ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1016 The Naval Battle of Carthage ([-])

After giving the order, Morbar led other warships and rushed towards the Dionia fleet.

"General, the Carthaginian fleet has rushed towards us, and the number is equal to ours!" The lookout on the main mast of the flagship reported to Midorades the flag signal coming from the front.

Midorades realized that the plan had been successful, that the Carthaginian fleet had been lured out of the harbor, and that the decisive battle was just around the corner, so he shouted: "Blow the bugle! Raise the starry sky and the red flag!"

Midorades's words reached the bottom of the flagship. The sailors of the Third Fleet had been commended several times by King Davos and the Ministry of Military Affairs for their repeated military exploits during this period. Their morale was very high. They heard the command issued by the fleet commander. After the order, everyone was in high spirits and gearing up, ready to make new achievements.

At this time, the captain's voice came from the deck again: "The warship is moving forward! Speed ​​up the oars!"

"Attention! Speed ​​up the oar!" The boatswain immediately repeated the order loudly to remind all crew members.

The flute player blew the high-pitched double-pipe flute, and the sound of the flute gradually accelerated. The oarsmen on the first floor listened to the rhythm, and pushed the wooden oars backwards and forwards. The sailors on the second floor followed the rhythm. Level 1 action... The flagship, which had been basically stationary, began to move forward, as did other warships.

After the warships of the 1st Squadron heard the bugle from behind and saw the flag signal, they immediately stopped playing with the few remaining Iberian cargo ships, and adjusted their bows one after another, heading towards The Carthaginian fleet sailed out of the harbor in the east.

The captains of the more than 10 Carthaginian warships rushing at the front heard the frequent sound of trumpets coming from behind, and then saw Dionysus, who was unfolding an array in front of him and quickly pressing towards his overly prominent self. The sub-fleet couldn't help feeling frightened, and subconsciously ordered the sailors to slow down and wait for the warships from behind to arrive so that they could integrate into the formation and attack together.

Although they are also developing formations while advancing, due to the existence of more than 10 Carthage warships, the two sides are already only one mile apart. Dionia's starry ship formation is nearly completed, and Carthage The fleet's double-column ship formation is still in its infancy.

The situation was a bit urgent, but Morbal was not panicked, because he heard Barikos's wanton laughter: "Old man, let's go up first! The people at the port are looking at us, you have to ask your men to step up. If you don't perform well in this battle, you will probably be scolded to death by the people when you return to the port! Hahaha..." A small plus Taichi merchant ship was sailing by the side of the flagship, manipulating the sails Barricos was laughing loudly.

Morbar did not express dissatisfaction with Barikos's arrogance. On the contrary, he faced Barikos and solemnly performed a military salute.

When almost all the Carthaginian merchant ships passed by the Carthaginian warships, the captains were loudly saying words to encourage the sailors to fight, and the captains of the warships were also paying military salutes to the Carthaginian merchant ships passing them and watching. These merchant ships, which were less than 1/5 of the length of the warship and were petite in size, rushed towards the Dionia fleet. While being inspired to fight, they were also worried about them.

But there was no fear at all on Barikos' face. He flexibly manipulated the sails, and with the help of the weak southwesterly wind, the entire merchant ship galloped ahead like an arrow. He shouted: " Dionians, your Carthaginian grandfather is here again!"

Facing the Dionian warship that was getting closer and getting taller, his spirit became more and more excited, because he could humiliate the Dionian people again.

When Midorades learned from the lookout that the Carthaginian fleet actually let some merchant ships rush to the front of the ship formation, he was surprised: although he knew that the reason why the Sicilian fleet suffered a failure before was because of some sailing skills. The superb Carthage merchant ships played an important role in this, but what he didn't expect was that the Carthage fleet would actually involve these non-combat ships in a formal battle. This was really unheard of!

"Inform all warships to ignore these merchant ships, maintain fleet formation, speed up, and face the Carthage fleet!" Midorades said in a deep voice.

The flagship captain reminded with some embarrassment: "General, these orders of yours... are difficult to convey!"

Midorades immediately understood that over the years, the Ministry of Military Affairs and the Navy had gradually explored and improved the fleet semaphore system under the prompts of King Davos, but they had never thought that civilian ships would participate in the battle. Of course, There is no semaphore in this regard.

Midorades thought for a while and said: "Blow the bugle, raise the green flag, and urge the fleet to speed up!"

