Three Kingdoms Eschatology

"Uh, it's the general. General, in the past two or three days, five or six merchant ships from the Mediterranean Sea have reported to the northern fortress that they encountered pirates shortly after leaving the canal. The pirates not only looted everything on board, but even Seized some ships and crew as hostages and extorted money..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Dian Wei interrupted him and said: "It is enough to summarize these situations and report to the lord of the Governor's Mansion. Although the incident in the Mediterranean Sea is close to the exit of the canal, it is not in the canal area after all. It’s out of my control. Besides, the Mediterranean Sea is so big, I can’t control it even if I think about it, I have dozens of boats and two thousand soldiers, how can I find these pirates in the vast sea?”

The soldier hastily added: "General Qi, these situations have actually been reported to the Governor's Mansion in the form of flying pigeons. But this morning the pirates attacked our northern fortress again."

Dian Wei let out a cry of surprise and stood up.

Chapter 1121 The Mystery of Pirates

"What? Where did such a bold pirate come from? Dare to attack our fortress?" Dian Wei jumped up from the chair and said in shock.

The commanding soldier replied, "Don't worry, general. The pirates didn't lay down the fortress. They just made a tentative attack for an hour and then hurriedly withdrew."

Dian Wei said with a sullen face: "I'm still worried. Prepare the boat! No, the boat is too slow. Prepare the horse! I want to go to the northern fortress to see for myself!"

……

The Northern Fortress is actually the fortress of the Dianwei Canal Garrison at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea.The one at the mouth of the Red Sea is called the Southern Fort, and the one in the middle is called the Central Fort.The northern castle is different from the temporary camp like the southern castle and the central castle.When Dian Wei took over from the troops under Aurelian's command, there was a permanent fortress that had been built for a long time.Dianwei's generals consolidated and expanded on this basis.

At this time, the four doors of the northern fortress that had just been attacked were closed. On the top of the fortress wall, the defenders hid in the watchtower of the arrow tower or behind the stacked wall, nervously watching the movement outside the city, especially the Mediterranean Sea in the northwest. movement.Suddenly, someone exclaimed: "There is movement!"

A commander in charge of guarding the fort hurriedly looked out to the sea outside the fort, but it was a vast sea, not even a sail could be seen.He cursed angrily: "Don't be like soldiers shouting and screaming."

The soldier who shouted before immediately responded: "There is a cavalry team coming from the bank of the canal!" The commander hurriedly ran to the other side to look into the distance, and sure enough a team of cavalry was coming on horseback.But he immediately recognized that the leader was none other than his immediate superior, Si Dianwei.

The commander is a Persian, but he has already mastered Pinyin Chinese very proficiently. When he saw Dian Wei, he first came from the Central Plains to pay homage, and then he reported to Dian Wei...

Just yesterday evening, another merchant ship hid in the mouth of the canal and reported to the northern fort that his fleet had been robbed by pirates.The pirates found that all the merchant ships in the fleet were empty, so they seized two of the merchant ships and kidnapped the people on board, leaving only one merchant ship to go back to raise ransom.

The captain didn't care, because the merchant ship was robbed by pirates, which had happened many times in the past week, and he was used to it.He simply wrote a report and sent it along with other reports to the pigeon lofts in Sicily with regular releases every day.

However, there was a sudden change that night. The crew of the merchant ships who were temporarily accommodated in the fort suddenly attacked and secretly attacked and killed the defenders in the fort in an attempt to steal the city gate and the city wall.

Fortunately, these defenders were highly vigilant and discovered the clues at the first time, and the sound of warning resounded through the entire castle fortress in an instant.The soldiers on duty tried their best to intercept these unknown enemies disguised as shipwrecked merchant crew members, and finally failed to let them open the city gate before the reinforcements arrived.Only a few enemy troops made it to the castle wall, but they were also beheaded by the defenders at the top of the castle before they could drop their ropes.

At the same time, the defenders at the top of the fortress lit up multiple brazier lamps hung on the top of the city with long wooden poles, illuminating the vicinity of the city wall like daylight.They immediately found a large number of unknown armed men carrying crossbows, knives and guns, and shot at these people with various bows and crossbows.The people lying in ambush outside the city waited for a long time. Seeing that there was no movement at the city gate, and more and more defenders gathered at the city head, knowing that the plan had failed, they hurriedly withdrew in the dark.

