protruded from the tension.

Originally, Captain Carthage was ready to deflect the warship to avoid the attack of the opponent's crow suspension bridge, but the crow warship in front suddenly swept horizontally, beyond the expectations of Captain Carthage, he was stunned.

This froze, the warship has rushed out a few meters.

He immediately understood and hurriedly issued an order: let the warship turn to the right.

The Carthage sailors responded quickly, and the rushing warship quickly turned to the right.

But it was a little late. The direction of the Dionysian warship was exactly the same as that of their warship, and the speed was not reduced but increased.

The Crow Suspension Bridge immediately fell, and the 40 fleet infantrymen on the ship immediately rushed out of the cabin and passed through the suspension bridge to kill the enemy ship.

After knowing the combat characteristics of the Dionysian fleet, Annobas was not unprepared. At this time, he let Carthage and the Allies build a large number of daggers for the sailors, because only this light and compact weapon Will not affect their paddling, but also give them a little self-defense counterattack ability.

However, in narrow and long warships, it is impossible to take advantage of the large number of people. Most of these Carthage civilians who have served as sailors have not received regular infantry training, and they are completely unable to match the aggressive infantry of the Dionysian fleet.

In addition to not wearing the heavy infantry standard equipment of the Dionysian Corps, the usual training intensity of these Dionysian infantry is not weaker than that of the Army. Not only do they need to be proficient in dagger assault, shield sword assault, checkerboard array , Javelin and charge, team battle... In addition, they are also investing more energy in two trainings: fast landing operation and long-distance swimming.

Therefore, the Fleet Infantry of the Dionysian Fleet is well-trained. Carthage sailors equipped with daggers, although causing a little trouble to them, soon disintegrated under their violent attacks.