Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 316: The madness of the Carthage fleet

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"In a while, the wind will still be stronger." The old helmsman also said his own judgment.

The old captain nodded: "Fortunately, there is the southeast wind, otherwise I would never dare to do such a risky thing today."

He sighed softly, then said to the young sailor: "Let’s lower the sails."

Just as the sailor lowered the sails, the old helmsman had already swung the rudder and adjusted the bow of the ship that was originally east to the northeast.

The sails fell, felt the wind, and began to swell.

The old captain held the sail control line in his hands, smiled, and said confidently: "Attention everyone, the ship is going north, and the Dionian warship will chase it, but don’t worry, we will Go home safely."

Everyone responded solemnly.

On this 13-meter-long, 4.5-meter-wide merchant ship, apart from the captain and helmsman, there were only ten sailors, a total of 12 people. It is exactly the opposite of the warship. It is light in front and heavy in the rear. The bow is narrowed and upturned, and the stern is wider. The sails and rudder are at the stern. Ten sailors are separated on both sides of the hull. The center of the hull is covered with linen , High-heavy goods.

As soon as the old captain pulled and let go, the sails quickly turned to a suitable position, and the sails bulged up quickly, and the speed of the whole ship suddenly increased.

The merchant ship at the back also followed this ship, speeding up its voyage to the northeast.

………………………………………

"Your Excellency Commander, the Carthage's fleet fled north, and Stefakas is leading the fleet to catch up."

Sekrian heard the news, turned his head and looked at the waves, and frowned slightly: "Fleeing north... It seems that the Carthaginians wanted to take advantage of the south wind."

"Should we follow to catch up?" the captain asked.

Sekrian made a decision without hesitation: "To deliver food to Carthage’s 100,000 troops, only 300 merchant ships are not enough... Since Carthage wants to lure us out of here, no! Stay here and will never allow their next fleet to easily enter the port of Lilibo! However, you can't be careless. Let the Clippers strengthen the connection with Stewarkas. I want to know the movements of the 1st Squadron at any time. !"

"Yes!"

Sekrian ordered 200 warships to cruise on the sea near Lilivar, and the 80 warships led by Stefakas were chasing the Carthage fleet and were already approaching Motia.

Mothea, once the military center of Carthage in Sicily, Dionysius led an army of 100,000 and went to great lengths to destroy it. The Carthaginians did not rebuild it, but A new military town, Lilivi, was built nearby. Therefore, more than 20 years later, the city of Motea was still the same as when it was destroyed. The causeway from the coast to Motea. Due to the existence of this causeway, the shallow sea between Motea and the coast became a pocket bay. Stefakas concluded that the Carthage fleet did not dare to enter. , Otherwise you can catch turtles in the urn.

Stefakas judged that the course of the Carthage fleet was right, because he led the fleet to prepare in advance and took advantage of the opportunity to get closer to the Carthage fleet, especially in the fast battle. The ship sank several merchant ships that fell behind, causing some chaos in the Carthage fleet, and even colliding with each other and overturning the ship.

This is because the current position of the Carthaginian fleet is exactly on the west side of Motea Island, and on the west side of Motea Island is another small island, aegusa, one of the two islands. The space was only less than ten miles apart, and it was relatively narrow. The merchant ships at the back felt dangerous and scrambled to accelerate, which immediately crowded the entire Carthage fleet.

But this situation improved soon, because after this period of water, a small island, Pharbantia appeared diagonally in front of him, and the Carthage fleet immediately divided into two teams. One team continued to move forward, the other turned west, and the Carthage crew who fell into the water swam up to these small islands without a hassle.

After learning about the enemy's movements from the watchman, Stefakas frowned. He roughly knew what the Carthaginians wanted to do: There are many small islands in the sea ahead, and Some reefs that are out of the sea and cannot be called islands. During this period of time, Sekrian led the fleet to cruise the western waters of Sicily. On the one hand, it cut off Carthage's maritime transportation, and on the other hand, it also made the newly-built fleet familiar with the sea conditions here. And all the crew regard the sea area in front as a dangerous zone, especially during high tide, some reefs are submerged by rising sea water. Ships unfamiliar with the sea conditions are easy to hit, causing damage or even sinking. The new Sicily fleet has had it. Such a lesson, so Sekelian deliberately let this sea area be drawn as a map separately, so that every captain can remember it. But because of this, they are certainly not as familiar as these Carthages who have sailed here all the year round. These cunning Carthaginians must want to use this sea area to get rid of their pursuit and at the same time create some trouble for them.

