ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 981 The true purpose of Carthage’s navy
It should be said that Barikos successfully completed the task. The fleet he led held back the main fleet of Dionia for more than three hours.

But for Morbar, the results he achieved were not satisfactory, sinking 35 Dionian warships and losing 7 of his own. This was the first time he watched the Carthaginian warships attack carefully. The results he achieved after changing his tactics after the Dionysian warships were still far from his original vision. He originally planned to destroy all the Dionysian warships that were lured out.

The reason why the result failed to do so was that the Dionian commander of this fleet gathered more than half of the warships in time, but did not lead them out of the small area to rescue the warships scattered on the periphery. An irregular circular formation was set up in that area, and the focus of defense was placed on the relatively open west.

After destroying the other lone Dionian warships, the Carthage fleet regrouped, surrounded the remaining Dionian warships, and launched several tentative attacks, but Dionian warships The Nia ship formation was so well defended that Morbar did not dare to make the decision to launch a strong attack.

After receiving the news that "the main fleet of Dionia is coming to help", Morbar finally made up his mind: "Notify the warships to assemble on the west side of Hilla Island to complete the final mission."

"Sir, what should we do with our sailors on these islands?" his men reminded.

"Everyone dies, and so do you and me..." Even though Morbar said this, he still felt a little regretful in his heart. He sighed again: When planning, he should have reminded them to swim to Sicily after falling into the water!
During this period of time, the Carthaginian fleet had the upper hand in this area, but on various islands and reefs, it was the crew members of Dionia who fell into the water who dominated. Although most of the Carthaginian crew members who fell into the water were killed by nearby friendly forces. The ship was rescued, but most of the merchant sailors who were previously sunk by the Dionia fleet swam to various islands and reefs. How could they be the opponents of the Dionia crew with fleet infantry? They were either killed or Captured.

After Sekerian led the fleet into this sea area, his mood suddenly became very bad, because he saw fragments of warships floating on the sea from time to time, and heard the joyful cries for help from the Dionian crew on the nearby islands and reefs...

"What did this idiot Stefankas do?" The worry in his heart became more and more intense, and he couldn't help shouting angrily.

But after seeing the remaining 40 warships and hearing Stefankas narrating the entire battle, Sekerian did not get angry again, but said unwillingly: "We were all fooled... "

When Stepharkas continued: "According to the report of the clipper, the Carthaginian fleet is arrayed on the west side of the island of Hyla——"

Cykerian's anger burst out again: "The Carthaginians attacked us secretly and won a small victory. They thought they were great and actually wanted to fight us! Very good! Very good! Very good!! ! Order all warships to sail around the island of Thera and fight to the death with the Carthaginian fleet!"

Sekerian first ordered several warships to pick up the crew members on the islands and reefs. At the same time, he led about 240 warships to the west side of Hilla Island. As expected, he saw the Carthage fleet in formation. Ready.

Seclian blew the bugle without hesitation, raised the red flag and the black flag, and all the warships in the entire fleet quickly arranged into a star-studded formation as they advanced toward the Carthage fleet.

However, the Carthaginian fleet suddenly turned around, away from the Dionian fleet, and headed south.

"We cannot allow them to escape into the port of Lilibi!" Unwilling to do so, Sekerian issued the order to "pursue".

However, the Dionia fleet was originally about two miles away from the Carthage fleet. The speed of the crow warship was relatively slow, and the speed of the fast warship was fast, but the Carthage fleet was neat and had just won the battle. Cleanian did not dare to let the fast warship advance too far, otherwise it would be too far away from the crow warship, and it would easily be counterattacked by the opponent and cause losses.

In fact, the Carthaginian fleet neither planned to fight the Dionian fleet again nor entered the port of Lilibi. Instead, it led the Dionian fleet to swim around the sea near Lilibi and Mazara. , then turned around and headed west, the destination - Carthage.

Unwilling to do so, Sekerian led his team to chase for a while, and finally had to return.

It was already afternoon and approaching dusk. For most of the day, the Sicilian fleet experienced being teased, attacked, and pursued to no avail... After a series of frustrating events, both Sekerian and the crew were exhausted physically and mentally. Exhausted, how could they still have the strength and energy to continue cruising the western waters, and each of them drove the warship back to the port of Serinus with aggrieved hearts...

.............................................

The main army led by Davos was stationed in Minoa, not far from Selinus, and the news that "the new Sicilian fleet lost the first battle" could not be hidden from him.

Of course, Sekerian didn't want to hide it. Although it was not a big failure, he did feel a little ashamed, so he wrote a battle report truthfully, and then prepared on the grounds that "he still had to perform the task of patrolling the Sicilian waters". Early on the next day, he asked the clipper to be sent to King Davos. He did not go to apologize in person for the time being. Instead, he led the fleet to look for fighters in the western waters, win the battle as soon as possible, and win back his dignity before meeting Davos. Sri Lanka.

