ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1294 The Great Battle of Cyprus ([-])

Sekerian shook his head gently and said calmly: "The reason why Your Majesty asked us to take great risks and travel a long way here is to capture Cyprus. The most important thing is to destroy the Persian fleet and control the waters of the Near East." Dominance... Now more than 4000 heavy infantry have landed, which has posed a great threat to Cyprus and has destroyed the Persian fleet's attempt to intercept us at sea. Under such circumstances, they are likely to face When faced with the threat of our powerful fleet in Dionia, we chose to retreat temporarily and instead transported reinforcements and supplies to towns such as Nicosia on the island so that they could not be easily conquered by our army.

After all, our fleet has traveled a long distance, and the supplies it carries cannot guarantee the consumption of supplies for the huge crew of our fleet. If the army cannot quickly capture towns such as Nicosia, our fleet will have to retreat first. By then... hum, Persia The fleet can easily cut off the maritime supply line of the landing army, and then the army will be in big trouble——"

At this point, Sekerian's face became very serious: "The army's misfortune is second to none. The key is that this time His Majesty personally led the army. In order to obtain the great honor of conquering Persia, our navy was given the task of destroying the Persian fleet. I have the important task of gaining maritime dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean. If I fail to lure the enemy due to my passive avoidance of war, or even lose the first battle, affecting the entire war to conquer Persia, I will be unworthy of His Majesty's trust and even have no words to meet those people. The Army Generals I once laughed at!”

"It's not that serious..." the flagship captain murmured.

Sekerian glared at him with dissatisfaction and said in a deep voice: "I am the commander of this operation. I must seize every possible opportunity to ensure that the operation can proceed smoothly, so we must stay here and cannot leave. ! For the Persian fleet, what could be more attractive to them than to destroy a Diorian fleet that is far smaller in number than them, and at the same time completely besiege thousands of Diorian army on the island! "

"Sir, we have too few warships after all. I am worried that the Persian fleet...will really treat us like a delicacy and eat us in one bite--"

The captain stammered and was interrupted halfway by Sekerian: "Even if the number of Persian warships is two or three times ours, the fleet led by Sekerian will definitely be a hard rock. , will break the teeth of the Persian fleet! What's more, I believe that Midorades, who is not only experienced in naval warfare, but also has good intuition, will definitely lead other warships to join us in time and jointly annihilate the Persian fleet! "

After Sekerian made up his mind, the flagship captain did not dare to dissuade him any more. Instead, he conveyed the fleet commander's order to all warships: All crow warships are loaded with drawbridges and ready for battle!
More than an hour later, no trace of the enemy ship was found, but a small number of Cypriot cavalry appeared on the island. They spied on the Dionian Legion soldiers building camps near the beach from a distance, but they never dared to get close. It seems that the Cypriots have no intention of gathering their troops and fighting a decisive battle with the landed Dionian army.

Of course, the Dionian Legion that landed also had no such intention. What they have to do now is to hold on to the landing site and facilitate the arrival of subsequent troops.

"The clippers in the south have raised a yellow flag!" The watchman on the flagship mast suddenly shouted loudly.

Sekerian, who was waiting anxiously, did not feel excited. Instead, he muttered to himself in confusion: "There are fewer Persian warships than us?"

Seeing Sekerian's dissatisfied look, the captain of the flagship let out a sigh of relief and asked, "Sir, do you want to inform all warships to prepare for battle?"

Sekerian paced back and forth on the deck, pondered for a while, and then said in a deep voice: "Wait a minute! Let all the clippers be divided into two parts, one part will go around the Persian warship, continue to explore south, and the other part will go north Exploring.”

The flagship captain's heart moved: "Sir, do you suspect that the Persian fleet has divided its forces?"

Sekerian replied calmly: "I don't think the Persians are so courageous to lead a small number of warships to attack us. What's more, I firmly believe that our fleet can easily take this number of ships without much preparation. All enemy ships were defeated!"

Just when the crew on the southernmost warship of the Dionysian fleet could see the outline of the enemy ship in the distance, the Dionysian clippers speeding south passed the message back by changing the flags on the masts. fleet.

"Two yellow flags!" The lookout's shout made Sekerian remain silent. On the contrary, the flagship captain heard another report from the lookout and tightened his fists nervously: "The Persian warship is not far away from us. To four miles!”

He looked at Sekerian, who was sitting on the deck like a clay sculpture, and hesitated several times.

