Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 296: Lure the enemy

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"Master Cornelus, it's time for dinner. I'm sorry to bother you!" Silos immediately apologized as soon as he sat down.

"It is indeed a leisure time for ordinary people. But for the kingdom, now is a special time. For you and me, which day is not busy!" Cornelus laughed and asked : "Master Shiros, you are here at this time, is there something important?"

"I just received your majesty's letter, so I came to you to discuss it." Silos said sternly.

Cornerus felt nervous and asked anxiously: "What happened?"

"Your Majesty mentioned in the letter that he has appointed Eucliris to be his direct messenger."

When Cornelus heard this, there was a rush of heat in his heart: Your Majesty is really thinking of me!

He trembled and said, "Thank you...Thank your majesty for your concern!"

Silos watched Cornelus suddenly burst into tears and knew how he felt, but as the Minister of Military Affairs, he didn't have much comment on this, so he coughed and continued: "In addition, His Majesty also mentioned that all new warships for trial voyages must be allocated to the Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet within this month——"

"All the new warships?! Within this month?!" Cornelus was a little surprised, he hesitated: "Up to now, 250 new warships have been built in the kingdom. The crew of nearly 50,000 people! The army led by His Majesty before nearly 100,000, and the existing Third Fleet and Sicilian Fleet also have more than 50,000 people. The supply of rations is already very tight! Now it has increased to 200,000, which is food consumption. It’s very huge—"

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

Korneros turned to look curiously when he saw Shiros, his face blushed, and he said hurriedly: "This... uh... rations--"

"The supply of rations is indeed a big problem!" Silostain said in an interface: "But your Majesty believes that Carthage is powerful and must be concentrated in order to defeat it. Otherwise, once a long-term stalemate is formed, it will consume the kingdom. It will be even greater, so in any case, Lord Cornelus, together with other rotating chairmen, will negotiate with the ministers of various departments to reserve enough rations and materials for this unprecedented army of the kingdom to ensure them. Fight for at least six months!"

"Half a year?!" Cornelus looked embarrassed, shook his head and sighed, "Difficult! Difficult! Okay, I will discuss this with you at the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom tomorrow. "

………………………………………

After receiving orders from Daves, Midolades led the Third Fleet to cruise the coast of Sardinia every day in an attempt to seek battle with Carthage's new fleet.

But for several days, apart from crashing and sinking a few Carthaginian merchant ships, they did not see the shadow of the Carthage fleet at all. This made the crew of the Third Fleet a little frustrated. After they interrogated the captured Carthaginian merchants, Learned: The new Carthage fleet did arrive in Sardinia, but since it entered the port of Sarros, it has never been seen out again.

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

But in this way, Midolades feels a headache: If the enemy does not go to war, the Third Fleet will not be able to complete the mission assigned by His Majesty, and it will not dare to harass the Sardinian coast with all its strength, because it will be worried. The new fleet came suddenly.

This morning, the weather was clear, with a slight southeast wind, and slight wind and waves were visible offshore.

The Third Fleet sailed out of the port of Alenia and continued its cruise in the previous few days. It headed south, just rounding from the northern tip of Sardinia to the west coast. At this time, a ship was explored ahead. The ship arrived and reported to Midolades: A dozen or so Carthage merchant ships had left the port of Saint Ibínia and were heading south at a slower speed.

When Midolades heard this, he was overjoyed: the merchant fleet of this size set out from the port of Saint Ibínia is generally used to transport precious metal ores, and attacking it can complete the handover from His Majesty Daves At the same time, it is very likely to attract assistance from the new fleet of Carthage.

Midolades immediately ordered a pursuit.

Under his instructions, the Third Fleet deliberately moved closer to the coast while passing through the coast of Saint Ibínia, and even sounded the offensive bugle.

Merchant ships carrying heavy loads cannot beat warships in speed. It didn’t take long for the Third Fleet to see the Carthage fleet not far ahead. In order to attract the rescue of the Carthage fleet, Mi Dorades did not order an immediate attack on it, but stuck behind it.

"The signal to turn west is sent!" the looker on the mast shouted.

The Carthage merchant ship ran westward? ! Midolades froze for a moment, and then understood: The Carthage merchant ship wanted to use the wind to quickly escape the pursuit of the fleet.

"Keep up with them!" Midolades gave another order without hesitation.

