Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Davos listened to these words, but he didn't take it seriously. During the time he was with Midorads in Ladrum, according to his observation: Midorads was indeed not an extrovert, but he was also an extrovert. A strong person, the reason why he has never made any harsh requirements to the Ministry of Military Affairs in the past, unlike Sekelian who often asks the Ministry of Military Affairs to increase warships, increase manpower, improve port facilities, etc., that is because he may. I don't think I have any outstanding records yet, so I don't have the qualifications to say this, but his performance in this war can be said to be quite amazing, even better than the performance of the Sicilian fleet led by Sekelian. In such a situation His mentality will naturally be different from before, and the mentality of the crew of the Third Fleet will also rise.

At this time, Printols said: Your Majesty, although the Third Fleet has only 150 warships, they can defeat the new Carthaginian team that once guarded Sardinia, and I think they can also win more with less. We can deal with the current Carthaginian fleet independently. And from the performance of the Third Fleet some time ago, they are very good at raiding the enemy on the shore. In this case, we can completely make the Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet one north and south, not under each other. , and at the same time give them the task of blocking the western waters of Sicily, harassing Carthage and allied territories, and annihilating the Carthaginian fleet...

Well... Davos' eyes lit up, and subconsciously tapped the back of the chair with his fingers.

Your Majesty, how can this be done? It's going to be a mess! Let's not say that there will be dissatisfaction with Sekelian. If the two fleets are not affiliated, there will be no coordination. Then it will be messy, such as going to block Sicily at the same time. Western waters, such as raiding the same place at the same time...

This is indeed a problem, but both Cykrian and Midorades are very smart people, and they will consciously coordinate each other's actions. Davers said disapprovingly, and then he raised his volume: Let the Sicilian fleet and the 3rd fleet go their separate ways to accomplish the same tasks and have them compete with each other. I think it's a good idea because competition will force both fleets to reach their potential and give them more Motivation, let them be more active, and that will be a disaster for the Carthaginians!

...I understand. Tormid glanced at Printols and asked, Your Majesty, do you want to tell Cykrian about this?

Davos shook his head and said: The Sicilian fleet was humiliated before, and Sekelian was inspired to decide to carry out this raid mission. Now he needs more patience and careful preparation. Tell him at this time, I am afraid of him. I'll be out of balance, and I'll tell him after he successfully returns.

Yes.

Davos readily agreed that the two fleets would compete with each other, and there was another important reason that he did not disclose: in the army, no high-ranking general could dominate. Tas, Hiros, and Capos are not bad either. The most important thing is that no one can shake his own position in the army.

But for the navy, Cykrian's prestige is too high, and Davos can't personally command the navy, so in the past, Cykrian was unequivocal in the navy, although Davos took some measures, such as building four fleets, no navy Commander-in-chief... But during the war, he still had to rely on Cykrian, and now a Midoradus has finally come out with outstanding abilities, of course he has to give support, which is conducive to the decentralization of the navy.

So he continued: Although the Ninth Legion cannot come to Sicily, Plesius has already captured the main city of Syracuse, and the Seventh and Eighth Legions have no mission for the time being, so they can follow the The three legions are operating on the north coast, and the Carthaginians must not know the news. The Phoenician city-state on the north coast should have relatively empty defenses, so it is possible to seize this opportunity to give the Carthaginian army a sudden blow. As for the specific attack target , let Prosus and Midorades discuss and decide.

Thormid and Plintos nodded in agreement.

How is the situation of the various units now? Davos asked again.

Because there are a lot of recruits in each legion now, and there are also those Roman soldiers who joined the legion, they are training these days to integrate these recruits into the legion as soon as possible... Tormide said.

Let them hurry up a little more, it may not be long before they will be on the battlefield.

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At dusk, Cykrian received an order from Davos to agree to his raid, and he quickly issued an order to let all the crew go to bed as soon as possible to ensure sufficient physical strength for the second day's adventure.

However, he negotiated with several old sailors of Serinus to determine the route of the voyage, and together with the three squadron commanders and the Sicilian fleet infantry commander, according to the situation disclosed by the Phoenician prisoners from the Eastern Mediterranean, The discussion on how to attack Hadrummentum City was busy until late at night.

On the second day, before dawn, the port of Serinus was lively.

