"Don't panic, Lord Sekrian is here!"

"With Lord Sekrian here, we have no fear of any enemy!" ……

At the same time, there was a cacophony of chatter on the deck, and these legionary reservists from the towns of the Sicilian Territory of Dionya were of course aware of Secrean's prestige, but they were nowhere near as respectful to him as the Dionian crew.

A man in leather armor and a leather helmet quickly walked out of the deck, he approached the side of the ship, and solemnly gave a military salute: "My lord, I am the captain of this warship, the Ilias of the First Fleet!" ”

Hearing that it was his old subordinate, Sekrian was relieved, and he immediately said: "I know you, Ilias, every time the fleet warship training is assessed, the results of the fast 3-layer oared warship you command are always at the top...... Now I command you to jump all the soldiers on board into the sea for me at once, and then take your ship with me to meet the enemy!" ”

Ilias was taken aback and said hesitantly, "...... But...... Commander Miltias hoisted the Apollo flag and let's"

"Miltias is an idiot!" Sekrian interrupted him angrily and shouted: "The enemy has been killed, all the warships are still full of soldiers, and they have no ability to fight at all, what is the use of gathering together!" Is it convenient to be sunk by the enemy! Now, in my capacity as the commander of the First Fleet, I order you to carry out your orders immediately! ”

"Yes...... Be! Ilias replied loudly, and from the bottom of his heart he was absolutely in favor of Sekrian's approach, because the First Fleet's belief cultivated under Sekrian's influence has always been to attack, and never to be passively beaten.

The soldiers on the deck, who had just heard the conversation between the two, began to make noise, and they did not want to be thrown off the ship.

Ilias had to face them, and loudly persuaded: "Warriors of Dionia, our fleet is now facing a strong enemy, and the situation is urgent!" But because the ship is loaded with you, the ship cannot fight. Either you jump into the sea, so that we can go and fight, repel the enemy, and then come back and rescue you; Either you stay on the ship and wait for the enemy ship to arrive, sink the ship, and then you all become prisoners...... Make your choice now! ”

There was a sudden silence on the deck, and soon a man stepped forward.

"Squad Leader!" The soldiers shouted earnestly, their eyes focused on him.

"Brothers, if the Navy is finished, we will be in big trouble!" The captain of the detachment said with a resolute expression: "With your long shield, let's jump into the sea and let the navy see, not only they can swim." ”

After he finished speaking, not a single soldier objected, and one by one he picked up the long shield on the deck, which was the strict discipline of the Dionian Legion, even if it was only a regimental reserve detachment.

"Please help us save the rest of our armor and weapons first." The captain of the detachment gave Ilias a word, and then with a long shield, he "plopped", and the first jumped into the sea, followed by the other soldiers......

During this process, Irias kept the military salute.

After giving the order, Sekrian did not stop by this ship, but continued to chase the other ships, because the ships were slow to catch up with the soldiers, and after stopping several ships one after another, he found that all he encountered were ships of the First Fleet (i.e., ships that had escaped the disaster by breaking into the port of Selinus during the storm), and the ships were mostly Dionian Legion Reserve soldiers.

After a little thought, Sekrian understood that this was certainly not accidental.

In order to hurry, Miltias ordered in the harbor that the ships should be fully loaded with soldiers before they could set off, and the legionary reservists were more well-trained and organized than the citizen soldiers of the other city-states, so they could assemble at the docks as quickly as possible and board the ships.

At the same time, Miltias was the last to set off because he had to oversee the entire boarding process, and any army commander generally had a habit of gathering his most trusted troops around him, so that it would be easier to command and play a greater role in battle, even if it was only a transport. Miltias still habitually let the First Fleet ships dock at the dock first, so the Fourth Fleet warships that had followed him for more than ten years would set off later, closer to him.

This unintentional arrangement by Miltias made it easier for Secrean, who was able to carry out his orders with the First Fleet warships and legionary reserve soldiers who sailed at the forefront: it was a fast three-oared warship, and all the soldiers on it jumped into the sea; It was the Raven warship, keeping 40 soldiers, and the rest all jumped into the sea.

Of course, Sekrian also encountered friendly soldiers on the warship, and they obviously resisted this order, and some even threatened to occupy the ship by force, and the captain could only persuade patiently, and at the same time, the soldiers from nearby warships jumped into the sea as an example, and most of these friendly soldiers eventually complied, but in this way it delayed time......