But what he didn't expect was that before he led the fleet to leave the port, the king's messenger came from Minoa and read Davos's order to him, asking him to rush to Minoa immediately to meet Davos. king.

Seclian came to the Minoa military camp with a feeling of uneasiness.

After seeing him with a serious expression, Davos handed him a papyrus roll without waiting for him to speak.

After reading it quickly, Sekerian looked surprised: "Yesterday, there were thousands of merchant ships loaded with military rations docked in the bay north of Elyx?!"

North of Elyx, there are two slender hills that go west into the sea for about a mile or two, like the curved horns of an ox, thus forming a large bay. In this bay, the Phoenicians were indeed established. There are two ports in the country, but they are neither big. There have never been so many merchant ships docked in them.

Davos said coldly: "This is the information obtained by the spies of the kingdom's intelligence department in Sicily. It was only delivered to me late last night. It can't be wrong! Just when the Sicilian fleet was teased by the Carthage navy, I'm afraid You didn’t think that the real purpose of the Carthaginian navy was to deliver military supplies to the Carthaginian army that was about to run out of food in Sicily! And everyone in the Sicilian fleet, including you, was like an enraged bull, only staring at what was in front of you. Enemy, you have completely forgotten your real mission! Now that the Carthaginian army has food, it has enough patience to confront us. This will definitely bring us a lot of trouble! Sekerian, this time, You’ve disappointed me a little.”

Sekerian felt both ashamed and very surprised: Everything the Carthaginians did yesterday was ultimately because of this? !But the Carthaginians never showed any intention to protect the huge transport fleet and intercept the Sicilian fleet's northward cruise. However, it was true that all of his and his men's thoughts were focused on the enemy, and they did not even bother to send any troops. The warship crossed Eryx and explored north. What happened yesterday made him very upset, but he didn't expect that he would lose more!
Seeing that he was silent, Davos said coldly: "What?! Were you frightened by the Carthaginians?!"

Sekerian raised his head, looked at Davos, and said in a deep voice: "No, Your Majesty, I admit that I lost to the Carthaginians this time, but there will not be another time!"

"Well, this is the victorious general of the Dionian Navy that I am familiar with." Daves nodded and said in a gentle tone: "The "Dionian Military Law" emphasizes that, 'As a commander, you must Always stay calm and don't let any bad emotions affect your reason and make wrong judgments.' But this time, anger blinded you and made you make these mistakes. I hope you can learn from it. Please remember that you are the commander-in-chief of the Sicilian fleet. The orders you give are not only related to the life and death of the Sicilian fleet, but also related to the victory or defeat of the entire Sicilian war! Don't be like a captain who insists on sinking enemy ships! Instead, you should broaden your mind and focus on the entire battle situation! Do you understand?!"

This time, Seclian nodded thoughtfully.

"Since the establishment of the kingdom's navy, its development has been very smooth and has not encountered any major setbacks. This has led to a very high morale of the navy, but this can also easily lead to pride..." Davos continued to remind: "Yesterday This failure is also a good thing, allowing the naval soldiers to calm down and take the enemy more seriously. After all, Carthage is a maritime power in the Western Mediterranean with a profound foundation. Their new naval commander is not a simple figure. He once He is a Carthaginian hero who led his fleet to sail across the ocean and has been fighting at sea for decades. If you can defeat such a general, it will make your victory even more valuable!"

Davos looked at Sekerian, who had thrown away his frustration and became energetic again, and asked: "What do you think of those Carthaginian merchant ships that are teasing you?"

At this moment, Sekerian's heart was already restless. He thought for a moment and said seriously: "Your Majesty, I admit that these Carthaginians are indeed very capable of sailing, but last night we interrogated the captured Carthaginians. Merchant sailors learned from their mouths that the Gartaiji naval admiral named Morbar specially summoned all sailors with superb sailing skills in Carthage and nearby Phoenician city-states, and more than half of them were his former subordinates. He motivated them with the news that "Carthage is in trouble and urgently needs heroes to save", and at the same time promised a high pension, so he formed these two Carthage fleets and used them to lure the Sicilian fleet .

Although his tactics worked in the end, it was a way of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. It actually over-consumed the Carthaginians' maritime power. This just shows that after our successive naval battle victories, the Carthaginian navy was already stretched thin. We have to take such extreme measures to gain some advantages, but this method can neither be sustained nor deceive our navy.

Your Majesty, I have formulated a new action plan based on the current situation of the Carthage Navy. I believe you will hear news of the victory of our Sicilian fleet soon! "

(End of this chapter)