The commander of the northern fortress didn't know how many people were on the other side, so he didn't dare to pursue rashly, so he could only stick to the castle until dawn.When it was dawn, I went out of the city to search, but found no one, but found a series of footprints extending all the way to the seaside of the river mouth.Thinking that these people came by boat, who else could they be except those pirates who have been making waves recently?

After Dian Wei heard it, he cursed angrily at first, then calmed down and thought about it, there was nothing he could do except to be prepared.In the end, everything had to be decided by Feng Yu.He said to the commander: "From now on, no strangers are allowed to stay in the castle, and second, we must strictly check the passing ships passing through the canal. Third, the number of troops on duty every night must be doubled."

……

In the Governor's Palace in Palermo, Sicily, Feng Yu is convening the generals to discuss matters.The topic, of course, is the recent spate of piracy incidents in the eastern Mediterranean.

Since Alexander recovered Shannan Gaul and pacified the entire Apennine Peninsula.Although the Roman Empire is still in a state of fragmentation, the various separatist forces have been at peace for quite some time.The Mediterranean Sea is also calm.

Including Alexander, these separatist forces yelled at each other to fight and kill each other, shouting something similar to the declaration slogan "Han and thief are not equal".But in fact, no one is willing to take the initiative to attack now.They are either silently accumulating strength or muddling along while they are drunk.Especially those forces that are close to the northern barbarians, those barbarians are already ready to move against the falling apart Rome, in the face of their threat.These rebel forces dare not act rashly, at least half of their energy should be used to guard against those barbarians.

But this band of pirates who didn't know where they came from broke the peace of the Mediterranean Sea. Although they had a lot of influence on many warlords and forces, the province of Sicily had the greatest impact.In addition to the fact that a considerable part of Sicily's economy relies on maritime trade and transportation, the income of the canal area is also closely related to this, which is the most direct real money.If the pirates continue to be so rampant, I am afraid that it will not be long before there will be no ships traveling from the Suez Canal to and from the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

After Dian Qing briefly introduced the situation of the pirates to the generals and officials present.Simmons first said: "It's strange. Since the governor took power in Sicily, he has disintegrated the biggest pirate of the year-the pirate fleet under the Sicilian Mercenary Group. Then, the fleet of General Gan Ning attacked the pirates around Sicily again and again. Encirclement and suppression. After the attempted coup in Rome, the provinces rebelled one after another. Considering their own interests, almost all the rebel forces near the sea attacked pirates mercilessly. So now I can be sure that there will be no pirates in the Mediterranean Sea. Even if there are Sporadic pirates, that is, at most a few broken ships, dozens of thieves, it is impossible to be rampant to such an extent."

Simmons' words were quickly recognized by Gan Ning, and he still clasped his fists to Feng Yu habitually and said, "Your Excellency, what Simmons said is true. So I conclude that this is a pirate in disguise from the navy of a certain rebel force. These Romans are concerned about face, for their reputation, they are too embarrassed to rob publicly, so they pretend to be pirates and rob everywhere."

Chapter 1122 Cyprus

Feng Yu stood up, took two steps back and forth in the lobby, and said: "Actually, I have already thought that these are pirates pretending to be pirates from a certain separatist force in Rome. But I just don't know which force they come from." Careful people You can hear the difference between the words of Feng Yu, Simmons and Gan Ning.The latter asserted that it was the rebel forces, but Feng Yu said it was a certain force.

Gan Ning didn't hear the difference, and shouted: "Who else can there be? We'll line up all the rebel forces who are near the Mediterranean Sea and have fleets. This group of pirates with unknown origins must be from the top few. I see , that Mallor is the most suspicious. He was born in the navy and started his business with the Apennine fleet. Reis and Augustus of Asia Minor recognized a new emperor whom Augustus supported."

Feng Yu shook his head and said, "It can't be them. If they are, why are there no pirates attacking merchant ships in the Western Mediterranean?"

Gan Ning said smartly: "Hey. The western Mediterranean is their own territory, and they also get a lot of income from maritime transportation and trade. How could they eat grass on the side of their nests? These pirates always take place in the east. It's more likely that they did it."

Feng Yu knew that Gan Ning always wanted to fight Mallor's fleet to avenge his shame of losing in the Strait of Messina last time.He smiled and said, "If they really did it, Gan Ning, are you guilty?"

Gan Ning was taken aback and said, "Me? What crime can I have?"

Feng Yu put away his smile and said solemnly: "What crime? The crime of dereliction of duty! Let me ask you, how did your fleet do during the patrol mission from Sicily to the coast of Carthage?"

