ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 958
"Lord Cornelus, it's already dinner time, I'm so sorry to disturb you!" Xilos immediately expressed his apology as soon as he sat down.

"It is indeed a time of leisure for ordinary people. But for the kingdom, now is a special period. And for you and me, what day is not busy!" Cornelus laughed and asked: "I hope Mr. Los, do you have anything important to do when you come here at this time?"

"I just received a letter from His Majesty, so I came to discuss it with you." Xilos said seriously.

Cornelus felt anxious and asked urgently: "What happened?"

"His Majesty mentioned in the letter that he has appointed Euclirius as his direct messenger."

When Cornelus heard this, he suddenly felt warm in his heart: Your Majesty is really thinking about me!

He said tremblingly: "Thank you... thank your Majesty for your concern!"

Seeing Cornelus suddenly burst into tears, Hilos understood his feelings in his heart, but as the Minister of Military Affairs, he could not comment much in this regard, so he coughed dryly and continued: "In addition, His Majesty also mentioned Come, within this month all new warships that have been put on trial must be assigned to the Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet——"

"All new warships?! Within this month?!" Cornelus was a little surprised. He hesitated: "So far, 250 new warships have been built in the kingdom, and the crew required is close to 5 people! His Majesty previously led an army of nearly 10 people, and the current Third Fleet and Sicilian Fleet also have more than 5 people. The military food supply is already very tight! Now it has increased to 20 people. This food consumption is very huge. ah--"

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

When Cornelus saw Hilos turning his head curiously, his face suddenly turned red and he hurriedly said: "This... uh... military ration supply——"

"Military food supply is indeed a big problem!" Hilos said frankly: "But His Majesty believes that Carthage is powerful and must concentrate all its efforts to defeat it. Otherwise, once a long-term stalemate forms, the kingdom will be consumed even more. Huge, so no matter what, we must ask Lord Cornelus, together with other rotating presidents, to negotiate with ministers from various departments to reserve enough rations and supplies for this unprecedented army in the kingdom to ensure that they can survive for at least half a year. Fight!"

"Half a year?!" Cornelus looked embarrassed, shook his head and sighed: "It's difficult! It's difficult! Well, I will discuss this matter with everyone at the executive meeting of the Kingdom Ministers tomorrow."

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After receiving the order from Davos, Midorades led the third fleet to patrol the Sardinian coast every day, trying to seek a battle with Carthage's new fleet.

But for several days in a row, apart from sinking a few Carthage merchant ships, there was no trace of the Carthage fleet at all. This made the crew of the Third Fleet a little frustrated. After interrogating the captured Carthage merchants, they learned: The new Carthaginian fleet did arrive in Sardinia, but it has never been seen leaving the port of Saros since it entered it.

Is the Carthage fleet afraid of the Dionia fleet? ! ...The crew members of the Third Fleet all feel that this possibility is very high: after all, it is a new fleet, and it needs a process of familiarization and running-in.

But as a result, Midorades felt a headache: if the enemy did not go to war, the Third Fleet would not be able to complete the mission assigned by His Majesty, and it would not dare to harass the Sardinian coast with all its strength, because it would worry that the new fleet would suddenly Coming.

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

The Third Fleet sailed out of the port of Alenia and continued its cruise of the previous few days. It headed south and had just circled from the northern end of Sardinia to the west coast. At this time, a clipper that was exploring ahead arrived. , reported to Midorades: More than a dozen Carthaginian merchant ships had left the port of Saint Ibinia and were heading south at a slow speed.

When Midorades heard this, he was immediately overjoyed: A merchant fleet of this size departing from the port of St. Ibinia is usually used to transport precious metal ores. Attacking it can not only complete the task assigned by His Majesty Davos, At the same time, it is also very likely to attract reinforcements from Carthage's new fleet.

Midorades immediately ordered a pursuit.

Under his instructions, the Third Fleet deliberately moved closer to the coast when passing the offshore Santa Ibinia, and even sounded the bugle for attack.

It was impossible for a merchant ship carrying heavy cargo to beat a warship in terms of 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 Si did not order an immediate attack on it, but followed it behind.

"The signal to turn west is out ahead!" the lookout on the mast shouted loudly.

