Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

"Master Cornelius, it's time for dinner now. I'm here to disturb you. I'm so sorry!" Hilos immediately apologized as soon as he sat down.

"It is indeed leisure time for ordinary people. But for the kingdom, it is a special period. And for you and me, which day is not busy!" Cornelius haha ​​smiled and asked: "Hey Lord Los, do you have anything important at this time?"

"I just received a letter from Your Majesty, so I came to you to discuss it." Silos said positively.

Cornelius tightened his mind and asked anxiously, "What happened?"

"Your Majesty mentioned in the letter that he had made Euclis as herald soldier directly under him."

Cornelius heard this, and there was a rush of heat in his heart: Your Majesty is really thinking of me!

He trembled and said, "Thank you... Thank you for your concern!"

Seeing Cornelus' tears suddenly, Silos understood his feelings in his heart, but as the Secretary of the Army, he did not comment much in this regard, so he coughed and continued, "In addition, His Majesty also mentioned By this month, all new warships must be allocated to the Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet within this month—"

"All the new warships?! Within this month?!" Cornelius was a little surprised. He was hesitant: "So far, 250 new warships have been built in the kingdom, and the crew required is close. 50,000 people! Nearly 100,000 troops led by His Majesty, the existing third fleet and Sicilian fleet also have more than 50,000 people, and the supply of military food is already very tight! Now it has increased to 200,000 people, which consumes a huge amount of food what--"

"Cough! Cough!......" A cough suddenly came from the side room next to the hall.

Cornelius saw Silos turning his head curiously, and suddenly blushed old, and said quickly: "This... er... military supplies--"

"The supply of military food is indeed a big problem!" Silostancheng said: "But His Majesty believes that Carthage must be strong and must concentrate all its strength to defeat it. Otherwise, once a long-term stalemate is formed, the consumption of the kingdom will be even greater. It is huge, so in any case, Lord Cornelius, along with the other rotating chairmen, should consult with the ministers of various departments to reserve enough military supplies and supplies for this unprecedented army of the Kingdom, so as to ensure their at least half a year. Fight!"

"Half a year?!" Cornelius was in a difficult face, shaking his head and sighed: "It's difficult! It's difficult! Well, I will discuss the matter with you tomorrow at the Executive Council of the Kingdom."

………………………………………

After receiving orders from Daphes, Midolades led the Third Fleet to cruise the coast of Sardinia daily in an attempt to seek a battle with Carthage's new fleet.

But for a few days, apart from sinking several Carthage merchant ships, they never saw the shadow of the Carthage fleet. This made the crew of the third fleet a little frustrated. After interrogating the captured Carthage merchants, they learned: The new Carthage Fleet did reach Sardinia, but since it entered the port of Sarros, it has never been seen again.

The Carthage fleet is this afraid of the Dionysian fleet?!...The crew of the Third Fleet felt that this possibility was very high: after all, it was a new fleet, and it required a familiar and running-in process.

But in this way, Midolades felt a headache: the enemy did not fight, the third fleet could not complete the mission given by His Majesty, and he did not dare to harass the coast of Sardinia with all his strength, because he would worry that the new fleet would suddenly Struck.

This morning, the weather was clear, with a slight southeast wind, and slight wind and waves were seen offshore.

The third fleet sailed out of the port of Alenia and continued the cruise a few days ago. It headed south, just from the northern end of Sardinia to the west coast. At this time, a fast boat explored in front arrived. To report to Midolades: A dozen Carthage merchant ships exiting the port of St. Iberia are heading south, and the speed is slower.

Upon hearing this, Midolades was immediately overjoyed: Merchant ships of this size departing from the port of St. Iberia are generally used to transport precious metal ores. Attacking it can accomplish the tasks entrusted by His Majesty Davis, At the same time, it is very likely to attract the support of the new Carthage fleet.

Midolades immediately ordered a chase.

Under his direction, the Third Fleet deliberately approached the coast closer to the coast of St. Iberia, and even sounded the offensive bugle.

Merchant ships carrying heavy objects cannot beat the warships in speed. It didn’t take long for the third fleet to see the Carthage fleet not far ahead. In order to attract the rescue of the Carthage fleet, Midolad Si did not order an immediate attack on him, but affixed it behind it.

"There was a signal to turn west in front!" the watchman on the mast shouted loudly.

Carthage merchant ship fleeing west?!Midolades was stunned, and then understood: Carthage Merchants wanted to quickly escape the fleet's pursuit with the help of the wind.