Gan Ning saw that Feng Yu seemed to be coming for real, his face turned pale, and he quickly explained: "My lord, my fleet is divided into more than ten fleets to patrol the two sides day and night, and the gap between each fleet does not exceed two Ten miles. The soldiers have never slacked off, how could they have neglected their duties."

Feng Yu laughed again: "You didn't neglect your duties, how did Mallor's fleet slip from the west to the east without anyone noticing? And they don't have a supply base in the Eastern Mediterranean, and they need to go back and forth frequently, but you don't have any I found out, do you think you have neglected your duty?"

Feng Yu's words elicited roars of laughter. In fact, before he finished speaking, Gan Ning knew that something had happened to him, his face was already flushed, so he shut up and stopped talking.

Dian Qing said to Feng Yu at this time: "Actually, it is not difficult to find these pirates. Don't they always like to kidnap ships and extort ransom? We can use the opportunity of paying ransom to ambush them with a semi-submersible boat, and then catch all the people on the ransom boat and torture them severely." Torture, if you don’t believe them, they won’t tell you where the lair is.”

Feng Yu nodded and said: "I have thought about this method too. But since the people who do this are so afraid of revealing their identities, they will definitely guard against this. The people who receive the ransom must not know their details and are only controlled by them people. It always takes some time for us to torture these people. If their uplines see that these people and ships do not appear within the specified time, they will be able to detect the abnormal situation and escape. At the same time, the place where the kidnapped ship personnel are detained must also be A temporary location, not their old lair."

The hall fell into silence.After a while, a young man stood up in the corner, and said timidly: "Your Excellency, maybe my method can help you find the lair of these pirates."

Looking around, Feng Yu saw a young man with curly hair.Feng Yu recalled that this person's name was Diophantus, a genius in mathematics and geometry, who was personally recommended by Varo to serve as an aide in the Governor's Mansion.How can such a person find the pirates who come and go without a trace in the vast ocean?Feng Yu asked with a doubtful tone: "Oh? If you really have a way, then you can come forward and talk about it."

Diophantus then asked his attendants to find the charts of the Mediterranean Sea, and asked Feng Yu for a summary of the reports on the pirate robbery.These reports detail where and when each pirate raid occurred.Finally, he took out the compasses, ruler and a charcoal pencil that he carried with him, and explained while sketching.

Most of the military generals in the lobby who were from the army couldn't understand what he said.But it didn't take long for Feng Yu to understand what he meant.Diophantus first calculated the average possible voyage of the pirate fleet for each operation based on the size of the pirate ships and the number of pirates according to the information.Finally, combining the time and location information of each robbery, after a series of complex geometric deduction, he used a compass to draw a circle on the chart: "The pirate's lair is roughly within this range."

Everyone looked around and found that most of an island was enclosed in that circle.And this island is the island of Cyprus, which is only two or three hundred miles away from the coast of the Syrian province and the coast of Asia Minor.It was also the smallest province in the Roman Empire.About two-fifths the size of Sicily.

Dian Qing said in disbelief: "Cyprus? This is a very low-key neutral province. How could it do this? You can really be sure that the pirates are from this city..."

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Feng Yu: "There is no problem with Diophantus' method. Combined with the current situation in Cyprus, they do have a great motivation to do this kind of thing. Fortunately, it is not Aurelian or even Alexander himself. Otherwise I would be in trouble."

……

Dian Wei lived in the northern fortress for a few days, but did not see any merchant ships coming to report any new pirate cases.On this day, he inspected the top of the castle wall as usual, and just boarded a watchtower.The soldier next to him shouted: "Look, there is another ship coming from the sea." The commander on the other side looked around and said, "It's okay, our supply ship is coming."

Sicily will send supplies to the canal area once a week. In addition to food and grass, there are also items such as homing pigeons, arrow crossbow guns, and ballista strings.

But the commander immediately said in surprise: "It's strange, why are there so many ships this time? It's at least three times the usual number!"

Dian Wei also quickly looked towards the sea, and sure enough, there are at least a hundred sails in a mighty sail.In Dian Wei's impression, the Sicilian fleet led by Gan Ning had less than [-] ships in total, which was more than a third of the total.Except for a dozen ships docked at the small pier by the canal, most of these warships did not stop at the mouth of the canal, and went straight to an inland lake connected by the canal, which was a good natural harbor.

