Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 958

[Chapter 296 Lure the enemy]

“Lord Cornerus, it’s already time for dinner, I’m here to disturb you, I’m so sorry!” As soon as Hiros sat down, he immediately apologized.

“It is indeed leisure time for ordinary people. But for the kingdom, now is a special time. For you and me, which day is not busy!” Cornerus laughed and asked: “I hope Lord Ross, is there something important you have come to visit at this time?”

“I just received a letter from Your Majesty, so I came to discuss it with you.” Hiros said sternly.

Cornelus felt anxious and asked urgently, “What happened?”

“His Majesty mentioned in the letter that he has made Eucriris as his immediate messenger.”

Cornelus Hearing this, a heat surged up in my heart: Your Majesty really misses me!

He said in a trembling voice: “Thank you… Thank you for your concern!”

Hiros saw Cornerus suddenly burst into tears, and he understood his feelings in his heart, but as the Minister of Military Affairs, he didn’t make much comments in this regard. , so he coughed dryly and continued: “In addition, Your Majesty also mentioned that all new warships on trial voyages must be allocated to the Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet within this month-”

“All new warships?! In In this month?!” Cornelus was a little surprised, he hesitated: “Up to now, 250 new warships have been built in the kingdom, and the required crew is close to 50,000! There are 100,000 troops, and the existing Third Fleet and Sicilian Fleet also have more than 50,000 people. The supply of military supplies is already very tight! Now it has increased to 200,000 people, which is a huge consumption of food—”

“Cough! Cough! …” A cough suddenly came from the side room next to the hall.

Seeing Hiros turning his head curiously, Cornelus suddenly blushed and said hurriedly, “This… uh… ration supply—”

“The supply of military rations is indeed a big problem!” Hiro said honestly: “But Your Majesty believes that Carthage is powerful 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, please ask Lord Cornerus, together with the other rotating chairmen, to negotiate with the ministers of various departments to reserve enough rations and materials for this unprecedented army of the kingdom to ensure that they will have at least half a year. Fight!”

“Half a year?!” Cornelus looked embarrassed, shook his head and sighed: “It’s hard! It’s hard! Well, at tomorrow’s executive meeting of the kingdom ministers, I will discuss this with everyone. ”

……………………………………

After receiving orders from Davos, Midorades

led the Third Fleet on daily cruises off the coast of Sardinia in an attempt to find a relationship with Carthage. new fleet to fight.

But for a few days, apart from hitting and sinking several Carthaginian merchant ships, there was no sign of the Carthaginian fleet at all, which made the crew of the Third Fleet a little frustrated. After interrogating the captured Carthaginian merchants, they learned that: The new Carthaginian fleet did arrive in Sardinia, but it had not been seen since it entered the port of Saros.

Is the Carthaginian fleet 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 needed a process of familiarization and running-in.

But in this way, Midorades felt a headache: the enemy did not fight, the Third Fleet could not complete the task assigned by His Majesty, and he did not dare to harass the coast of Sardinia with all his strength, because he would be worried that the new fleet would suddenly attack.

This morning, the weather was fine, with a slight southeasterly wind, and slight waves were visible offshore.

The Third Fleet sailed out of the port of Alenia and continued the cruise of the previous days. It went all the way to the south, and just circled from the northern end of Sardinia to the west coast. At this time, a fast ship exploring in front came. , report to Midorades: A dozen or so Carthaginian merchant ships have left the port of St. Ibinia, heading south, at a slower speed.

When Midorades heard this, he was immediately overjoyed: Merchant ships of this size departing from the port of St. Ibinia are generally used to transport precious metal ores. Attacking it can complete the task assigned by His Majesty Davos. At the same time, it is very likely to attract the aid of Carthage’s new fleet.

Midorades immediately ordered a pursuit.

Under his instructions, the Third Fleet deliberately moved closer to the coast as it passed the coast of St. Ibinia, and even sounded the bugle of the attack.

Merchant ships with heavy loads could not outperform warships in speed. It didn’t take long for the Third Fleet to see the Carthaginian fleet not far ahead. In order to attract the rescue of the Carthaginian fleet, Midorad Instead of ordering an immediate attack on him, he trailed behind him.

“There is a signal ahead to turn west!” shouted the watchman on the mast.

Carthage merchant ships flee west?

!