………………………………………

While Sekeli was in a hurry to persuade the ships to the east to obey his orders, the Eastern Phoenician fleet was speeding up and chasing the Dionian ships that were retreating toward the coast.

The Dionian sailors paddled hard, but the ship was full of soldiers, which seriously affected the speed of the warship, and was gradually shortened by the East Phoenician fleet, which had been raised to the highest speed of the warship.

One by one, the Eastern Phoenician warships pounced on the fat sheep in their eyes like tigers and wolves.

The Ionian warship, which was left behind, saw that it could not escape, so it simply turned around and bravely rushed up against the enemy ship, but how could the Ionian warship, which had lost its speed and agility, be the opponent of the lightly armed Eastern Phoenician warship, either the oars were broken, or it was hit by the hull, and the Ionian crew and soldiers constantly jumped into the sea with exclamations.

Of course, there were occasional exceptions, these East Phoenician sailors learned about the situation of the Dionian fleet from the mouth of their fellow colonists, but after all, they had not experienced it personally, and several East Phoenician warships were carelessly hooked by the twelve-meter-long drawbridge of the raven warship when they were rushing head-on, and friendly soldiers who had already put on their armor and weapons were killed in a swarm.

The other Phoenician warships that saw this terrible sight quickly learned their lesson, and when confronted by the Raven Warship, they avoided the bow and attacked the stern instead.

Due to the inflexibility of rotation and the slow speed of the crow warship due to the large number of soldiers, and the lack of fast three-layer oared warships to protect it, it became the target of the Phoenician warship's attack.

Miltias's ship was hurrying towards the beach, which happened to be the beach where the infantry of the fleet had landed during the night raid a few days ago, and it was a mile away, and the distance was getting closer, but Miltias had no joy on his face, and his heart had been tormented.

Originally, he had been sitting in the stern of the ship, observing the follow-up of other warships, but what he saw was: countless enemy ships rushing at a gallop, attacking the warships that fell behind, although these lone warships resisted stubbornly, but they were either sunk or damaged, floating stiffly on the sea, allowing the enemy to bully, the exclamations of the crew were always continuous, and more and more crew members and soldiers fell into the sea......

This situation made Miltias's heart twist: these were the warships that he had applied to the Ministry of Military Affairs for more than ten years, carefully maintained and repaired them every day, and worked hard to save them, and they had come to naught in a blink of an eye! There are also these brothers who have been with him day and night for more than ten years and trained hard, he came to Sicily with them who were eager to make meritorious contributions, and they did not fight a big battle, but they saw that they were about to lose their lives! ……

He couldn't help but stand up anymore and said loudly, "Stop the boat for me at once!" Leaving 40 soldiers behind, the rest immediately jumped out of the boat and swam to the beach on their own! Fast! Fast! ”

At this time, Miltias gave the same order as Secrean's, in fact, he had this idea in his mind before, but at that time he was still lucky, and he was afraid that driving the soldiers on the ship into the sea would lead to the protest of his friends afterwards, which would be detrimental to him, after all, he had made a great mistake...... A mistake in his mind caused the Sicilian fleet to run into trouble, and now he regrets it.

The friendly soldiers on deck did not argue like the friendly soldiers on the eastern warship, because they had seen the terrible situation in the sea behind them, and it was not necessarily safer to stay on board than in the sea, and they quickly did so.

Rather than directing his flagship to rush directly at the enemy ships, Miltias quickly sailed towards the nearby ships, and he needed to gather as many nearby ships scattered as possible outside the battlefield as soon as possible in order to fight against this enemy fleet that came from nowhere.

In fact, due to the critical situation and no need for Miltias' reminder, some of the soldiers on the Dionian warship had already jumped into the sea on their own initiative to allow the warship to participate in the battle.

However, the first wave of the attack of the Eastern Phoenician fleet damaged at least 10 Dionian tri-oared ships, which had already torn the already scattered rear of the Dionian fleet to pieces, and the successor ships took advantage of the victory to pursue the scattered Dionian ships in an attempt to wipe out the rear of the Diodian fleet.

Naturally, the flagship of Miltias, with its wide hull and red blood flag on top of its mast, was the main target of the East Phoenicians, and a total of five Phoenician warships were rapidly approaching it, forcing Miltias to halt his original plan.

Miltias made an instant decision, and he gave orders to a raven warship and a fast three-oared warship gathered on either side of his ship.

Soon, the Raven Warship and his flagship quickly turned around and headed towards the coast, while the fast 3-layer paddle warship turned a corner and sailed in a direction parallel to the coast, pulling away from them.