Dian Wei then came to the small pier and met Gan Ning head-on.

Chapter 1123 Fishing Confirmation

When Dian Wei saw Gan Ning, he said happily, "Brother Gan Ning, you brought so many ships. The lord must have sent you to search for pirates."

Gan Ning replied: "It is, but it is not. Because my lord has roughly deduced the approximate scope of this so-called pirate with Mr. Xiyi. In fact, my lord thinks that this pirate is probably a counterfeit army from the province of Cyprus." Yes, it is purely for money. Now, the lord sent me to let me confirm that it was indeed done by this force. We will launch an attack on them. But if it is really done by Cyprus, I only rely on my boat Not enough, these warships are not mainly used to fight this battle, but to ensure the safety of this batch of supplies and the canal area."

Dian Wei had just arrived in Rome and knew little about the customs, customs and geography of Rome. He asked suspiciously, "Cyprus? Where is this?"

Gan Ning replied: "It is a small island in the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea, not too far from the coasts of Asia Minor and Syria. But I heard from my lord that their navy is not weak. There was no civil strife in Rome earlier. At that time, it was the location of the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet of the Roman Empire. After the civil strife, when various places were divided, they separated the island of Cyprus with a neutral attitude. The governor of Cyprus and the commander of the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet were father and son. The Eastern Mediterranean Fleet naturally It's in their pocket."

Dian Wei sniffed and replied, "This governor is the same as the Lord's official position in Rome. It is equivalent to the state shepherd in the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains, at least equivalent to a prefect. He started robbery for some money. Making a living is a bit nasty and dirty. Some people still have doubts about this, so they shouldn't be like this. And this is calculated by relying on this kind of "deduction". Divination is about the same. Is it reliable?"

Gan Ning didn't refute Dian Wei's words this time, instead he snorted coldly, and then said to Dian Wei: "Brother Dian, I have the same idea as you. I saw with my own eyes that Xiyi was on the map. This trick is similar to our old-fashioned divination and divination, except that the props are different. But the lord believes in these gods and gods, what can you do?" He spread his hands as he spoke.But he immediately went on to say: "But whether it is accurate or not, we will see the outcome in a few days!"

……

On the eastern Mediterranean Sea, more than two hundred miles away from the mouth of the canal, three merchant ships were galloping in the direction of Achaia in a zigzag shape.Because they were sailing against the wind, they had to zigzag to take advantage of the wind.

The crew on the deck were not as turbulent as the crew of ordinary merchant ships in this sea area, and they were still chatting away while they were busy.There were not even observation posts on the mast.So none of them noticed that seven or eight masts had appeared on the horizon in the distance.

When they found these ships, the seven or eight warships had completely surfaced above the sea level and were speeding towards their merchant ships.Only then did the crew shout and shout, busy adjusting the sails, turning the bow of the ship, and preparing to escape.However, the two rows of oars on the two wings of the seven or eight galley battleships fluttered up and down like huge wings, drawing white waves on both sides of the battleship.The sails of the battleship are also full, and the pattern on the sail is a pattern commonly used by Mediterranean pirates--the black shark pattern.Their speed is completely unmatched by these three merchant ships.So in less than half an hour, the three merchant ships were surrounded by them, and they could no longer escape.

Each of the three merchant ships had a galley warship leaning up, and the gangplank with nail boards fell from the galley boat. With the muffled sound of being nailed into the wood, the gangplank was firmly fixed on the merchant ship.A large group of armed bandits on the galley had already rushed to the deck along the gangplank.

They waved their shining weapons and shouted loudly in proficient Latin.Most of the sailors on the merchant ships were Persians, and only a few of them could understand their words.These merchant sailors were considered obedient. Under the gesture of the pirates with swords and guns, they obediently came out of the cabin and squatted on the deck in two rows.The pirates began disembarking to search for their treasure.This time they harvested a lot, the cabin was filled with silk and spices from the East, and even a lot of hard currency such as silver.

The pirates were all beaming.One of them said to another leader-like person: "Century..." Before finishing a word, the leader glared at him and scolded: "Why don't you have a long memory, your brain was eaten by a dog?"

The man quickly changed his words: "Boss, should we tie up some people and boats this time, and make another big slaughter?"