Midorades was stunned for a moment, and then he understood: the Carthaginian merchant ship wanted to use the wind to quickly escape the pursuit of the fleet.

“Follow them!” Midorades gave the order without hesitation.

The flagship raised a new semaphore, and the 3rd Fleet began to sail away from the coast and out to sea.

The color of the sea is gradually becoming darker, and the wind and waves on the sea surface are gradually larger than those near the coast.

A wave came and was split open by the bow of the ship, turning into a string of water droplets, splashing on the deck.

Midorades was agitated by the water mist, and felt a little uneasy in his heart. He turned his head and shouted: “Is there any situation behind

?!

”

Kishin fleet was not fooled?

!

Midorades was a little disappointed, he thought for a while, and then categorically ordered: “Let the First Squadron quickly catch up, sink the merchant ship, and then return!”

“General, do you want to give up the previous plan?!” asked in surprise.

Midorades pondered and said: “The Dionysian Military Law stipulates that the fleet should not go too deep into the open sea. Moreover, from the current situation, the wind and waves in the open sea are stronger than those in the near coast, so don’t forget the lessons of the Sicilian fleet. !” When the

captain heard this, his expression immediately became cautious.

After receiving the semaphore from the flagship, the sailors of the fast warship at the front of the fleet began to speed up the paddle, and the speed of the warship was rapidly increasing.

But at the same time, the speed of the Carthaginian fleet is also accelerating, and the sails are flexibly mobilized, using a “zigzag” route to advance, making the waves an obstacle to fast warships, so although the distance between the two sides is gradually narrowing, but Obviously not in a short time to catch up.

Soon after, Midorades got the bad news that “the fast warship has not caught up with the Carthaginian merchant ship” through the clipper returning from the front, and he was surprised and made up his mind: “Stop the pursuit immediately, the fleet Return to the voyage at full speed!”

“General, they may be about to capture those merchant ships soon!” The captain couldn’t help reminding when he heard this order.

Midorades did not explain immediately, but said firmly again: “Blow the bugle, raise the flag, and execute it immediately!”

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

Midorades felt this, he was different from Cykrian, who was a more cautious However, after he used a strategy to capture Alenia before, his mentality changed a bit, and he wanted to continue to conquer the Phoenician city-state on Sardinia, but he failed and suffered many casualties of fleet infantry, but Diver The King of Sri Lanka did not punish him, but continued to give him his trust, which made him feel guilty and kept alert himself.

At this moment, his decisive termination of the pursuit came from his inner self-examination. He suddenly realized that he was too eager to fight the Carthaginian fleet in the past few days, resulting in an imbalance of mind and ignoring some of the principles of naval warfare that should be followed in peacetime.

The 3rd Fleet’s forward battleship was about to bite the fat of the Carthaginian merchant ship into its mouth, but suddenly got the flag of retreat, both the crew and the captain felt unacceptable, but Commander Midorades The Third Fleet has been around for six or seven years. It has high prestige among the captains and crew members, and is deterred by the Dionysian military law. Although the crew members are dissatisfied, they have to obey.

Because it was just chasing the merchant ships, the Third Fleet did not adopt a combat formation, but formed a long column, placing the three squadrons in the front, middle and rear positions respectively, forming a fleet formation during normal patrols. Lades was located in the center with II Squadron.

As soon as the order came out, the front team soon changed to the back team, and the back team changed to the front team. All the warships turned around one after another and quickly turned to the coast to sail.

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 looking forward to it. On the way, no crew members shouted in unison, and no crew members were excited to speak and sing loudly.

Midorades could understand their feelings, but he didn’t think his order just now was wrong.

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The entire fleet sailed silently, and all they could hear was the sound of the oars beating and the chirping of seagulls hovering over the fleet, which meant that they were approaching the sea.

At this moment, Wang Wangshou on the flagship’s main mast suddenly shouted loudly: “Yellow flag! A yellow flag is raised ahead! The Carthaginian fleet has appeared! They are coming!…”

Wang Wangshou’s shout immediately aroused. There was a commotion among the crew on deck and in the cabin.

Midorades, who had been resting against the mast with his eyes closed, also widened his eyes at the moment: “How many enemies are there

?

”

Dorades stood up suddenly and gave a decisive order: “Blow the attack bugle! Raise the flag of the attack! At the same time, hang the starry flag!”

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