But now the real commander of this fleet is not Stefacas, but Seklian on the Raven Warship in the center of the front of the formation, standing at the bow of the ship, looking resolutely ahead, and the captain behind him is giving a loud order: "Speed up!" Keep going straight! ”

The lookout at the top of the mast also shouted: "There are about 40 enemy ships ahead, forming a double column, and there are enemy ships coming in the distance!" ”

"Hurry up and eat this wave first!" Sekrian whispered and glanced up at the drawbridge that had been erected next to the foremast.

The Phoenician warships that were hurriedly lined up also quickly increased their speed, and the distance between the two sides became closer and closer.

Sekrian watched unblinkingly at the enemy ship speeding in front of him, and the Raven Ship that sat down maintained a high speed, but not a sprint speed, and rushed straight towards the bow of the opposing ship.

When the two ships were 30 meters apart, the enemy ship suddenly turned to the side and forward, and it was clear that the Phoenicians knew the power of the Dionian Raven warship.

Sekrian sneered, and the ship he was sitting on didn't care about the Phoenician ship that was avoiding, but continued to move forward.

Just as the Phoenician ship had just rounded the Secrean ship, it suddenly saw the Dionian ship in front of it crashing into the side of the ship at a great speed like a swordfish.

The Phoenician ship had to turn around again, narrowly avoiding the danger of being hit, but the two ships passed by: "Withdraw the oars!" ”

"Slurry!" Both sides ordered at the same time.

The sailors of the Dionian warship were prepared, and the sailors of the Phoenician warship had just rowed hard to avoid the danger of being hit and sunk, when there was no time to react, the wood pulp was violently pushed by the Dionian warship, against the window of the ship, and with a "click", it was directly broken.

The Dionian ship broke off the oars on one side of the opponent's ship, abandoned it and continued its voyage.

But when the crew of the Phoenician warship was still in shock, they were confronted by another Dionian warship, this was a raven warship, which took advantage of the lack of wooden oars and the difficulty of moving the Phoenician warship, and easily tied the drawbridge to its deck, and the legionary reservists on board were not those friendly soldiers, they followed the instructions, rushed across the drawbridge, did not fight, cut most of the Phoenician sailors, and quickly returned to the warship under the leadership of the captain of the detachment, and pulled up the drawbridge......

The starry array arranged by Sekrian is different from the previous ones, the traditional starry array is arranged at intervals by crow warships in the forefront, and the fast three-layer oared warships in the rear are waiting for the opportunity to plug in and capture the fighters. At this time, the ship formation was arranged at intervals between crow warships and fast warships, the purpose of which was to speed up the pace of the attack, seize the time, and save the besieged warships.

The ships in the center of the formation, the blood-colored flags fluttered high, reminding the surrounding ships to fight to the death, while the ships of Sekrian, which were at the forefront, encouraged the crews to forge ahead.

The Eastern Phoenician fleet succeeded in a sneak attack, but now it was the first official battle against the Dionian fleet, and their traditional naval tactics were completely unable to adapt to the new set of naval tactics that Dionya had developed after years of training, although they had more warships, but the hastily arranged battle formation could not resist the attack of the demoralized Dionian fleet. After some time of fighting, ten Phinician ships were captured or wrecked, but the Dionian detachment completely crushed the Phoenician fleet in front of it at the cost of only four damaged ships.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Phoenician warships retreated.

The Dionian fast warships did not chase after them, because Secrean had discussed with them before the war, and the current battle situation was that the enemy was outnumbered, and the warships could not be dispersed, otherwise once they advanced too much and broke away from the large army, it was easy to fall into encirclement, so the Dionian warships gradually returned to their positions in the process of maintaining a relatively fast speed, and still maintained a complete formation.

The Phoenician warships along the way got the news early and retreated westward, so that some of the Ionian warships that were hiding in Tibet were able to get out of trouble and join the ship, and the number of warships of the Dionian detachment that had just experienced the First World War increased but increased, reaching 45.

…………………………………………

"Ahem! Cough! ......" Miltias coughed repeatedly, and the crew next to him hurriedly helped him up and slapped him on the back, allowing him to spit out the sea smoothly.

"General Miltias, are you alright?!" The crew asked with concern.

Miltias waved his hand, but did not want to speak, he faced the sea, and stared blankly, where there was no sign of his flagship, except for a section of the top of the mainmast, which was exposed like a floating rotten branch. He led his flagship to engage the enemy for a while, but was eventually sunk because he could not escape the enemy's encirclement, but fortunately they were close to the beach, and they swam directly to shore.