At this moment, the lookout's voice sounded again: "Three yellow flags! The clipper in the south has raised three yellow flags! There has been no change in the north!"

Sekerian immediately jumped up: "Three yellow flags! The number of Persian warships exceeds ours, which means that their main force is coming, and the Persians have taken the bait!"

Sekerian danced with excitement and immediately told the battle plan he had already thought about: "Blow the bugle and have all the warships arrange in a circular formation for defensive operations!"

"Circle formation?!" The flagship captain was slightly startled.

"What? You think I can only attack but not defend?!" Cyklian said with a half-smile.

"I'll convey it right away!" The worries in the flagship captain's heart were relieved. Obviously, the fleet commander he respected did not lose his cool because of the arrival of the fighter plane.

"By the way, arrange all the iron ships at the forefront of the circular formation, facing the direction of the Persian fleet's attack!"

"Yes!"

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This Persian fleet headed by Phoenicia and Cyprus has nearly a thousand warships and is stationed at various military ports in eastern Cyprus. After receiving the order from Alitaka, the Cypriot crew acted most actively. He boarded his warship as quickly as possible, rushed out of the military port, and then set off to the west along the coast of Cyprus Island without waiting for the warships behind him to form a formation.

When Yalitaka's flagship sailed out of the military port, he discovered that many warships, led by the Cypriots, did not stop after leaving the port and headed west like a swarm.

As the commander of the fleet, Yalitaka was so angry that he stamped his feet, but he had nothing to do about it. He could only secretly curse the Cypriots for being stupid. At the same time, he looked forward to the fact that when the entire fleet arrived at the west coast of Cyprus Island, the Dionian fleet had not yet arrived. He still had time to regroup the fleet.

The Persian fleet had already formed a long column after leaving the port. During the journey, due to the different levels of input of the crew members belonging to various regions of Persia, the long column gradually began to become disconnected, with the Cypriot warships at the forefront. , the Phoenicians are in the center, and other warships such as Syria are at the end...The Cypriot warships in the front are also out of touch, and the warships coming out of the Larnaca military port in the west are at the forefront... …

After more than three hours of sailing, the Cyprus warship rounded the westernmost promontory of the island from the south. With the help of the south wind, the speed accelerated again. After only 20 minutes, the watchman on the Cyprus warship They saw the Dionian fleet staying in the bay, the numerous Dionian cargo ships docked on the beach, and the Dionian soldiers who kept walking from the cargo ships to the beach (actually it was the Dionian soldiers going back and forth). When transporting materials on a cargo ship, due to the long distance and psychological effects, the Cypriot lookouts had an illusion).

The Deolians are landing! ...This news made all the Cypriot crew members feel nervous. Their belief in defending their homeland made them forget their fatigue and made them feel the urgency of the situation.According to military orders, they should stop advancing after discovering the Dionia fleet, join other warships, and then follow the orders of the fleet commander to launch an attack.

But at this moment, under the command of the Cyprus naval admiral, they only slowed down during the process of changing formations. After completion, they continued to accelerate, launching a double-column formation towards the Dionia fleet. .

During the Greco-Persian War, the warships of the city-states in the Near East were famous for their large and heavy hulls and large crews. As a result, they were defeated by the small and flexible Greek coalition warships in the Battle of Salamis, and later Athens In the process of expanding to the eastern Mediterranean, it was repeatedly defeated by the Athenian navy, forcing the city-states in the Near East to abandon their large and inappropriate warships and rebuild a fleet with triremes as the main body, even the Phoenician city-states. So later on, only Carthage in the Western Mediterranean still used those double-headed dragon warships, four-layered oar warships, and five-layered oar warships. The composition of the Persian fleet, which was based on the city-states in the Near East as the main naval force, was completely the same as that of Athens. The fleet was united.

At this time, although the Cypriot warship had lowered its sails, the sailors were rowing hard, and the warship's forward speed was accelerating. Soon the Dionia warship was close at hand, and the Cypriot crew on the deck was even there. During the nervous maneuvering, they looked curiously at the tall and swaying Crow Suspension Bridge on the enemy ship ahead. Although they had not fought against the Dionia fleet before, they had also heard of the strange Dionia navy. The warships were somewhat on guard.

Since the Dionian warship almost just rotates in place, the warships on both sides are always bow to bow. At this time, the Cyprus warship does not want to perish with the other party, so the helmsman turns the rudder slightly, and the captain simultaneously faces the bottom cabin Shouting: "Put in the oars!"

(End of this chapter)