Carthaginian merchant ships escaping westward? !Midolades was taken aback for a moment, and then he understood: The Carthaginian merchant ship wanted to take advantage of the wind to quickly escape the fleet's pursuit.

"Follow them!" Midorades gave the order again without hesitation.

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

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

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

Midorades was aroused by the water mist and felt a little uneasy. He turned around and shouted: "Is there something going on behind the scenes?!"

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

Wasn’t Carthage’s new fleet fooled? !Midorades was a little disappointed. He thought about it and gave the order decisively: "Let the First Squadron catch up quickly, sink the merchant ship, and then return!"

"General, you want to give up the previous plan?!" The flagship captain asked a little surprised.

Midorades pondered and said: "The "Dionysian Military Law" stipulates that the fleet cannot go too deep into the open sea. Moreover, judging from the current situation, the wind and waves in the open sea are greater than those near the coast. Don't forget the lessons of the Sicilian fleet. !”

When the captain heard this, his expression immediately became cautious.

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

But at the same time, the speed of the Carthage fleet was also increasing, and it flexibly mobilized the sails and adopted a "zig-zag" route to move forward, allowing the waves to become an obstacle to the fast warships. Therefore, although the distance between the two sides was gradually getting closer, the distance between the two sides was gradually getting closer. Obviously it won't be possible to catch up in a short time.

Soon after, Midorades received the bad news that "the fast warships had not caught up with the Carthaginian merchant ships" through the fast ships returning from the front. While he was surprised, he also made up his mind: "Stop the pursuit immediately, and the fleet Return at full speed!"

"General, they may be about to capture those merchant ships!" The captain couldn't help but remind him after hearing this order.

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

After everything 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..."

Midorades was inspired by this. Unlike Cykrian, he was originally a more cautious person. However, after he used a trick to capture Alenia, his mentality changed somewhat and he wanted to continue to conquer Sardinia. The Phoenician city-state on Nea Island suffered a defeat and suffered many casualties in the fleet and infantry. However, King Davos did not punish him, but continued to trust him, which made him feel deeply guilty and always alert to himself. .

At this moment, he decisively terminated the pursuit because of his inner self-examination. He suddenly realized that in the past few days, he had been too eager to fight the Carthaginian fleet, resulting in an unbalanced mentality and ignoring some principles of naval warfare that should be followed in peacetime.

The forward warship of the Third Fleet was about to bite the fat piece of Carthage merchant ship into its mouth, but suddenly got the flag to retreat. Both the crew and the captain found it difficult to accept, but Commander Midorades The Third Fleet has been there for six or seven years. It has high prestige among the captain and crew, and is deterred by Dionysian military law. The crew has to obey despite their dissatisfaction.

Since it was only chasing merchant ships, the Third Fleet did not adopt a battle formation. Instead, it formed a long column, placing the three squadrons in the front, middle, and rear positions respectively, forming a usual patrol formation. Rades was located in the center together with the [-]nd Squadron.As soon as the order was issued at this time, the front team quickly changed to the rear team, and the rear team changed to the front team. All warships turned around one after another and quickly turned to the coast.

The total duration from the discovery of the Carthage merchant ship, to the pursuit, to the return was only half an hour. However, the crew members were initially excited and looking forward to it. After a strenuous run, they gained nothing, and their mood quickly turned to disappointment. There were no crew members shouting slogans in unison along the way, and there were no crew members talking or singing excitedly.

Midorades could understand their mood, but he did not think that his order just now was wrong.

The entire fleet sailed in silence, and the only sounds that could be heard were the sound of the oars pumping water and the chirping of seagulls hovering over the fleet, which meant that they were almost approaching the offshore sea.

At this moment, the lookout on the main mast of the flagship suddenly shouted: "Yellow flag! The yellow flag is raised in front! The Carthage fleet has appeared! They are coming!..."

The lookout's shouts immediately aroused a commotion among the crew on the deck and in the cabin.

Midorades, who had been resting against the mast with his eyes closed, also widened his eyes at this moment: "Approximately how many enemies are there?"

"Two yellow flags!" the watchman shouted: "It should be about the same number as us!"

Midorades stood up suddenly and gave the order decisively: "Blow the attack bugle! Raise the flag of attack! At the same time, hoist the starry sky flag!"

　Thanks to book friend 20181127083633016 for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)