What makes Sima Yi and others happiest is that the sea level of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is not as big as imagined, and there is no need for locks to open up normal navigation.

The Grand Fleet led by Lu Su was already waiting outside the port of Suez, and the advance fleet had even entered the completed channel of the Suez Canal, and had been waiting for a long time at Lake Timsach.

Now that the last few tens of kilometers of the river are missing, I heard that the canal is about to be completed, and all the workers have burst out with enthusiasm and have stepped up the construction day and night.

Of course, during the five-year construction of the canal, many slaves and migrant workers died of exhaustion on the construction site, but their daily food and clothing were still guaranteed.

Moreover, in order to increase their enthusiasm, Sima Yi even promised these slaves that when the canal was completed, those who performed well would be freed, and they could choose whether to continue living in Egypt or return to the old home of the Han Dynasty.

It was this promise of freedom that inspired the slaves to work day and night at a miraculous pace.

On the sixth day of September 220, this moment will forever be recorded in the history books of the Han Empire and the history of the world.

One of the greatest miracles in human history was born, the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, was officially completed.

The canal was nearly 400 miles long, and hundreds of thousands of slaves and laborers took more than five years to build, using a large amount of explosives to increase the progress of the project.

The width of the canal is about 100 zhang, and the depth of the water surface is 9 zhang, so even the largest tonnage Xinghan can easily pass through.

After the canal was opened, military control was implemented, and at this stage only one-way traffic was carried out, and the entire expeditionary fleet of the Han Empire Navy would pass through here, from the Red Sea in the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean.

Two hundred warships, large and small, passed around the clock and around the clock.

Because the water flow in the canal is slow and there is no wind, the canal is also specially equipped with a large number of fibers to assist the rapid passage of warships.

Of course, these porters were no longer slaves, but many freemen and Egyptians who were freed and chose to stay, who could be paid more, and who could be fed and rested, without having to work as hard as they did during the construction of the canal.

Lu Bu was very happy, as long as Lu Su's fleet entered the Mediterranean, it could ensure the establishment of maritime superiority, and his army could cross the strait boldly with confidence.

Lu Bu couldn't wait to order the army to assemble towards Nicaea, which was the same place where the last Nicaea retreat directed by Marcus was located.

It was the closest spacious beach to the other side of the strait, ideal for the assembly and boarding of large armies, which were claimed to be millions of troops by the Han and Persian armies combined, with more than 600,000 troops.

The road from Mosul and Damascus to Nicaea was full of marching troops, and the beaches of Nicaea were already covered with tents and camped for dozens of miles.

The first detachment of Lusu's Grand Fleet, the fleet commanded by Lü Meng, arrived at Port Said through the Suez Canal completely, and then headed for the sea off Nicaea under the guidance of the Persian Empire's Mediterranean Fleet.

Although the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet of the Roman Imperial Navy had always had reconnaissance ships monitoring the route from Port Said to Nicaea, they did not dare to act rashly after seeing a large Han naval fleet.

All they could do was send a quick message to the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Publius, who was far away in Taranto, asking him to decide what to do next.

Although Lü Meng's detachment had only twenty-six warships, there were two thousand tons of the Imperial and a thousand tons of Taishan, all of which were huge ships.

Although the navy of the Roman Empire has been developing rapidly in recent years, many new warships have been built, but the largest is only a thousand-ton warship, and there are only a few in total, and more are five-hundred-ton warships.

As for these new warships, the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet has only one thousand-ton Caesar-class and five 500-ton Prescia-class new warships, and the number is not as large as that of Lümeng's detachment.

They only dared to hide in the harbor of Athens and wait for the new order to arrive.

Lucis, who was far away in Byzantium, had already discovered Nicaea on the other side of the strait, and there was a large build-up of troops on the beach, and it was increasing in large numbers every day.

He sent an urgent message to His Majesty the Emperor, hoping that the navy would be dispatched to deal a heavy blow to the enemy's land forces before they crossed the strait, in order to relieve the defensive pressure of the Eastern Army.

He also received information that the two countries had as many as one million of the combined forces, and although he did not believe that there were one million enemy troops, six or seven hundred thousand was a certainty.

And his subordinates plus the barbarian army is only a little more than 400,000, and the army is obviously at a loss, and he hopes that Caracalla can send reinforcements as soon as possible, because the attack of the Han and Persia is imminent.

Purbrius received two MIAs almost at the same time as Caracalla, who trusted Lucis's judgment and felt that the navy should strike hard while the enemy was still on hold.

The new ships are equipped with so many guns that they are suitable for long-range attacks, attacking land targets from ships.

Purbrius received an order from Caracalla and the Senate to attack, and could only lead the main fleet of the Roman Imperial Navy from Taranto to rendezvous with the Eastern Mediterranean Fleet.

The main fleet consisted of four Caesar-class ships and fifteen Prescia-class ships, accompanied by about twenty triremes.

Although there were no monsoons in the Mediterranean, and the role of sails was not obvious, the galleons built by the Romans still retained their characteristics and paddling power, which made them more agile and maneuverable, and limited their tonnage.

Led by the Persian navy, Lümon's fleet traveled along the coast of the Persian Empire and reached the sea off Nicaea without any problems.

Standing on the coast of Byzantium, Lucis could see the huge warships in the middle of the strait, especially the 2,000-ton Reich, which was like a mobile fortress on the sea.

The swarthy gun muzzles on the three decks all declared their great strength, and the delay in the appearance of the Roman Imperial Navy also made Lucis at a loss.

He, of course, knew that on the coast on the Byzantine side, to build defenses, to prepare a counterattack on the enemy's landing operations.

However, he knew more about the power of the guns on the battleships of the Han Navy, and if he let his subordinates enter the beach to build fortifications too early, he would be sending live targets to the enemy ships.

He would rather let the enemy's army land and then counterattack than let his men die in vain.

Although he also built several coastal forts, the six-inch bronze guns in them were far inferior to their opponents in terms of rate of fire, range, and even power.

The day before yesterday, as soon as Lümont's fleet reached the sea off Nicaea, their Imperial visited the Romans' coastal batteries, and the ten-inch guns were out of range of the Romans, easily blowing up the Romans' batteries into the sky, and the guns and gunners suffered heavy losses.

Frightened Lucis, he simply removed the artillery and gunners from the other batteries that were not attacked, there was no threat at all, and put it as a gift.