ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 961: The Return of the Carabineer in the Sea Battle of Saros

Half an hour later, a clipper ship returned and informed Admika that after the Dionysian fleet approached the coast, it turned around and headed north, passing through Saint Ibinia and preparing to round the northern end of Sardinia Island.

Hearing the news, Admika was relieved: it seems that the Dionian fleet has returned to Alenia.

As a result, the Admika fleet began a comprehensive rescue: rescuing all the sailors who fell into the water and placing them on the warships that had been tortured by the Crow Warship; bandaging the wounds of the injured sailors and transferring some to other battleships. On board; the lightly damaged warships will be simply repaired, while the more severely damaged warships will be towed by other warships and prepared to be brought back to the port. After all, there are too few Carthage warships to save one. It is a ship; in addition, Admika also rescued the Dionian crew members who fell into the water as much as possible. This is of course not out of kindness, but can be used in the future to exchange for the damage caused by the Dionian fleet in the previous attack. The captured Phoenician people were also trophies used by the fleet to show off his military exploits after the fleet returned to the port of Saros. After all, compared with Annobas who returned in defeat, he had achieved some achievements.

The crew of the Admika fleet have been busy with this, and several warships originally led by Annobas arrived one after another and merged into the fleet.

It wasn't until the setting sun turned the western sky red that they began to set sail, and the entire fleet slowly sailed eastward.

During the voyage, the crew of a warship came up with a way to have fun. They forced the captured Dionian sailors to run naked on the slippery deck, and the speed could not be slowed down. Once stopped, , you will be beaten with a wooden stick, and if you fall, you will be whipped.

Soon, other warship crews also followed suit, and it spread quickly, because looking at the painful and funny looks of the prisoners and listening to their miserable screams, their resentment at being defeated by the Dionian navy several times was strengthened. Made a nice vent.

Some crew members even came up with other ways to humiliate prisoners, such as:
In the cabin of the flagship, the boatswain grabbed a prisoner's leather helmet, touched the red tassel on the top of the helmet, and asked, "It seems you are a captain?"

The captives tied to the ship's pillars glared at him.

"Boss, he doesn't understand what you're talking about." A sailor shouted.

"He will understand." The boatswain smiled coldly, waved his hand fiercely, and gave the prisoner a hard slap in the face.

The prisoner screamed "Ah", and half of his face quickly swelled up.

The boatswain shrugged at the sailors: "Look, he understands."

The sailors laughed "hahaha".

The prisoner cursed angrily.

The boatswain frowned, suddenly took the leather helmet and peed in it.

"Uh..." The sailors looked disgusted.

And when the boatswain put the leather helmet in front of the prisoner and forced him to drink it, they became excited again.

The prisoner glared at him and spat in his face.

This angered the boatswain, who strangled the prisoner's neck with his right hand and pressed his leather helmet to his mouth with his right hand.

The prisoner struggled hard, his face turned red, and he finally had to open his mouth to breathe.

The boatswain took the opportunity to pour the urine from the leather helmet into his mouth, which made the prisoner cough and the sailors laughed.

Admika watched the scene in the cabin through the gap in the middle of the deck. Although a smile appeared on his face, he had to remind: "Be careful, don't kill him!"

"Don't worry, sir, we will 'entertain' him very carefully." The boatswain jokingly patted the prisoner's head and said respectfully.

Admika snorted, stood up and walked to the bow of the ship, looking ahead, lost in thought,
He had already learned the general process of the entire battle that had happened before from the rescued crew members, and realized the mistakes Annobas had made during the battle. He was thinking about how to give the news to the leader of the Magonid family, Carthage The military commander Mago wrote a letter, allowing him to attack Hanno in the Senate and take back the command of the navy.

"Sir, a warship has appeared behind you!" The lookout on the main mast interrupted his thoughts with a loud shout.

Before he could respond, in the observer's field of vision, other vague images appeared behind the warship on the horizon.

The lookout used his hand to block the dazzling light of the setting sun, closed his eyes hard, and then opened them suddenly. The image in front became clear - there were many warships!

"Sir, it's not a warship, it's a fleet!" The watchman hugged the mast with one hand and pointed to the rear with one hand, shouting nervously.

"Whose fleet?!" Admika also became nervous, but he first had to figure out whether it was an enemy or a friend.

Since there was still a slight southeasterly wind at this time, neither Admika's fleet nor this unfamiliar fleet raised their sails. The lookout had to open his eyes wide and struggle to distinguish: "... The black bow! It’s Dionia’s fleet! Sir, they are moving very fast!!”

