After giving the order, Morbar led the other ships towards the Dionian fleet.

"General, the Carthaginian fleet has rushed towards us, and the number is equal to ours!" The lookout on the flagship's mainmast reported to Midorades the flag coming from ahead.

Midorides, realizing that the plan had been successful, that the Carthaginian fleet had been lured out of the harbor, and that a decisive battle was just around the corner, shouted: "Blow the trumpet!" Raise the sky full of stars and red flags! ”

Midorades's words reached the bottom of the flagship, these Third Fleet sailors because of their repeated exploits during this time, several times by King Davers and the Ministry of War, morale is very high, hearing the order given by the captain of the fleet, all of them are in high spirits, ready to make new contributions.

At this time, the captain's voice came from the deck again: "The warship is advancing!" Speed up the pulp! ”

"Attention! Speed up the pulp! The boatswain immediately repeated the order loudly to alert all the crew.

The piper played the soprano two-pipe flute, and the flute gradually increased, and the oarsmen of the first layer listened to the rhythm, pushing the oars backwards, and the sailors of the second two layers followed the action of the first level...... The flagship, which had been largely stationary, began to advance, as did the other warships.

The warships of the 1st Squadron immediately stopped playing with the few remaining Iberian cargo ships, adjusted their bows, and headed for the Carthaginian fleet that was departing from the port to the east.

The captains of the more than 10 Carthaginian warships that rushed to the front heard the frequent trumpets from the rear, and then saw the Ionian fleet that was spreading out the array in front of the front and quickly pressing on itself that was too prominent, and he couldn't help but feel frightened, and subconsciously ordered the sailors to slow down and wait for the warships in the rear to arrive, so as to integrate into the formation and attack together.

Although they were also in formation in advance, due to the existence of these more than 10 Carthaginian warships, the two sides were already only one mile apart, and the starry array of Dionya was almost completed, while the double column of the Carthaginian fleet was still only a rudimentary form.

The situation was somewhat urgent, but Morbar was not panicked, for he heard Barikos' unbridled laughter: "Old man, let's go up first!" The people of the port are watching us, you have to get your men to work hard, otherwise they will perform badly in this battle, and when you return to the port, you will be scolded to death by the people! Hahaha...... "A small merchant ship is passing by the flagship, and Barikos is laughing loudly as he controls the sails.

Instead of expressing his displeasure with Barikos's arrogance, Morbar faced Barikos and gave a solemn military salute.

When almost all the Carthaginian merchant ships passed by the Carthaginian warships, the shipowners were shouting words to motivate the sailors, and the captains of the warships were also saluting the Carthaginian merchant ships passing by them, watching these petite merchant ships, which were less than 1/5 the length of the warships, rushing towards the Dionian fleet, and at the same time being inspired by the fighting spirit, they were also worried about them.

But there was no fear on Barikus's face, and he nimbly steered the sails, and by the faint southwesterly wind, the whole merchant ship was at the forefront like an arrow, and he shouted: "Dionians, your grandfather Carthage is here again!" ”

In the face of the approaching and taller Dionian ships, his spirits grew more and more excited, because he could humiliate the Dynians once again.

When Midorades learned from the lookout that the Carthaginian fleet had allowed some merchant ships to rush to the front of the fleet, he was surprised: although he knew that the reason why the Sicilian fleet had suffered a defeat before was because some skilled Carthaginian merchant ships played an important role in it, what he didn't expect was that the Carthaginian fleet would also involve these non-combat ships in a formal battle, which was really unheard of!

"Tell the warships to ignore these merchant ships, keep the fleet formation, speed up, and meet the Carthaginian fleet!" Midorades said in a deep voice.

The captain of the flagship reminded with some embarrassment: "General, these orders of yours ...... It's hard to convey! ”

Midorades immediately understood that over the years, the Ministry of War and the Navy, under the prompting of King Davers, had gradually explored and perfected the fleet flag system, but they never imagined that there would be civilian ships involved in the battle, and of course there was no flag in this regard.

Midorades thought for a moment and said, "Blow the trumpet, raise the green flag, and urge the fleet to speed up!" ”

Midorides 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 implement the orders, although the Third Fleet has been established for many years, but most of the crews have no combat experience before this war, and the successive victories have raised their spirits very highly, and now it is the first time to face the provocation of the Carthaginian merchant ships that boldly shuttle between the warships, urinating, spitting, and being pointed at and laughed at loudly...... The humiliation was unbearable even for the captain of the Sicilian fleet, Seclian, let alone the young captains and crew.