The crew got up early, washed, dressed, and had breakfast. Then, under the leadership of the bosun, they came to the warship dock where they belonged. Everyone worked together to drag the warship into the water, then boarded the ship, and took their place. What they received was a group of 40 fleet infantrymen who had already assembled, and quickly went up to the deck of the crow warship.

When all of this was in place, the sea level just showed a ray of light.

Sekelian strode onto the flagship, and the captain greeted him with a look of joy: My lord, blessed by Poseidon, there is a slight north wind now!

Okay, this is a good omen! Seklian also smiled, took the big wooden cup from the captain's hand, walked to the side of the ship, prayed and thanked Poseidon, and solemnly put the wine in the wooden cup. dumped in the sea.

Let's go, he said.

The flagship raised the green flag, but did not sound the bugle, for fear of disturbing the Carthaginian army outside the city of Serinus and causing them to be alert, so they went to inform the fleet of the city of Carthage.

But the captains of each warship kept an eye on the flagship, ready to set off as soon as they saw the semaphore.

The squadron led by Stepakas was the first to leave the port. When he was raided by the Carthaginian fleet last time, Stepakas behaved calmly and finally managed to save more than half of the warships, so Sekelian was still at ease. The heavy responsibility of being a pioneer was entrusted to him because of his steadiness.

Stefankas's ship sailed at the head of the team, and two old sailors of Serinus sat on the deck. In this era without a compass, it is more difficult to identify the direction in the vast sea, especially in the At night, experienced sailors are good at observing the stars in the night sky to identify the direction, but now the sky is just bright, the stars are still visible in the gray sky, and the sun on the horizon is used as a sign, so it is easier to grasp the heading.

All the warships of the Sicilian fleet had their sails hoisted and headed south by the north wind.

More than two hours later, the lookout on the ship's main mast shouted Stefankas: There's an island ahead!

Stepakas immediately stared forward on the bow railing and asked, Is it Kosula Island?!

The two old sailors looked forward with wide eyes, but they were too far away to see clearly.

After a while, until they could see the outline of the island, they nodded and said, Yes, it's it!

Raise three green flags! Order the sailors to advance at a sprint speed! Stepakas gave the order decisively. What he was most worried about was that the people on the island discovered their fleet and escaped in advance.

But he was clearly overthinking it.

At this time, the sun had just jumped out of the sky, and many Kosula people had not woken up yet, and no one had gone out to sea to fish so early.

As a result, the squadron of warships led by Stepakas arrived quickly and blocked the only southern port of Kosula Island.

The 1,500 infantrymen of the fleet had already taken off their armor, only strapped leather shields on their chests (because of buoyancy), and strapped daggers on their backs, all jumped into the sea, swam through simple chains and water gates, and swam in. into the port and soon boarded the wharf.

By the time all the Sicilian fleets had gathered in front of the port of Corsula, the entire island had been captured by fleet infantry.

The first step was a success, and it didn't make Seklian relax. He gave an order: leave half of the clippers, with Kosula Island as the center, mainly to investigate the situation in the southwest waters. If there is any abnormality, go immediately Hadrumantum coast, inform the entire fleet. And all the warships did not stop here, and continued to go south, heading for Hadrummentum.

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Puserica, the commander of the Phoenician combined fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean, as a great noble of Tyre, he is actually very reluctant to lead an army to the Western Mediterranean, but Tyre and other Phoenician city-states are extremely dependent on Gaia. The precious metals provided by Taiji are to protect the position of the Phoenician region in the Persian Empire. Therefore, it is necessary to help Carthage win the war at sea and ensure the smoothness of the shipping routes. candidate for the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet.

The people of Tyre, especially the nobles, had mixed feelings for Carthage. From the royal turmoil in Tyre hundreds of years ago, a group of rebels were expelled from Tyre and eventually exiled to the Western Mediterranean, where Carthage was established. At that time, officials sent by Tyre to the Western Mediterranean to mine and transport precious metals did not even bother to stop in this city-state founded by rebels.

Unexpectedly, the situation has changed for hundreds of years. The Phoenician area was first conquered by Assyria, and later became a Persian territory. Tyre's control and influence on the Phoenician colonial points in the western Mediterranean were greatly weakened, while Carthage was greatly weakened. However, it gradually rose, and gradually took over the power and wealth of the Phoenician city-states in the Eastern Mediterranean such as Tyre and Sidon in the Western Mediterranean, and eventually became the most powerful Phoenician colonial city in the Western Mediterranean.