"Lord Cornerus, it's dinner time, I'm sorry I'm bothering you!" As soon as Shilos sat down, he immediately apologized.

"It's really a leisure time for the general population. But these are special times for the Kingdom. And for you and me, it's not a busy day! Cornerus laughed and asked, "Lord Shiros, is there something important that you have come to the door at this time?" ”

"I just received a letter from Your Majesty, that's why I came to you to discuss." Shilos said solemnly.

Cornerus tightened his heart and asked urgently, "What's wrong?" ”

"Your Majesty mentions in the letter that he has made Euclerilius his immediate herald."

When Cornerus heard this, a hot current suddenly surged in his heart: Your Majesty is really thinking about me!

He said in a trembling voice, "Thank you...... Thank you Your Majesty for your concern! ”

Shilos looked at Cornerus and suddenly burst into tears, and understood his feelings, but as the Minister of War, he was not good at commenting on this, so he coughed dryly and continued: "In addition, Your Majesty also mentioned that it is necessary to assign all new ships on trial voyage to the Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet within this month-"

"All new ships?! In this month?! Cornelus was a little surprised, he hesitated: "Up to now, 250 new warships have been built in the kingdom, and the required crew is close to 50,000 people!" With nearly 100,000 troops led by His Majesty before, and more than 50,000 people in the existing Third Fleet and Sicilian Fleet, the supply of military rations is already very tight! Now it's 200,000 people, and it's a huge amount of food—"

"Ahem! Cough! ......" There was a sudden coughing sound from the side room next to the hall.

Seeing that Shiros turned his head curiously, Cornerus immediately blushed and hurriedly said, "This...... Belch...... Rations—"

"The supply of military rations is indeed a big problem!" Hilo said honestly: "But Your Majesty believes that Carthage is strong and must concentrate all its strength in order to defeat it, otherwise once a long-term stalemate is formed, the consumption of the kingdom will be even greater, so in any case, I must ask Lord Cornerus and the other rotating chairmen to consult with the ministers of various departments to reserve enough military rations and supplies for this unprecedented army of the kingdom to ensure that they can fight for at least half a year!" ”

"Half a year?!" Cornerus looked embarrassed, shook his head and sighed, "It's difficult! It's hard! Well, I will discuss this matter with you at tomorrow's executive meeting of the Kingdom Ministers. ”

………………………………………

After receiving orders from Davers, Midorades led the Third Fleet on daily patrols of the coast of Sardinia in an attempt to seek battle with Carthage's new fleet.

But for several days, except for the sinking of a few Carthaginian merchant ships, there was no trace of the Carthaginian fleet, which made the crew of the Third Fleet a little frustrated, and after interrogating the captured Carthaginian merchants, they learned that the new Carthaginian fleet had indeed arrived in Sarthagia, but it had not been seen since it entered the port of Saros.

The Carthaginian fleet is this afraid of the Ionian fleet?! …… The crews of the Third Fleet felt that this was a great possibility: after all, it was a new fleet, and it needed to have a process of familiarization and running-in.

But in this way, Midorades felt a headache: the enemy did not fight, the Third Fleet could not complete the task assigned by His Majesty, and he did not dare to harass the coast of Sardinia with all his might, because he would fear the sudden attack of the new fleet.

On this morning, the weather was sunny with a slight southeast wind and a slight wind and waves were visible offshore.

The Third Fleet sailed out of the port of Alenia and continued its cruise the previous days, heading south, just from the northern tip of the island of Sardinia to the west coast, when a speedy ship approaching the foreground and reported to Midorades that a dozen Carthaginian merchant ships had left the port of St. Ibiña and were heading south, slower.

When Midorades heard this, he was overjoyed: a merchant fleet of this size set out from the port of St. Ibiña was usually used to transport precious metal ores, and attacking it would not only fulfill the task assigned by His Majesty Davers, but also most likely attract the help of the new Carthaginian fleet.

Midolades immediately ordered the pursuit.

At his direction, the Third Fleet deliberately stayed close to the coast as it passed off the coast of St. Ibnia, and even sounded the trumpet of attack.

It was impossible for a merchant ship with heavy loads to outperform a warship in speed, and it didn't take long for the Third Fleet to see the Carthaginian fleet not far ahead, and in order to attract the Carthaginian fleet to the rescue, Midorides did not give the order to attack it immediately, but stayed behind it.

"There's a signal to turn west!" The lookout on the mast shouted.

Carthaginian merchant ships fled west?! Midorades was stunned for a moment, and then understood: the Carthaginian merchant ship wanted to use the wind to quickly escape from the pursuit of the fleet.

"Keep up with them!" Midolades did not hesitate to give another order.