Sterfakas gave an order to slow down all the ships and increase their vigilance after a little thought. At the same time, he decided not to disperse the fleet for the time being, but to chase the fleet heading north first. , Must stop near the coast and prevent it from entering the port of Erlux not far ahead.

Who knows, the Carthage fleet turning west, seeing that the Dionian warship was not following, immediately turned around Agusa Island and turned to the south, and the fleet heading north again Divided into two branches again, separated by an island and reef, turned westward one after another...

Under such circumstances, Stefakas had to order the warships to be dispersed and interspersed among the islands to intercept and attack enemy ships, because he could not allow these Cartas who had suffered little loss. The base fleet slipped back to the south, although there must be a main fleet in the south, but let them see that they have been chasing for a long time and have not achieved any results, no one has a face, not to mention Seciante emphasized "Don't let go of a Carthage merchant ship."

So the large-scale hide-and-seek game at sea began.

……………………………………

At this time, in the sea near Liliqua, the cruising Dionian main fleet received a message from the Clippers sent to the southwest: there is another Carthage fleet less than the Sicilian fleet. It is approaching in the direction of Lilibi.

"My lord commander, your judgment is correct, and the Carthage merchant ship is here again!" the flagship captain praised.

Sekrian seemed a little dissatisfied: "The number is a little bit less, and the fleet is notified to expand to the southwest. Before the Carthaginians can find out, quickly greet them and eat them as soon as possible! Maybe it will be back soon! There will be the next wave of merchant ships."

Just as the ships of Dionia received the order and began to line up, the Clippers watcher opened his eyes in amazement, and he saw the Carthage fleet in front of him begin to change from column to column. Become a horizontal team, and adjusted the direction of the sail, the speed of the merchant ship suddenly increased: Are the Carthaginians crazy? ! We should be able to see our warship at this distance, why not run away, but rush forward instead? ! Do you still want to use merchant ships to fight us? ! "

The watchman didn’t know. In the middle of the Canadian Tai Chi fleet opposite, Captain Barrickos was manipulating the sails while shouting at the nearby merchant ship: “It’s time to test your courage! If you feel that Fear, you can quit at this time!"

"I have been sailing for decades, and I have never seen any kind of wind and waves. I even followed Morbar, crossed the Pillars of Hercules, went to the remote coast, and saw the two-wheeled chariots of the gods (now Cameroon). Mountain)... isn't it just death? What is there to be afraid of!"

"That's right! We old guys live to this day for this moment! We are dead, so we can meet our former comrades in the temple of Bar Harmon!"

"Don’t just talk about us, you are young compared to us, you haven’t enjoyed enough alive life, and you haven’t seen enough wars, when Dionia’s warship rushes towards you at close range. , Don’t be so scared that you don’t know how to manipulate the sails."

Barikos laughed loudly: "Don't worry, my ship will rush to the front, avoid all the collisions of the Dionian ships, and enter Lilibo safely. I want the Dionians to know , What they defeated before was not the real Carthaginians, the real Carthaginians were heroes on the sea, and they couldn’t beat them!"

"That's right, Barricos, show the ignorant Dionians what real sailing is!" The crew on the ship waved their arms and responded enthusiastically.

Barricos smiled: "Brothers are ready, the adventure is about to begin!"

He maneuvered the sails. This small merchant ship less than 10 meters long and only three meters wide, with a total of 8 crew members, used the wind to face the Dionian warship on the opposite side like an arrow shot out. Rushed over.

Under his leadership, 60 merchant ships that were almost the same as it were like sheep whose heads were broken, rushing towards the hungry wolf's embrace.

The captains of the Dionia warship were surprised to see the performance of this Carthage fleet, but they would never let themselves be kind because of the stupidity of their opponents, under their orders All of Dionia’s warships had their sails put away, relying on nearly 200 oarsmen to work together to paddle. The huge warships also sprinted forward at an astonishing speed, shimmering with black light. First cut the waves that came oncoming, and the water splashed continuously on the deck.

The Carthage fleet is like a row of waves propelled by the southwest wind rushing to the Dionian fleet, and the Dionian fleet has a double-horizon array, and the forward battleships are almost 1 to 1 The charge is as exciting as a boxing match at the Olympic Games.

But when the two sides approached, the Carthage merchant ship was like a baby facing a giant compared with the Diorian warship. There was a huge difference in size, and the bones would be broken with a light hit.