Looking around at the surrounding sea, there are several "rotten branches" like this, mainly near the coast, and farther away, more wrecks of warships are half-floating and half-sinking on the sea, most of which are Dionian warships, only a very small number of warships seem to float on the surface of the sea intact, but they are completely uncontrolled with the sea, and that is the Phoenician warship that was killed and injured by the raven warship.

Looking at the wrecks of warships and the countless floating human heads on the sea, Miltias's heart felt as if it was being pinched tightly by something, and it pained him: the Sicilian fleet...... And his Fourth Fleet...... It's all gone? ……

He stood for a long time, letting the tide wash over his legs......

Most of the surrounding crew members were like him, staring at the flagship sunk in the sea, and it was difficult for them to let go of them after so many years of getting along day and night.

"Hey, you're from the Dionian fleet, aren't you?!" Someone walked towards them.

"Yes, we belong to the 4th Fleet of Dionia, ours is ours—" said a member of the crew beside Miltias, who tapped him on the shoulder and stopped him from continuing, as the person in charge of the transport, Miltias felt that he was responsible for the fiasco and was a little faceless.

Fortunately, he had just arrived in Sicily not long ago, and there were not many people who knew him, but the man just glanced at him, and then said to the crew member who was talking to him: "There are still many crew members of your Fourth Fleet there." ”

Following the direction of his finger, Miltias saw that more than a thousand people had gathered on the beach to the east.

The man continued: "I am Fryakas, the commander of Gera's reinforcements this time, this place is too close to the city of Selinus, in order to avoid being discovered by the Carthaginians, we must not stay here for too long, we must go east as soon as possible, past Germe, to reach the city of Minoa to ensure safety. ”

The crew turned to look at Miltias, who nodded, and the crew immediately said, "Okay, let's go now." ”

Fryakas glanced at the depressed Miltias again, he had already seen such a look on the faces of several Dionian captains who swam ashore, after all, since the storm destroyed the Dionian fleet, this is yet another huge loss for the Dionian navy, and the myth that the Dionian navy has never failed since its establishment has come to an end, and it is obviously a bit of a blow to these admirals, Fryakas can understand this, But at the same time, there was also a little worry in my heart: what would Gera do when the Dionian army and navy in Sicily were in trouble?

He sighed inwardly and turned to walk towards the large army.

The crew dragged and dragged behind, looking back at the sea from time to time, and someone suddenly said: "There are no enemy ships on the sea anymore, have they retreated?" ”

Miltias almost stumbled and fell to the ground, he actually preferred to see the enemy ships still cruising on the sea, because it meant that the Sicilian fleet still had warships fighting, and now that the enemy ships were all gone, could it be that the Sicilian fleet had been completely wiped out?!

Miltias's face was ashen, and his heart ached even more.

At this time, there was a loud noise ahead: "Enemy! There are enemies!! ”

"The Carthaginians are coming! Run!! ”

……

The crew was astonished to see a number of Numibian cavalry scurrying out of the woods on the north side of the beach, riding down the gentle slope and rushing towards the large force gathered in front of them, while behind them there were more heavily armed Carthaginian infantry......

Since the last night attack, Margo has intensified her patrols from Selinus to the coast of Germe, and the Sicilian fleet and the Phoenician fleet fighting in the sea near Germe will of course be discovered by Carthaginian scouts, and Margo, who got the news, immediately sent a mixed army of 5,000 horsemen, that is, they were to attack the Dionian crew and soldiers who had fled ashore because of the sinking of the ship, and at the same time to prevent the Minoans from going out of the city to rescue.

The Dionian crew and friendly soldiers on the beach were mostly unarmed and inevitably panicked. And when the Numibian cavalry rushed closer, the javelins that flew out fell into the crowd, and the splashes of blood and terrible screams made people turn and flee in panic.

The Numibian cavalry screamed wildly, and took the opportunity to drive their horses and charge, which accelerated the rout of the Dionian crew and friendly soldiers......

"General, we must immediately flee to the sea to avoid the pursuit of the enemy!" The flagship's voice trembled, and he shouted loudly to Miltias.

“…… Go ahead. Miltias said with a blank expression, but the whole person continued to move forward.

The captain of the flagship was so anxious that he grabbed him, shook him vigorously, and shouted eagerly in his ear: "Miltias, the enemy is coming!" We must escape! ”

"There are enemies everywhere, and if you hide in the sea, you will still end up as a shameful captive...... The 4th Fleet is gone...... It's all my fault...... I have betrayed the trust of Your Majesty! ......" There was endless remorse in Miltias's faint words, and he raised his head and looked ahead: "...... Only by dying on the battlefield can people laugh at me less...... in order to reduce the senators' doubts about His Majesty! ”