The flagship raised a new flag, and the Third Fleet began to leave the coast and sail to the open sea.

The color of the sea is getting darker, and the wind and waves on the surface of the sea are getting bigger than those near the coast.

A wave swelled, split head-on by the bow of the ship, turned into strings of water droplets, and splashed down on the deck.

Midorades was stirred by the mist, and felt a little uneasy in his heart, he turned his head and shouted, "Is there a situation in the back?!" ”

The lookout at the stern of the boat replied in a loud voice: "It's the same as before, there is no movement!" ”

The new Carthaginian fleet was not fooled?! Midorades was a little disappointed, he thought about it for a while, and gave a categorical order: "Let the first squadron quickly catch up, sink the merchant ships, and then return!" ”

"General, you want to abandon your previous plan?!" The flagship captain asked a little surprised.

Midorades groaned, "The Dionian Military Law states that fleets must not go too far into the open sea. And, judging by the current situation, the wind and waves in the far sea are stronger than those on the near coast, do not forget the lesson of the Sicilian fleet! ”

When the captain heard this, his expression immediately became cautious.

Receiving the flagship's flag, the sailors of the fast warships at the front of the fleet began to speed up, and the speed of the warships increased rapidly.

But at the same time, the speed of the Carthaginian fleet was also increasing, and the sails were flexibly mobilized, and the "zigzag" course was advancing, so that the waves became an obstacle to the fast warships, so that although the distance between the two sides was gradually narrowing, it was obviously not possible to catch up in a short time.

Soon after, Midorides received the terrible news that "the fast ships had not caught up with the Carthaginian merchant ships" through the returning clippers in front, and he was surprised and at the same time made up his mind: "Stop the pursuit at once, and the fleet will return at full speed!" ”

"General, they may be capturing those merchant ships soon!" When the captain heard this order, he couldn't help but remind.

Midolades did not explain immediately, but once again said firmly: "Blow the trumpet, raise the flag, and execute it immediately!" ”

When all this was executed, he said faintly: "Every battle determines the life and death of countless brothers, and greed will blind our reason and make irreparable mistakes......"

Unlike Secrean, he was a more cautious person, but after he used stratagem to capture Alenia, his mentality changed a little, and he wanted to continue to conquer the Phoenician city-state on the island of Sardinia, but he was defeated and suffered many casualties among the fleet infantry, but King Davos did not punish him, but continued to trust him, which made him feel deeply guilty and always vigilant.

At this moment, he decisively terminated the pursuit, which came from inner introspection, and he suddenly realized that he was too eager to fight the Carthaginian fleet in the past few days, resulting in an imbalance in his mentality, ignoring some principles of naval warfare that should be followed in peacetime.

The forward ships of the Third Fleet were about to bite the fat of the Carthaginian merchant ship into their mouths, but they suddenly got the flag of retreat, which was unacceptable to both the crew and the captain, but Midorades had been in command of the Third Fleet for six or seven years, and his prestige among the captain and crew was high, and he had the deterrence of Dionian military law, and the crew had to obey despite their dissatisfaction.

Since it was only pursuing merchant ships, the Third Fleet did not take a battle formation, but formed a long column, placing the three squadrons in the forward, middle and rear positions, forming the usual patrol flotilla formation, with Midorades in the center with the Second Squadron. As soon as the order was issued at this time, soon the front team changed to the rear team, and the rear team changed to the front team, and all the warships turned around one after another and quickly turned to the coast to sail.

From the discovery of the Carthaginian merchant ship, to the pursuit, to the return, the total duration lasted only half an hour, but the crew was initially excited and anticipating, and after a laborious rush to gain nothing, the mood quickly turned to loss, and on the way back, there was no crew shouting in unison, let alone the crew talking and singing excitedly.

Midorides could relate to their feelings, but he didn't think he had just given the wrong order.

The entire fleet sailed in silence, and all that could be heard was the sound of the pulp hitting the water and the chirping of seagulls hovering over the fleet, which meant that they were approaching the shore.

At this moment, the lookout on the main mast of the flagship suddenly shouted loudly: "Yellow flag! The yellow flag was raised in front! The Carthaginian fleet appeared! They're coming! ……”

The shouts of the lookouts immediately stirred up a commotion among the crew on deck and in the cabin.

Midorides, who had been resting on the mast and closing his eyes, also widened his eyes at this moment: "How many enemies are there?" ”

"Two yellow flags!" The lookout shouted, "It should be about the same number as ours!" ”

Midorades stood up abruptly and gave the order decisively: "Blow the trumpet of the attack!" Raise the flag of the offensive! At the same time, hang the starry flag! ”