ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 895 The Battle of Germe ([-])
Seeing this situation, the East Phoenicians immediately detached a warship to pursue the fast 3-layer oar warship. The remaining four ships were still chasing the two crow warships. Seeing the crow warship heading straight towards the coast, they understood The enemy ship wanted to run aground on the beach, which would undoubtedly defeat their plan to sink it, so they increased their speed again.

During the chase, a formation gradually formed with two ships in front and two ships behind.

The sailors of the Crow Warship were gradually slowing down their paddle speed, giving the East Phoenicians the illusion that through their efforts, they were gradually closing the distance with the Crow Warship.

Miltias stood at the stern of the ship, staring closely at the enemy ships galloping from behind, listening to the watchmen on the mast constantly loudly reporting the distance between the enemy ships and the flagship, and the distance between the enemy ships in front and behind.

Staring at the enemy ship that was getting closer and closer, Miltias' face was covered with tiny beads of sweat as the collision angle flickered in the water. When the flagship was only about 15 meters away from the enemy ship, he suddenly screamed. Shout: "Turn!"

The crew who had been waiting immediately took action: the helmsman moved the helm, the sailor on the inside increased the force of the oars, and the sailor on the outside reduced the force. The uniform actions of the entire crew caused the forward flagship to suddenly turn to the outside.

It was too late for the Phoenician warship behind to change its course. The strong inertia of the fast-moving ship made the warship still sprint forward even if the sailors stopped paddling.

The Crow warship next to the flagship also turned to the outside of the hull almost at the same time. When they just turned the bows around, the two Phoenician warships in the front had already passed them.

"Continue to turn inward!" Miltias and the captain of the crow warship next to him both gave the same order.

It turned out that the two Phoenician warships behind saw the Dionia warship turning in front, and then they deflected their bows and sprinted diagonally forward. The target of the bronze collision angle was Dionia. The upturned tail of the warship, the flagship of Miltias and the other crow warship accelerated their rotation in order to avoid the stern and let the bow face the enemy ship.

If the warship was still full of soldiers, Miltias would not dare to let the flagship make such a tactical maneuver, but now that the flagship has unloaded too many soldiers, it has regained its previous nimbleness, the result of the crew's years of training. It was revealed at this time.As the enemy ship approached, the bow of the flagship had already turned towards the enemy ship. The deck controller saw the opportunity and lowered the 12-meter-long suspension bridge that had been installed on the front mast.

"Boom!...Boom!..." There were two blasts, and the flagship and another crow warship successfully captured the enemy ship.

"Quick! Quick! Kill it!..." the boatswain loudly reminded the 40 friendly soldiers nesting in the cabin.

These soldiers experienced the long-rumored Dionian naval battle for the first time. They rushed to the deck excitedly, rushed across the drawbridge in a swarm, and fought on the deck of the enemy ship.

"Damn it! These idiots forgot to pull out the suspension bridge!" Miltias yelled. He had asked the boatswain to emphatically warn these friendly soldiers several times beforehand, but these soldiers were so excited that they obviously forgot about it. Based on the experience of cooperating with the Crow Suspension Bridge, it is indeed unreliable.

Why did soldiers pull out the drawbridge as soon as they crossed it?Because there are three Phoenician warships not far away from the flagship, and the nearest one has begun to turn its bow. If the flagship is still connected with the enemy ship, it will only be hit.

Therefore, two flagship deck operators immediately ran across the drawbridge (a Crow warship had a total of 5 to 8 deck operators) and struggled to pull out the spikes at the lower end of the head of the drawbridge.

Other operators quickly pulled up the drawbridge, and the helmsman and sailors began to maneuver the flagship away from the screaming enemy ship.

But it still takes time for the flagship to move from stationary to moving fast. At this time, the lookout was already nervously shouting: "The enemy ship is coming! It is rushing towards our stern!"

Miltias stared nervously at the enemy ship rushing towards him from behind. He clenched his fists tightly and dug his fingernails deeply into his flesh. However, he was unaware of it. In his ears, he could hear the sailors shouting loudly as fast as they could. They are trying their best to get out of danger, but it takes time for a warship to change from stationary to fast sailing, and what the flagship lacks most now is time.

Seeing that the bow of the enemy ship is about to hit the stern of the flagship, hold the lookout hand of the mast tightly (in a naval battle, the lookout hand should logically come down from the mast to avoid being thrown to death during the collision, but the entire flagship is At this moment of life and death, they couldn't care less) shouted again: "Our warship! Our warship!!"

I saw a warship cutting through the thorns and waves, breaking into Miltias's field of vision like a flying arrow. Before he could see clearly, he heard a "boom" sound, and the ship It hit the side of the enemy ship and cut in like a sharp dagger.