The leader shook his head and said: "No need. One is that we have gained a lot this time. The other is that the wind is tight these days. It is reported that a large number of warships and warships from the west entered the canal two days ago. I am afraid it is not Come to search for us. So this matter of arresting the boat and tying people will not be done for the time being." Say it, the leader gestured with the dagger in his hand and said: "Drive the people on these two boats to another boat, and leave them Order fresh water and food. Tow the other two merchant ships as trophies."

Soon everyone on the merchant ship was driven into one boat, the other two boats were tied behind the stern of the two galleys, and then the pirate fleet drove away.But none of the pirates noticed something like a bathtub appearing on the sea two or three miles away behind them.These are naturally the semi-submersible ships of the Gan Ning fleet that have been following the merchant ships.

In fact, even if the pirates look for it deliberately, they may not be able to see it.Because at a distance of two or three miles, these hatches, which are less than five feet in diameter above the water, are smaller than the point of a needle.But the watchmen in the hatch of the semi-submersible ship can clearly see these pirate ships and their sailing direction at this distance.

In normal times, the speed of these galleys is more than seven or eight times the speed of a semi-submersible ship sailing in a semi-submerged state.But now the sailors on these galleys are resting, without oars, and sailing against the wind must go in zigzag.And they are full of cargo, especially those heavy silver, which makes the draft of the hull not shallow.This makes it easy for semi-submersibles that walk in a straight line and travel lightly to keep up.

After sailing for a whole day, the soldier standing at the lookout shouted: "There is a large piece of land ahead, and these pirate ships seem to be approaching this land!" The captain of the semi-submersible ship quickly replaced the soldier. , looking out by yourself.Sure enough, the outline of mountains and coasts emerged on the distant sea.The semi-submersible boat followed those galley pirate ships getting closer to the land, and they could already see a large harbor five or six miles ahead.The captain has confirmed from the sea chart that this is the largest seaport in Cyprus -- Pila Port.

Chapter 1124 The Hatulel Family's Difficulties

Canal District, Northern Fortress.Gan Ning and Dian Wei sat in a large hall.He was listening to a report from a casually dressed centurion of the Gan Ning Fleet: "General Qi, our department successfully lured a group of pirates to attack, and successfully tracked them to their lair. It is the port of Pila on Cyprus Island."

Gan Ning and Dian Wei glanced at each other knowingly and said in unison, "It is undoubtedly Cyprus." The fleets of Gan Ning's fleet pretending to be merchant ships and carrying out search and tracking missions returned one after another. The stock proves that the pirate's lair is in the fleet of Pila Port.

"Brother Xingba, what should we do now?" After a brief silence, Dian Wei asked Gan Ning.

"What else can I do, I can only pass a letter to the lord Feige, and let the lord decide what to do next."

Dian Wei winked and said, "My lord, how else can I make a decision? Naturally, we will send troops to attack this Cyprus. Why don't we send a letter to the lord, Fei Ge, to tell the situation, and now go to this small island where some meat is dried and shredded?" Hit it!"

Gan Ning waved his hands again and again, "But my lord just wanted me to confirm whether Cyprus did it, and didn't want me to attack them. What's more, how could I capture Cyprus with so few ships? There was the Roman Eastern Mediterranean Fleet there, known as There are five hundred ships, large and small."

Dian Wei was still trying his best to persuade Gan Ning: "Brother Xingba, think about it. The Lord didn't ask you to attack them, but he didn't expressly forbid you not to attack them. He didn't ask you to attack them, but he also thought You are not strong enough. But in fact, we only need to attack at night. If the enemy is caught off guard, we will wipe out the enemy ships in the port. This Cyprus is an island, and its defense depends entirely on its fleet. Once we take their The fleet is completely wiped out in the port, and if you use threats and lures, they will probably surrender. If you attack at night, your ship and mine will have more than [-] ships, and it is enough to wipe out all the enemy warships in the port ..."

When Gan Ning heard this, he was also moved by Dian Wei's words, but he still hesitated and didn't make up his mind.Seeing this, Dian Wei continued to encourage: "Brother Xingba, if we can solve Cyprus immediately, it would be a great credit. We don't ask for any reward from the lord... Alas, we are too old to return home To enjoy the rest of my life and come all the way here is of course not for this purpose. I just want to show my face in front of those Xiyi generals. You find it useless, my lord has a lot of difference between us and those Xiyi..."

When Gan Ning heard Dian Wei's words, he slapped his thigh and said, "Brother Dian, there's no need to say more. Now we'll finish Cyprus. The journey from here to Cyprus will take two days and one night at most. Let's get ready to go, tomorrow night It's time to reach the Cyprus port of Pila. Then give it a shot!"