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

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

A wave surged and was split head-on by the bow of the ship, turning into a string of water drops, splashing on the deck.

Midolades was agitated by the water mist, and felt a little uneasy in his heart. He turned his head and shouted, "Is there anything behind?!"

The looker at the stern replied loudly: "It's still the same as before, nothing happened!"

Is the new Carthage fleet not fooled? ! Midolades was a little disappointed. He thought for a while and categorically ordered: "Let the First Squadron catch up quickly, sink the merchant ship, and then return!"

"General, do you want to abandon the previous plan?!" the captain of the flagship asked a little surprised.

Midolades mused and said: "The Dionian Military Law stipulates that the fleet cannot go too deep into the open sea. Moreover, from the current situation, the wind and waves in the far sea are bigger than the near coast. Don’t forget Sicily. Lessons from the fleet!"

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

Receiving the flags from the flagship, the sailors of the fast warship at the forefront of the fleet began to accelerate the speed of the warship, and the speed of the warship was rapidly increasing.

But at the same time, the speed of the Carthage fleet is also accelerating, and flexibly mobilizing sails, adopting a "zigzag" route to advance, making the waves an obstacle to fast warships, so although the distance between the two sides is gradually increasing Near, but obviously not able to catch up in a short time.

Soon after, Midolades received the terrible news that "the fast warship has not caught up with the Carthage merchant ship" through the returning Clippers. While surprised, he made up his mind: "Stop immediately. Pursue, the fleet returns at full speed!"

"General, they may be capturing those merchant ships soon!" The captain couldn't help but reminded him when he heard this order.

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

When all this is done, he said quietly: "Every battle determines the life and death of countless brothers, and greed will deceive our reason and make irreparable mistakes..."

Midolades expressed this with sentiment. Unlike Sekrian, he is a more cautious person, but after he used tactics to capture Alenia, his mentality has changed a bit, and his delusion continues. Conquering the Phoenician city-state on Sardinia, the result was a failure, and many infantry in the fleet were casualties. However, King Davos did not punish him, but continued to give him trust, which made him feel guilty and Always be alert to yourself.

At this moment, his decisive termination of the pursuit is a self-examination from the heart. He suddenly realized that he was too eager to fight against the Carthage fleet these days, which caused a mental imbalance and ignored some naval battles that should be followed in peacetime. Principle of law.

The forward warship of the Third Fleet saw that it was about to bite the fat of the Carthage merchant ship into its mouth, but suddenly received the banner of retreat. Both the crew and the captain found it difficult to accept, but Midola Dess has been in charge of the Third Fleet for six or seven years. He has high prestige among the captain and crew, and has the deterrence of the Dionian military law. The crew has to obey despite their dissatisfaction.

Because it was only pursuing merchant ships, the third fleet did not adopt a battle formation, but formed a long column. The three sub-squadrons were placed in the front, middle, and rear positions, forming the usual fleet formation during patrols. , Midolades is located in the middle with the Second Squadron. At this time, the order was issued, and the front team soon changed to the rear team, and the rear team changed to the front team. All the warships turned around one after another and quickly turned to the coast to sail.

From the discovery of the Carthage merchant ship, to the pursuit, and then to the return, the total duration was less than half an hour, but the crew was excited at first and looked forward to it. After a laborious rush, they didn’t get anything, and their mood quickly turned to disappointment. On the way back, no crew members shouted in unison, and no crew members were excited to speak or sing loudly.

Midolades can understand their feelings, but he doesn't think he made the wrong order just now.

The entire fleet sailed silently, and all that could be heard was the sound of the oars hitting the water and the calls of seagulls hovering over the fleet, which meant that they were almost close to the sea.

At this moment, the watchman on the main mast of the flagship suddenly yelled: "Yellow flag! The yellow flag has been raised ahead! The Carthage fleet has appeared! They are here!..."

The shout of the looking hand immediately stirred up a commotion among the crew on the deck and cabin.

Midolades, who has been resting on the mast and closed his eyes, also opened his eyes wide at this moment: "How many enemies are there roughly?"

"Two yellow flags!" The looker shouted: "It should be about the same as ours!"

Midolades stood up abruptly and decisively issued an order: "Blow the offensive bugle! Raise the offensive flag! At the same time hoist the starry flag!"