"Keep up with them!" Midolades gave the order without hesitation.

The flagship raised a new semaphore, and the Third Fleet began to sail away from the coast and toward the sea.

The color of the seawater is gradually darkening, and the wind and waves on the sea are gradually larger than those near the coast.

A wave rushed in and was split head-to-head by the ship's head, turning into a string of water droplets and splashing on the deck.

Midolades was agitated by the mist and felt a little uneasy in his heart. He turned his head and shouted, "Is there something behind?!"

The stern watchman responded loudly: "It's the same as before, no movement!"

Carthage's new fleet is not fooled?!Midolades was a bit disappointed. After thinking for a while, he categorically ordered: "Let the first squadron catch up quickly, sink the merchant ship, and return!"

"General, will you abandon your previous plan?" the flagship captain asked a little surprised.

Midolades said thoughtfully: "The Dionysian Military Code stipulates that the fleet should not go too far into the far sea. Moreover, from the current situation, the wind and waves in the far sea are greater than the near coast, don't forget the lessons of the Sicilian fleet !"

The captain immediately became cautious when he heard it.

Receiving the flagship semaphore, the sailors of the fast warship in the front of the fleet began to accelerate the speed of the warship, and the speed of the warship was rapidly increasing.

But at the same time, the speed of the Carthage fleet is also accelerating, and flexibly mobilizing sails, using the "Zigzag" route to advance, making the waves a hindrance to fast warships, so although the distance between the two sides is gradually getting closer, but Obviously, it will not catch up in a short time.

Soon after, Midolades got the bad news that the "fast warship has not caught up with the Carthage Merchant Ship" through the Clippers returning ahead, and was surprised while making up his mind: "Stop chasing immediately, fleet Return at full speed!"

"General, they may soon capture those merchant ships!" The captain could not help reminding him when he heard the order.

Midolades did not immediately explain, but once again firmly said: "Blow the bugle, raise the slogan, and execute immediately!"

After all of this was completed, he said quietly: "Every battle determines the life and death of countless brothers, and greed will blind our reason and make irreparable mistakes..."

Midolades is sentimental. He is different from Seckrian. He was a more cautious person, but after he used a strategy to capture Alenia, his mentality has changed a bit, and he continues to conquer Sardin. The Phoenician city-state on the island of Niah was defeated, and a lot of fleet infantry were killed and injured, but King Davers did not punish him, but continued to give him trust, which made him feel guilty and always alert himself .

At this moment, his decisive termination of the pursuit was from introspection. He suddenly realized that he was too eager to fight the Carthage fleet in the past few days, resulting in an unbalanced mentality and ignoring some principles of naval tactics that he should normally follow.

The third fleet forward warship saw that the fat of the Carthage Merchant Ship was about to bite into his mouth, but he suddenly got the flag of retreat. Both the crew and the captain felt unacceptable, but Midolades commanded The Third Fleet has been around for six or seven years. Among the captains and the crew, the prestige is relatively high, and there is the deterrent of Dionysian military law. The crew have to obey despite their dissatisfaction.

The third fleet did not adopt a battle formation because they were only pursuing commercial ships. Instead, they formed long columns, placing the three squadrons in the front, middle, and rear positions, respectively, to form the formation of the fleet on regular patrol. Lades was in the middle with the second squadron.At this time, the order was issued, and soon the front team changed to the back team, and the back team changed to the front team.

From the discovery of the Carthage merchant ship, to the pursuit, and then to the return, the total duration was less than half an hour, but the crew was initially excited and expecting nothing after a strenuous rush, and the mood quickly turned to loss and returned On the way, no crew member shouted in unison, nor did the crew speak loudly and sing excitedly.

Midolades was able to appreciate their mood, but he did not think he had made the wrong order just now.

The entire fleet was sailing silently, and all that could be heard was the sound of pulping water and the cry of the seagulls hovering above the fleet, which meant that they were close to the sea.

At this moment, the watchman on the flagship main mast suddenly shouted loudly: "Yellow flag! The yellow flag was raised in front! The Carthage fleet appeared! They came!..."

The scream of the watchman immediately stirred up the crew in the deck and cabin.

Midolades, who had been resting on the mast and closed his eyes, also opened his eyes at the moment: "How many enemies are there?"

"Two yellow flags!" Wang Wang shouted: "It should be about the same as ours!"

Midolades stood up suddenly and gave a decisive order: "Blow the offensive bugle! Raise the flag of attack! At the same time hang the starry flag!"