The lookout's words shattered Admika's luck and made him wonder: How could the Dionian fleet appear in the west? !
.......................................

Midorades led the third fleet to speed eastward until the lookout told him that the Carthaginian warships behind had stopped pursuing.

Although he gave the order to slow down, he still led the fleet to continue following the fleeing Carthaginian warships. He did not command the fleet to continue north until he saw the enemy fleeing into the port of Saros in embarrassment.

When he arrived at the northern tip of Sardinia, he pretended to return to Alenia, but in fact he led the fleet in a small circle, avoiding the detection of the Carthaginian clipper, and then left the offshore sea. Sail straight west.

He wanted to lead the third fleet to attack the Carthaginian fleet in the west, because he knew very well that the entire fleet was missing nearly ten warships, and they must have fallen into the hands of the Carthaginian fleet. As the third fleet The commander of the three fleets, he has the responsibility to rescue the lost warships and captured crews.

He also knew very well that according to the usual procedures of naval battles, the Carthage fleet must be cleaning the battlefield, rescuing sailors who fell into the water, and helping injured warships... This would take a lot of time and would also make the entire fleet Becoming bloated and slow.

At the same time, he knew better that the task given to him by King Davos was to defeat Carthage's new fleet. Now that he finally had such an opportunity, how could he let it go so easily!
However, despite the rich sailing experience of Midorades and the captains, it was not easy to find the target in the vast sea. The entire fleet sailed to the west of the Carthaginian fleet, which delayed some time until sunset. Going west, they had to give up the search and start to return east. Unexpectedly, after traveling for a period of time, the clipper exploring in front suddenly reported: The Carthaginian fleet was discovered!

Midorades suddenly became excited and ordered all the warships to prepare for battle.

In fact, the Third Fleet was a blessing in disguise, precisely because they took the wrong direction and fell behind the Carthaginian fleet, and Admika did not dispatch clippers to explore behind him because he did not think there would be enemies. Attacking from the distant sea, causing the Third Fleet to move within sight of both sides, the Carthaginian fleet was not prepared.

Hearing the watchman on the main mast describe in detail that the Carthaginian fleet ahead was very slow and that some shabby ships were being towed... Midorades knew that his guess had become a reality, and he suppressed it. With ecstasy in her heart, she loudly issued an order: "Blow the attack bugle, raise the red flag and the black pennant!"

The formation that the Dionia navy usually adopts when attacking is the "starry sky". This is a naval battle formation that has been tested by the navy for a long time and has been proven to be able to give full play to the advantages of the Dionia warship. Its semaphore is Black, it has many variants: the standard one is the crow warship in front, the fast warship behind, which is a black rectangular flag, and the triangular black flag raised at this time means that the fast warship is in front, the crow warship is behind back.

This is because Midorades wanted to use the high speed of the fast warships to enter the enemy's formation as quickly as possible and further disrupt the Carthaginian fleet, which was already unprepared.

The sailors in the cabin began to get excited when they heard the orders issued by Midorades on the deck.

The boatswain is also encouraging everyone: "Brothers, the time has come to rescue our comrades and perform glorious feats! Prepare to fight!"

"Roar!!!" the sailors roared in unison, with fighting spirit bursting out of their eyes again. They stuffed the remaining rations into their mouths and grasped the oars in their hands.

Although the crew had been very tired after a hard fight and chase, after returning to the coast, the sailors took turns paddling and got a rest.Especially when they made a circle and sailed from east to west, they also raised the sails. With the help of the southeast wind, they saved some energy and regained some strength.

"Start speeding up," the bosun signaled to the piper.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!..." Following the sharp sound of the flute player, more than 200 wood pulp sticks on both sides of the warship slid rapidly like millipede feet.

The entire warship was like a sharp knife, cutting through the incoming waves without any hindrance. The waves timidly bypassed the dark bow and jumped onto the deck, splashing Midorades' body. wet.

Midorades didn't care at all. He stared forward motionlessly and saw the Carthaginian warship getting closer and closer to him. He motioned to his men to bring the helmet decorated with purple and red tassels and solemnly said Put it on.

At this time, a fast warship caught up from behind and passed by the left side of the flagship. The captain solemnly saluted Midorades on the deck.

Midorades returned the gift solemnly.

Then another fast warship passed by the right side of the flagship, and Midorades returned the favor again.

(End of this chapter)