Midolades hoped that the warships under his command would ignore the provocations of the Carthaginian merchant ships, but he obviously overestimated the ability of the captain and crew to strictly execute orders. Although the Third Fleet has been established for many years, most of them The crew had no combat experience before this war, but the successive victories raised their spirits high, and now it was the first time they faced the provocation of the Carthaginian merchant ships boldly shuttling between the warships , urinating on them, spitting on them, being pointed at and laughed at loudly... all kinds of humiliation methods were unbearable even for the captain of the Sicilian fleet, let alone these young and energetic captains and crew.

At first, some Dionian warship captains saw these weak merchant ships coming to the side of their warships. Although they were still thinking about the orders issued by the flagship, they could not help but let the warships deflect slightly and press against the enemy ships. In the past, they believed that just the waves generated by warships were enough to cause these small boats to jostle and even capsize. If the hulls of the boats were lightly touched, they would be shattered to pieces.

But when most of the Carthaginian merchant ships lightly avoided the collision of the Dionia warships and made louder laughs, some Dionia captains and crew members were aroused to be competitive. Instead of letting the warships make any bigger moves, they continued to crowd the merchant ships, but in this way, the distance between the ships was shortened.

The shrinking of the space did bring a lot of trouble to the Carthaginian merchant ships. Just the rapid approach between the two warships and the surging waves caused some merchant ships to violently bump up and down. Even if they escaped the squeeze, , and because he lost the flexible control of the ship for a while, he couldn't avoid the collision of the warship coming up from behind.

However, the sacrifice of the Carthage merchant ship caused a lot of chaos in the entire ship formation of the Dionia Third Fleet. The warships hindered each other and had to slow down...

When Midorades learned of this situation from behind, he was anxious and angry, but he had no immediate solution. He could only order the captain to raise the three green flags at the same time, and have the bugler blow the bugle for a long time. This is a warning to all warships that they must strictly implement orders.

Just as the Dionysian fleet was trying to regain its ship formation, the Carthage fleet had already arranged their most familiar double-column formation. The crews with high morale struggled to slide the oars, and the warships rushed forward quickly. Dionia fleet.

At noon, the 130 warships of the Carthage fleet and the 143 warships of the Dionian third fleet officially kicked off the battle on the sea near the Carthage port.

The people of Carthage had already crowded the coast not far from the naval battle. People from nearby Utica and other Phoenician allies also came one after another after hearing about it. The entire beach had three floors inside and three outside, completely transformed into A sea of ​​people.

Everyone pinned their hopes on the Carthaginian fleet to defeat the Dionian fleet that threatened the safety of their homeland. The people in the Carthage port even shouted the name of Barikos in unison, although in the past this arrogant ship owner asked them to However, his bold and risky actions last time and this time won the respect of the people, and he was even regarded as a hero by young people.

Compared with the noisy and boiling crowds on the coast, the Tai Chi veterans standing on the breakwater city watching the battle were much quieter, and the atmosphere was more dignified.

"Annobasi, do you think we can win this naval battle?" Taipanlaco asked the former navy commander in a low voice under Hanno's eyes.

If it weren't for Hanno and Morbar's efforts to protect him, Annobas might not be able to escape the severe punishment imposed on him by the Senate. Although he escaped with great difficulty, he has already been idled, and even his status as a senator has been deprived. This time, if it weren't for the fact that the senators were too concerned about the outcome of the naval battle and needed a naval warfare expert who could accurately judge the battlefield situation to provide advice, they would not have called him from home.

But at this time, there was no depression on Annobas's face, but excitement: "The tactics arranged by Lord Morbar are very effective. Our merchant ships have disrupted Dionia's formation, and our fleet is catching This great opportunity, to launch an attack, must have taken advantage at the very beginning of the battle..."

After hearing this, Taipanlaco let out a breath, relaxed a little, and said with hope: "I hope this advantage can be maintained until the end, and in the end we can win this naval battle!"

Okreton, who had already returned to Carthage, listened, and sighed: "If this naval battle is won, our negotiations with Dionia will become much easier!"

After he returned to Carthage, when the Senate stated Dionia's harsh negotiation conditions, the senators were in an uproar. Almost everyone expressed resentment at Dionia's harsh requirements, but after expressing their stance , everyone showed different attitudes on whether to continue the negotiation.

The Hannoists believe that this is the first time that Dionia has proposed peace negotiation conditions, and Carthage can fully argue for its reasons in the subsequent peace talks, and finally the two sides reach an agreement.But judging from the current battlefield situation, the Dionia army has a clear advantage. If the situation does not change and a peace agreement is finally reached, Dionia will definitely gain more benefits. This is helpless. , the Senate must recognize the fact and accept it.

(End of this chapter)