Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

After Miltias left, Leotizides immediately said: "Tagru, you must go and inform the rescue forces to rush to the port immediately."

"Yes, Master Commander." Taglu received the order and did not immediately execute it, but asked with some doubt: "Is the Carthaginians too risky? They sent tens of thousands of troops to cross the traffic Mountainous areas with inconvenient and inconvenient food transportation, separated by Serinus and Minoa, wanted to capture Agrigento. Once our reinforcements arrived and let their attempts fall through, these tens of thousands of Carthage might even Without our attack, we will be defeated because the food cannot be supplied in time..."

"Yeah, this Carthage commander Marco really dares to take risks. It seems that he believes in the capabilities of his army." Leotizides looked at the wooden map on the wall, and his eyes flashed with light: "So we The reinforcement must be fast."

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Since the Dionysian army occupied Serinus, half of its port was quickly converted into a humble military port, which not only allowed the ships of the Sicilian fleet to dock and supply, but also could be pushed ashore for maintenance and repair... There is a stable and secure foothold in western Sicily, which provides convenience for its patrol and attack on the western waters.

Now, more than 150 warships of the Sicilian Fleet are docked at the pier, soldiers from the friendly coastal city states on the south coast such as Minoa, Agrigento, Gela, Kamalina, Eknom, and 1,000. A total of 6,000 soldiers of the Dionysian Reserve Corps are boarding the battleship in batches.

In order to be able to transport this support force to the port of Agrigento at one time, Miltias did not even let the fleet soldiers board the crow warship, just to make more warship space.

In this regard, Sekerian expressed his opposition. He believed that the entire fleet cannot be used to transport soldiers. At least half of the warships need to be taken out as escorts. This is a vigilance that a naval commander must have.

Miltiyas retorted: only half of the warships are vacated, which means that half of the soldiers must be transported for the second time. Now the enemy is in an emergency. In case Agrigento is broken because of insufficient strength, this responsibility Who will lose?Moreover, after completing the delivery of troops, the Sicilian fleet must also go to the west to cruise, so there is no delay.

The two sides broke up again.

Seckrian simply boarded the earliest outgoing clipper, and he was not bothered by the sight.

In order to save time, as soon as each warship was loaded with soldiers, it immediately set off, so when Miltias boarded the last-departed flagship and left the port, the entire fleet spread to the east as much as four or five miles, showing a bend The single straight line that is curved, because each ship is fully loaded with soldiers, so the speed of sailing is slow.

Miltias was also anxious about this. He frowned at the soldiers lying on the deck, estimating the time it would take to travel from Serinus to Agrigento at such a speed. I'm afraid it was already afternoon when the transportation was over It is impossible for the fleet to patrol anymore.

At the moment, he hopes to have a stronger northwest wind like the day the Carthage army landed, so that the sailing time can be greatly shortened.

And just as he imagined, he suddenly exclaimed a lookout from above his head: "Attention! Attention! There is hostility in the southeast!!!"

Mirtias was shocked and immediately puzzled: Carthage's warships were all destroyed. Where is the hostility in the sea to the southeast?

While he was confused, the watchman on the mast shouted anxiously again: "The Clippers raised two blue flags! Two blue flags!"

The blue flag means that the Carthage warship is not present, otherwise the Clippers will raise the yellow flag for the first time, but the two blue flags mean that the nearby fleet is a fleet, and the number is equivalent to the Sicilian fleet, regardless of whether it is There is hostility, which poses a considerable threat to the Sicilian fleet.

Miltias was panicked. He grabbed the side of the ship and tried to look southeast, but he could only vaguely see a few small spots on the sea in the distance.

Among the four major fleet commanders, neither Miltias nor Flarios had the experience of independently commanding large-scale naval battles.At the time of the Civil War, Miltias was only a captain of a three-tier paddle warship, and after the establishment of the 4th Fleet, the Military Department had provided Davers with multiple candidates for fleet command, their qualifications and performance The ability and ability are similar, and Davers is difficult to choose.In the end, he chose Miltias because Miltias once served as the captain of the Daveus ship. Daveus had some impressions of him, and this one added points to him.

After becoming the leader of the Fourth Fleet, Mirtias led the fleet to patrol the Adriatic Sea most of the time, fight against pirates, and help the army to transport the weight. The only so-called naval battle was the conquest of Mesapi, Pu When Chetty attacked the Mep United Fleet, he defeated his opponent because he was too weak and had little effort.