At first, some of the captains of the Dionian warships saw these weak merchant ships coming to the side of their warships, and although they still remembered the orders issued by the flagship, they could not help but let the warships deflect slightly and press towards the enemy ships, believing that the waves generated by the warships alone were enough to cause these small ships to have a huge turbulence or even capsize, and if the hull of the ship was lightly touched, it would be crushed.

But when most of the Carthaginian merchant ships easily avoided the collision of the Ionian ships and let out louder mockery, some of the Dionian captains and crews were aroused to be competitive, and instead of making the ships make any greater moves, they continued to crowd the merchant ships, but in this way, the interval between ships was shortened.

The shrinking space did bring great trouble to the Carthaginian merchant ships, and the waves stirred up by the rapid approach between the two warships made some merchant ships violently toss up and down, and even if they escaped the squeeze, they lost their flexible control of the ships for a while, and could not avoid the collision of the warships that met behind.

However, the sacrifice of Carthaginian merchant ships caused a lot of confusion in the entire fleet of the Dionian Third Fleet, and the ships hindered each other and had to slow down......

Midorades was furious when he learned of this situation in the rear, but there was no immediate effect, so he could only order the captain to raise the three green flags at the same time, and let the trumpeters blow the trumpets for a long time, so as to warn all ships that they must strictly follow orders.

While the Dionian fleet was trying to regain its formation, the Carthaginian fleet had lined up the double column formation they were most familiar with, and the morale-boosted crew struggled to slide the oars, and the ships rushed quickly towards the Dionian fleet in front.

At noon, the battle officially began with 130 ships of the Carthaginian fleet and 143 ships of the Dionian Third Fleet in the sea near the port of Carthage.

The people of Carthage had already crowded the coast not far from the naval battle, and the people of nearby Utica and other Phoenician allies were also coming one after another after hearing about it, and the entire beach was completely turned into a sea of people.

All of them hoped that the Carthaginian fleet would be able to wreak havoc on the Ionian fleet, which threatened the safety of their homeland, and the people of the Carthaginian port even chanted Barikus's name in unison, and although the arrogant owner had kept them away, his daring actions last time and this time won the respect of the people, and even the young people regarded him as a hero.

Compared with the noisy and boiling crowd on the coast, the Tai Chi elders who stood on the breakwater city and watched the battle were much quieter, and the atmosphere was more solemn.

"Anobas, what do you think of this naval battle...... Can we win? Tepanlac whispered to the former naval commander at the sign of Hanno's eyes.

If it weren't for Hanno and Morbar's efforts to protect him, Anobus might not have escaped the severe punishment of the Senate, and now although he managed to escape, he has been idle, and even the identity of the senator has been deprived, this time if it were not for the fact that the senators were too concerned about the outcome of the naval battle, and needed a naval battle expert who could accurately judge the situation on the battlefield to provide advice, he would not have been called from home.

But at this time, Anobas's face did not see depression, but there was excitement: "The tactics arranged by Lord Morbar are very effective, our merchant ships have disrupted the formation of Dionia, and our fleet is seizing this great opportunity to launch an attack, and it will definitely have an advantage at the beginning of the engagement......"

After hearing this, Tepanrako exhaled lightly, his expression relaxed, and said with hope: "I hope this advantage can be maintained until the end, and in the end we can win this naval battle!" ”

Ocleton, who had already returned to Carthage, listened to it and said with a sigh: "If this naval battle is won, our negotiations with Dionya will become much easier to talk about!" ”

When he returned to Carthage, the senators were in an uproar when the Senate told them about Dionia's harsh terms of negotiation, and almost all of them expressed resentment at Dionia's harsh demands, but after expressing their attitudes, everyone showed different attitudes about whether or not to continue the negotiations.

The Hannonites believed that this was the first time that Dionya had put forward the conditions for peace talks, and that Carthage could argue on the basis of reason in the subsequent continuation of the peace talks, and finally the two sides reached an agreement. But judging from the current battlefield situation, the Dionian army has a clear advantage, if the situation does not change and a peace agreement is finally reached, Dionya will definitely gain a little more benefits, this is a helpless thing, the Senate must recognize the facts, and accept it.