……

Late at night, Kornos, the capital of Cyprus.A spacious room in the Governor's Mansion at the end of the main street in the city was still brightly lit.An old man with gray beard, deep eyes, high nose, and curly hair paced back and forth restlessly.This person is Haturel of Cyprus.

The door creaked and was gently pushed open. Hatulel thought it was a servant, but when he was about to reprimand him, he found a young woman with delicate features and a curvaceous figure who came in.He changed his words and said, "So it's Shirley, what are you doing here so late?"

The woman smiled and said, "Father, you know it's so late, why don't you go to bed." It turned out that this woman was Hatulel's daughter Shirley Hatulel.

Hatulel sighed and said: "Naturally, it is because of political affairs. Do you know that August's Black Sea Fleet has already left the Strait of Marmara and is heading south towards us. It is really important for us Cyprus to survive independently. too difficult…"

Speaking of this, the conversation between the father and daughter was temporarily silent for a moment.

Shirley understood the meaning of his father's words very well.Cyprus is the smallest province of the Roman Empire, and the arable farmland on the island is naturally pitiful.It is not on the main route of the Mediterranean Sea, but hangs at the northeast corner of the Mediterranean Sea, almost clinging to the coasts of Asia Minor and Syria.Therefore, it can't get much of the pie in the busy Mediterranean maritime trade, and it can't take much of the money from transportation tariffs.

Before the Roman civil strife fell apart, Cyprus relied on imports of food and other supplies from Asia Minor in the north and Syria in the east. The Eastern Mediterranean Fleet commanded by Haturel Jr., son of Haturel Jr., was also allocated money and food by the consul.

But after the civil strife, the separatist forces in Asia Minor and Syria wanted Cyprus to abandon its neutrality, form an alliance with itself and even become its vassal.Hatulel, who had his own plans, naturally declined, and the two places cut off the business relationship with Hatulel.Now, Hatulel can only ship food and other necessities by sea from other places at a high price.His son's huge fleet now needs Cyprus itself to support.However, it is difficult for Cyprus to support itself, so how can it support a huge fleet.Helpless, the Hatulel family can only rely on the sea to eat the sea, and those who rely on the boat to eat the boat started to make a living by pirates and plunder.But now, Augustus seemed not reconciled. Seeing that the trade blockade was not effective, he directly mobilized the Black Sea Fleet to go south, obviously intending to conquer by force.

Shirley finally broke the silence and said, "Father, if we really can't maintain our current neutral position, then we might as well find a reliable ally."

Hatulel snorted coldly and said, "Allies? They said they were forming an alliance with us in Cyprus, but they didn't really have any good intentions. Look at their conditions and requirements. They are not seeking us to be allies, but to directly become theirs." A vassal. For example, that Augustus wants us to hand over the command of your brother’s fleet to his cronies. Even...even a marriage. The marriage is not his son marrying you, but himself! You say he is quick Isn’t it an intentional humiliation for an old man buried in the earth to marry my young daughter? In addition, one of them supported a puppet new emperor, and the other made himself king. If I ally with them, it would be treason against Rome and the country.”

Shirley continued to say indifferently: "Father, among the Roman heroes, these two are not the only ones. Aurelian in the south and Feng Hu in the west are all possible targets."

Hatulel shook his head and said: "I sent someone to talk to Aurelian earlier. He pretended to be Alexander's spokesperson, claiming that if we want to get Alexander's support as usual, we must obey Emperor Alexander's decree, They must carry out their reforms in Cyprus. In fact, you still need your brother to hand over the military power. I am not unwilling to follow the rhetoric of the Consul. But the future of Alexander himself is uncertain, and Rome has become like this under his rule. How can I pin our fate on him? As for Sicily Feng Hu, he is a little far away from us..."

Chapter 1125

Palermo, Sicily, Doge's Palace.Feng Yu sat in the office of the Governor's Mansion as usual, handling and reviewing various military and political affairs of the province.There are three stacks of documents on the desktop, the thinnest stack on the far left is the urgent documents sent by Fei Ge.In the middle is the document that some important unit pigeon lofts regularly report and summarize the situation, which also includes the news brought by the pigeons released every day by the Beibao pigeon loft in the Canal District.The one on the far right is the pond newspaper that is regularly reported by towns and cities in the province of Sicily.