Now Miltias may encounter the first sea battle, but the situation is so complicated: the other party is an enemy or a friend, and it is not yet clear, so that he can not suddenly make a decision to face the battle; his own fleet not only has no formation , And each warship is full of soldiers, which slows down the speed and weakens the combat capability; but at this time the entire fleet is located near the sea of ​​Germe, so it is difficult to retreat. As a small town, The small and simple port of Germe cannot accommodate the Sicilian fleet at all.

Under such circumstances, he inevitably panicked. He tried his best to calm down, and then issued the first order: "Raise the flag of Apollo and sound the bugle!"

As the bugle sounded, the golden flag rose to the top of the mast and fluttered against the wind.

The warships in front of the flagship heard the sound of the bugle, saw the flying flags, turned their bows, and moved closer to Miltias' ship.

The slogan of the Apollo Banner is: With the flagship as the center, move closer to it, the distance between the warship and the warship is shortened, which is convenient for command and defense.

Miltias’s thought at this time is: Now the fleet is full of soldiers, which is not conducive to combat, and his flagship is located closer to Serinus. When all the warships approached him, if this strange fleet is really Offensive, then he can lead the fleet back to Serinus.

The Dionysian fleet extends too far over the sea, especially the forward-most warships. The watchman can neither see the flag on the last flagship nor the signal sent by the cruiser cruising on the side and rear. They can only see that the warships in the rear have made tactical maneuvers before they can make corresponding changes. However, the transmission of this kind of news seems a little slow at this critical moment.

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The Clipper that Seckrian took was already a little distance away from the entire fleet because he was the earliest to go. Since he was sitting on the bow after he got on the boat, the crew saw that he was in a bad mood and no one dared to step forward to disturb him , The whole ship is exceptionally quiet.

At this moment, he suddenly froze, touched his ear, and asked the captain who was watching the sea: "Have you heard? It seems that there is a bugle sound."

The captain shook his head blankly and listened for a while, then replied truthfully: "My lord, I didn't hear it."

The captain's words did not reassure Secrian. He stood up, looked at the rear, and then looked up and asked, "What happened to the warship behind?"

After a while, the watchman on the top of the mast replied: "They haven't changed much."

"Sir, you may have heard it wrong," the captain said.

Seckrian was unheard of, and there was an uneasiness in his heart. Perhaps this uneasiness was buried when he learned that Miltias had filled the entire fleet with soldiers without guarding the warships, but now this The feeling became stronger.

He no longer hesitated and said decisively: "Turn around and drive back to see."

The captain complained a little in his heart that he was suspicious, but he did not dare to express his opposition in person. After all, Sectrian was a hero admired by the former naval commander, general, and crew, and his prestige was too high.

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Just as the Dionysian ships turned around and returned, the fleet was also approaching the Sicilian fleet, and many small black spots had appeared in Miltias's field of vision, which made him shocked.

At this moment, he heard the exclaimer of the watchman on the top of the mast: "Two yellow flags! Two yellow flags were raised! It is an enemy! It is an enemy!!!"

The last fluke in Miltias’ heart was smashed, and now the other warships have not come close enough. It is too late to retreat to Serinus. Fortunately, in the process of waiting, he already has a preparation plan: " Blow the bugle, let the warships land on the nearest beach, put down the soldiers, and return to fight!"

Of course, these latter words cannot be expressed in flag words, so his flagship must lead the way and allow other warships to learn from it, so after issuing the order, the flagship went straight to the coast.

The Dionysia Clippers cruising on the southeast side of the fleet did not actually know the coming fleet, but as the opposing ship continued to approach, the formation slowly expanded, the sails lowered, and the oar began to accelerate and slide, this But the standard fleet preparation process before entering the battle is of course the enemy.

It turned out that this fleet did not come from Carthage, but from the Phoenician region of the Eastern Mediterranean.Since the storm destroyed Carthage’s navy, the Carthages completely lost their maritime superiority, and the Dionysian Sicilian fleet was rampant on the sea. Not only did they cut off the links between Carthage and Sicily, but they also began to threaten Carthage’s basics. Sea trade in the city.At this critical moment of life and death, Carthage stepped up the construction of a new warship while thinking of his motherland.