ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 988 Long Distance Raid

Davos listened to these words, but he didn't think so. During the time he spent with Midorades in Latium, according to his observation: Midorades is indeed not an extrovert, but he is also A strong person. The reason why he has never made any harsh demands to the Ministry of Military Affairs in the past, unlike Sekerian who often asked the Ministry of Military Affairs to increase warships, increase manpower, improve port facilities, etc., is because he may He feels that he has no outstanding record, so he is not qualified 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 Sekerian. Under such circumstances Naturally, his mentality will be different from the past, and the mentality of the crew of the Third Fleet will also rise with the tide. It may not be easy to let them stay down and do nothing.

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

"Hmm..." Davos's eyes lit up, and he subconsciously tapped the back of the chair with his fingers.

"Your Majesty, how can this be done? It would be chaos! Let alone Sekerian's dissatisfaction. If the two fleets are not subordinate, there will be no coordination. Then it will be chaos. For example, they both block Sicily at the same time. The Western Sea, such as raiding the same place at the same time..."

"This is indeed a problem, but Sekerian and Midorades are both very smart people, and they will consciously coordinate each other's actions." Davos said disapprovingly, and then he raised his voice again: "Let the Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet operate independently to complete the same mission and let them compete with each other. I think this is a good idea, because competition will force the two fleets to use their potential to a greater extent and give them more Motivation will make them more proactive, and that will be a disaster for the Carthaginians!"

"...I understand." Tormid glanced at Printors and asked, "Your Majesty, do you want to tell Seclian about this?"

Davos shook his head and said: "The Sicilian fleet was humiliated before, and Sekerian was inspired and decided to carry out this raid mission. Now he needs more patience and careful preparation. Tell him at this time, I am afraid of him. His mentality will be unbalanced. Let’s tell him after he returns successfully.”

"Yes."

Davos readily agreed that the two fleets would compete with each other, and there was another important reason not to be announced: in terms of the army, no senior general could dominate. Alexis and Prosaus had slightly better records, and Amin Tas, Hilos, and Capps are not bad either. The most important thing is that no one can shake his own status in the army.But for the navy, Seklian's prestige is too high, and Daves can't personally command the navy, so in the past Seklian said nothing in the navy, although Davers took some measures, such as "building four fleets, no navy Commander..." But during the war, you still have to rely on Sekerian. Now that a Midorades has finally emerged with outstanding abilities, of course he must provide support, which will be conducive to the decentralization of the navy.

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

Thormid and Printors nodded in agreement.

"What's the situation of the various troops now?" Davos asked again.

"Since there are many new recruits in each legion, plus the Roman soldiers who have joined the legion, they have been training these days to integrate these recruits into the legion as soon as possible..." Tormid said.

"Let them hold on tighter. It may not be long before they go to the battlefield."

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

However, he discussed with several old sailors from Selinus to determine the sailing route. He also discussed with the three squadron commanders and the infantry commander of the Sicilian fleet, and based on the information confided by the Phoenician prisoners from the Eastern Mediterranean, Discussing how to attack the city of Hadrumantum, they were busy until late at night.

On the second day, before dawn, the port of Selinus was bustling with activity.

The crew members got up early, washed, dressed, and had breakfast. Then, under the leadership of the boatswain, 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 places.What followed was a group of 40 fleet infantrymen who had already assembled, and they quickly climbed onto the deck of the crow warship.

When all these were in place, a ray of sky just appeared on the sea level.

Sekerian strode onto the flagship, and the captain came forward with a joyful look on his face: "Sir, with the blessing of Poseidon, there is a slight north wind now!"

"Okay, this is a good sign!" Cyklian also smiled, took the big wooden cup from the captain's hand, walked to the side of the ship, made devout prayers and thanks to Poseidon, and solemnly poured the wine in the wooden cup. Dumped into the sea.

"Let's go," he said.

The flagship hoisted the green flag but did not blow the bugle for fear of alerting the Carthaginian army outside Selinus and alerting them to inform the Carthaginian fleet in the city.

But the captain of every warship was watching the flagship closely, and was ready to set off as soon as he saw it send a signal.

The first to leave the port was the squadron led by Stephakas. The last time he was attacked by the Carthaginian fleet, Stephakas acted calmly and finally succeeded in saving more than half of the warships, so Sekerian was still relieved. The important task of being the vanguard is entrusted to him because of his stability.

Stefankas's ship was sailing at the head of the team, and two old sailors from Selinus were sitting on the deck. In this era without a compass, it is more difficult to discern the direction on the vast sea, especially in At night, experienced sailors are good at observing the stars in the night sky to identify the direction. Now that it is dawn, stars are still visible in the gray sky, and the sun on the horizon is used as a sign, making it easier to grasp the course.

All the warships of the Sicilian fleet hoisted their sails and headed south with the help of the north wind.

More than two hours later, Stefankas sat on the lookout on the main mast of the ship and shouted: "There is an island ahead!"

Stefankas immediately leaned on the railing at the bow of the ship and stared forward, and asked at the same time: "Is it Corsula?!"

The two old sailors opened their eyes and looked forward, but the distance was too far to see clearly.

After a while, until they saw the outline of the island clearly, they both nodded and said, "Yes, that's it!"

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

But he was clearly overthinking.

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

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

The 1500 fleet infantry had already taken off their armor, only tied leather shields on their chests (because they were buoyant), and tied short swords on their backs. They all jumped into the sea, swam past the simple ship-blocking chains and water gates, and swam in. We arrived at the port and quickly boarded the pier.

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

The first step was successful, but it did not let Sekerian relax. He issued an order: leave half of the clippers, with Corsula Island as the center, mainly to explore the situation in the southwest sea area. If there is any abnormality, rush there immediately. Coast of Hadrumentum, notify the entire fleet.All the warships did not stop here and continued to sail south, heading straight for the city of Hadrumentum.

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Pserica, the commander of the Phoenician United Fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean, as a great nobleman of Tyre, was actually very reluctant to lead his troops to the Western Mediterranean, but Tyre and other Phoenician city-states were extremely dependent on Gaia. The precious metals provided by Taiji are to protect the status of the Phoenician region in the Persian Empire. Therefore, it is necessary to help Carthage win the war at sea and ensure the smooth sailing routes. Candidate for the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet.

The Tyrians, especially the nobles, had mixed feelings about Carthage.Coming from the civil strife in the Tire royal family hundreds of years ago, a group of rebels were expelled from Tire and eventually fled to the Western Mediterranean, where they established Carthage.At that time, the officials Tire sent to the Western Mediterranean to be responsible for the extraction and transportation of precious metals did not even bother to stop in this city-state founded by the rebels.

Unexpectedly, hundreds of years of changes have taken place. The Phoenician region was first conquered by Assyria, and later became a Persian territory. Tire’s control and influence over the Phoenician colonies in the Western Mediterranean were greatly weakened, and Carthage However, it gradually rose up and gradually took over the power and wealth left by the Phoenician city-states in the Eastern Mediterranean such as Tire and Sidon in the Western Mediterranean, and eventually became the most powerful Phoenician colonial city in the Western Mediterranean.

(End of this chapter)