This is the fast trireme warship that lured the enemy away before. It circled the enemy ship chasing it in a large circle, and then used its own speed to throw off the opponent and rush to the rescue.

Next to them were the screams of the Phoenicians, and from behind were the screams of the Phoenicians. Miltias was still very nervous and shouted: "Quick! Quick! Turn around backwards!"

Because the crisis has not been resolved, the Phoenician warships that had been chasing the fast triremes also followed closely.

The flagship was struggling to turn back, but it was already too late. Miltias watched helplessly as the bow of the enemy ship hit the side and rear of the fast trireme that had rescued the flagship.

This special warship of the Dionian Navy has a narrow hull, a slender hull, and a shape like a willow leaf. Speed ​​is its strength, and its ability to resist collisions is its weakness. When this warship ignores the rear in order to protect the flagship, The pursuers bravely rammed the enemy ships that threatened the flagship, putting themselves in the most dangerous situation.

Because there was an enemy ship blocking the front, the fast trireme had almost no room for buffering. It firmly withstood the entire impact force. The bow of the enemy ship was completely cut into the warship, and the rear part of the warship had cracked. The sea water quickly turned red with blood.

"Speed ​​up!" Miltias yelled through gritted teeth.

The sailors in the cabin didn't know what was happening outside. The continuous paddling at the fastest speed made their arms feel numb, but they still gritted their teeth and persisted.

The flagship rushed over, and the drawbridge fell, hitting the deck of the enemy ship.

"Take up your weapon and kill me!" Miltias shouted to the cabin.

The sailors were a little stunned: they were always only responsible for paddling, and killing the enemy was the task of the fleet infantry.

"What are you still doing? Obey the order!" the boatswain urged.

The sailors suddenly realized and picked up the bayonets and swords left in the cabin by the soldiers who had jumped into the sea.

"Kill!" Miltias waved the sword he picked up angrily, and personally led the sailors towards the enemy ship.

At this moment, another Crow warship failed to evacuate in time and was hit in the stern by the Phoenician warship that turned around. Although the damage was not serious, the influx of seawater forced the sailors to urgently block it. , which affects the speed and flexibility of the Crow Warship, and it cannot escape the risk of being hit again.

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The three warships led by Miltias faced the attack of five enemy ships and actually achieved an exchange ratio of 4:3. This also shows that the Sicilian fleet is well-trained and cooperates tacitly. However, due to Miltias's mistakes in decision-making, , causing most of the Dionian warships at the rear of the fleet to scatter in all directions. Facing the attack of the East Phoenician fleet, they were completely in a dangerous situation of attacking more with less, especially the Crow warship, which had no other warships on its flanks. Not only is it unable to exert its powerful ability to jump gangs, but its weaknesses of slow speed and relatively inflexible turning are fully exposed.

One after another, the Dionian warships were rammed and sunk, and a handful of warships washed up directly on the beach.

At the same time, the East Phoenician fleet was also attacking eastward, and the Dionian warships returning westward one after another like refueling were also besieged by Phoenician warships. The warships behind them looked The situation was not good, so we began to turn around and retreat eastward.

The East Phoenician fleet finally found such a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy, so how could it easily let them escape, and separated some warships to pursue them closely.

Soldiers loaded with Dionian warships jumped into the sea to reduce the weight of the warship so that they could escape. However, even so, the crow warships were overtaken one after another due to their own speed problems, and they had to be forced to fight. …

The naval battle lasted for less than half an hour. The middle and rear parts of the Sicilian fleet had been defeated by the East Phoenician fleet. Except for some warships, which were still struggling to deal with the enemy ships, the rest were either sunk or fled. The Sicilian fleet It seems that defeat is certain.

The Phoenician warships pursued eastward and were almost approaching the sea of ​​Minoa.

At this moment, there was a faint sound of bugles ahead, and the lookouts on several fast triremes that were retreating hastily eastward shouted almost simultaneously: "Our fleet! Our fleet is coming!!"

The captains who were nervously watching the enemy ships behind them turned their heads and looked eastward, only to see dozens of Dionian warships appearing on the sea in the distance. They were arranged in the familiar star-studded formation and were speeding towards them. .

The captains immediately cheered up and shouted loudly to the sailors in the cabin: "Brothers, cheer up, our reinforcements are coming!"

When the sailors heard this, their hands holding the oars regained strength. They steered the warship to both sides to make way for the fleet's attack.

At this time, the Phoenician warships also discovered something strange in front of them. They also stopped pursuing and began to move closer to each other.

This Dionian fleet, which is sailing quickly from east to west, is composed of 42 warships out of the 35 warships of the Second Squadron, the only remaining part of the First Fleet, of which 25 are crow warships. There are 10 triremes, and their commander is Stefankas.

　I’m taking my kids to see a movie tonight, so I’ll update in advance!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)