After Feng Yu finished reading the urgent documents, he picked up one of the letterheads from the middle stack of letters sent by Feige and began to read them.Only halfway through the reading, his expression changed.Feng Yu hastily wrote a few lines on a piece of blank papyrus with a quill pen, then got up and yelled at the attendants outside the room: "Go and tell the dovecote to let the pigeons fly in Beibao, Canal District, and send this letter of mine to you." Take it by order. In addition, prepare some fast boats at the port. I want to go to the canal area myself."

Dian Qing, who was the head of Feng Yu's bodyguard, happened to pass by the garden outside the room, and was shocked when he heard these words.He hurriedly walked to the door of the room and asked: "Why is my lord in such a hurry to go to the canal area? It is thousands of miles from Sicily to the canal area. It is a long journey, and it is too dangerous to go with just a few boats. Even if you have to go, you should go." Bring more warships and warships to protect the safety of the lord."

Unexpectedly, after Feng Yu heard his words, it was useless to object without agreeing, but he began to think deeply.After a long while, he replied: "You reminded me to bring all the remaining ships in Sicily. In addition, two thousand of the most elite infantry were dispatched to accompany the fleet."

Dian Qing opened his mouth in surprise, but in the end he didn't make a sound, turned around and ran out of the house, following Feng Yu's instructions.He originally reminded Feng Yu to bring more ships to ensure safety, but he didn't expect Feng Yu to bring so many troops.

In fact, Feng Yu didn't do this for his own safety, but he thought it might be too late to stop Dian Wei and Gan Ning's self-assertive actions.If things really happen, it will completely disrupt his original plan.It is necessary for him to bring a force to deal with the next possibilities.

……

Late night, Cyprus, Port of Pila.The lights on the shore and the ships moored in the port gradually faded into the night, and the entire port gradually began to sink into dreamland.However, several patrolling fast boats outside the port were vigilantly cruising back and forth.Huge braziers were burning in the open-air cabins of these open-air boats without decks, and the raging flames in the braziers illuminated the lights within ten meters around the boats.

A patrol boat was turning its bow. When changing its course, several sailors on board suddenly heard the whistling sound of arrows coming from the sky, and it was not one or two, but a very dense group of arrows. .Before they had time to react, the sharp arrow clusters cut through the thin leather armor on their bodies and penetrated into their bodies.In an instant, there was no living person on the boat, only an empty boat was left spinning in place with the ups and downs of the waves.

When another patrol boat near this patrol boat noticed something was wrong, the same batch of arrows attacked them, leaving no one alive.Not long after, several patrol boats were killed silently.Not far from them, there were several semi-submersible boats that had just surfaced, and the decks were full of longbowmen.

On the watchtower at the Pyla port lock two sentries were chatting to pass the time.One of them inadvertently turned his head to look towards the sea, while the other was still chattering endlessly.The man looking at the sea suddenly said: "It's strange. Why are those patrol boats still not moving?"

The chattering person also looked over, and sure enough, the lights on the patrol boats seemed to be just swaying on the sea surface, but there was no intention of sailing.The two of them became alert immediately, just when they had the idea of ​​reporting to Shangfeng and pulling the alarm bell.The patrol boats moved again, and the two were relieved.One person said: "It's nothing, maybe they stopped to discuss something."

Another person said: "They seem to have returned to the port, and it seems that they should have returned to the voyage. It's just that they seem to be a little earlier today."

"What's strange about this, maybe they changed the shift. Sigh! It's none of our business, so why bother. Don't talk about us, our upper peak doesn't care about them. Get ready to work, turn the winch to close the gate Open it."

While the two were talking, several patrol boats were getting very close.Seeing that it was their own ship, the soldiers on the watchtowers on the left and right sides of the gate slowly opened the huge gate without saying a word.Only one person on the watchtower on the left asked a lot: "Oh, brothers on the ship, you seem to have come back a bit early today." But no one answered him.

His companion suddenly stammered: "You...look at the back..." He turned his head and looked, only to see layers upon layers of black shadows on the dark night sea.That's a boat!Before he could recover, he heard a scream.His companion had fallen from the watchtower, and he himself suddenly felt as if he had been pushed a few times. There were two severe pains in his body, and then his chest felt cold, and he, who had been shot three arrows in his body, also Weakly slumped to the floor of the watchtower.

The sentinel on the opposite watchtower had the same fate, but before he died, he made a few warning sounds, which attracted the attention of the soldiers patrolling the waterfront in the port.