Off the harbor of Rhode Island, on the flagship of Cassander. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

"General, General Telethforos has sent someone again, asking you whether you plan to attack or retreat, and when will you act?" Glaucias reported to Cassander.

"Let him wait, we have blocked the port, Manon will lose a lot of commercial income every day, and a lot of supplies will become scarce day by day, I am not afraid that he will not surrender when the time comes, at least we can force Polybocon to come out for a decisive battle."

"But our supplies are also slowly decreasing, and we can't last long if we continue like this?"

"If you don't have it, you can get supplies from Athens."

"Okay then, I'll take a trip and stabilize him first."

"Wait! You send someone to tell Ephialtes and ask him to be patient, it is estimated that there will be news within 3 days, either surrender or decisive battle, let him be patient and be ready, beware of sneak attacks. ”

Two days later, when the sky was just dawning, the sea was still foggy. On Alexander's flagship, an important meeting was taking place that would determine the future of the Greek world.

"Cassander's fleet is dormant at this time, the best time for us to attack, the Mediterranean climate is controlled by the west wind in winter, so these fireships must go around to the west of them to attack, and the other ships must also go around to the west as much as possible, smooth wind and water will be very cheap for naval warfare, but it must be ensured that all fireships can reach the target area safely, the fireship target is small and difficult to find, and the three-row oared warship and the five-oared warship target is too large. When the fireship arrives at the predetermined location, it immediately launches an attack, and the all-out attack will be marked by the fireship hitting the enemy ship, do you understand? ”

"Understood!"

"Good luck, Kassandro!"

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, Lady Luck will take care of me!"

"Ares, are all your soldiers ready?"

"Always ready to attack, King!"

"Okay, generals, each of you go back to your posts, and everything goes according to plan!"

Alexander's fleet quietly sailed out of Rhodeshamn, and since it was dawn and no lights were on, no one noticed the group.

Cassandros volunteered to be the commander of the fireship, a difficult task, as each fireship would be used to ram enemy ships, so the soldiers who operated the fireships would be thrown into the icy waters. In the icy waters, even sailors who are familiar with the nature of the water often do not last long. Fortunately, this is not near the Arctic Circle, so the tragedy of the Titanic will not be repeated, and Alexander also sent another clipper to respond, as long as he can hold on until the rescue ship arrives, the soldiers who fell into the water will be saved.

Cassander didn't expect Alexander to sneak attack, so he asked his subordinates to be ready for battle at all times, but after a few days of peaceful waiting, many people were paralyzed and bored, not to mention that at dawn, when people were most sleepy, there were almost a handful of people who did not close their eyes. Of course, even if their eyes are wide open, the distance they can see will not exceed 50 meters until the sunlight has dispelled the mist on the surface of the early sea. So the success rate of Alexander's sneak attack is still quite high.

Alexander was confident that he had mastered this, but in order to prevent accidental injury, the huge flag of the Macedonian Ajid dynasty was flying on every ship of his fleet, including the Rhodes fleet.

"General, our flagship will rush to the front later, I will set an example for all the Macedonian soldiers, although I can't go into battle to kill the enemy, I will always be with them!" Alexander said impassionedly to Polybecon.

"Alexander, don't be reckless! This may encourage morale, but it puts oneself at risk. Naval warfare is not as good as land warfare, and if any danger occurs, other ships will lose their efforts before they can rescue them. ”

"I believe in my soldiers, not to mention that my flagship has 150 soldiers, 100 of whom are elite men who are good at melee combat, and the rest are Cretan archers who are good at long-range attacks, plus a trebuchet, and a few frigates around, I think it should be safe."

"I hope my worries are unfounded." The old general was a little worried, but when he thought that the flagship was a rare six-oared warship, he suddenly felt a lot more relieved.

"Don't worry, old general, I'm not a pedantic person, and I still know how to avoid danger when I encounter it."

With the power of the west wind and sails, dozens of fireships quickly headed for Cassander's fleet on the right flank, and the moment the first fireship collided with a three-row warship of a Greek fleet, countless rockets and fireballs and other chaotic fires flew towards Cassander's fleet. The first of them was the warship at the forefront, after the first round of attacks began, many warships were already on fire, and many people were shot into a hornet's nest before they could react to what was going on, and some were about to climb the mast to lookout, but they were shot down halfway through the climb, and some were smashed into flames on the spot by fireballs. The deck was burning, and many people poured water on it, and the whole deck was full of fire; The canvas burned, and no one could extinguish the fire, but they could only watch as the fire burned more and more widely, and then the mast collapsed, killing many people at once, and the fire spread to the deck. Of course, some people reacted and began to fight back with bows and arrows, but the sporadic bows and arrows did little damage to Alexander's fleet. …,

"Report, it's a big deal!" Glausia hurried into Cassander's chamber, where he heard the voice and was about to put on his armor.

"What happened?"

"Yes, the enemy launched a surprise attack, and the attack was fierce, just like Zeus was angry, there were flames everywhere, and they could not be extinguished, and now the situation is in chaos, if it continues like this, it will definitely be defeated!"

"What?! I didn't expect to choose this time to attack, it's really hateful. You say you can't put out the fire, could it be that the other party used oil, otherwise how could the fire not be extinguished? ”

"I don't know, General, give the order quickly, and I'll go and contact General Telsforos and General Efealtes at once."

"Okay, you immediately order them to stabilize their positions and attack the two flanks of the other side, the enemy fleet is small in number, and we surround them."

"Yes!"

Cassander came to the deck, and looked at the ships on the east and west sides of the fire, especially the Athenian fleet in the east, the fire was even more severe, he couldn't help frowning, and a sense of foreboding flashed in his mind, but he did not hesitate, let the trumpeter blow the horn, which was the signal for the attack. With a muffled voice, Cassander's ships began to meet Alexander's fleet.

After several rounds of projection, the three-row warships loaded with Marines and some five-oared warships began to sail towards the large ships of Cassander, while the other large warships continued to shoot, and the small warships were mainly used to protect the large ships and the warships equipped with crow hangs, and to prevent enemy ships from attacking from the flanks after the broadside battle, because at that time the ships were fixed and difficult to separate.

The Athenian fleet on the right flank suffered heavy losses, with at least 50 fireships rushing to Ephialtes' fleet, a fleet of about 100 in all, and the fireships mainly hit his large ships, because of the wind, most of the ships that were burned were not spared, and most of the soldiers, sailors, and oarsmen on board were burned, drowned, or frozen to death. Although Alexander wanted to capture as many ships as possible, the opponent's fleet was too numerous, so he had to burn some of the ships to reduce the obstacles of the Chinese army's attack on Cassander's own team, so Ephialtes's fleet became a victim, and this unlucky man was almost torn to pieces by the Athenians after returning home, because he basically lost most of the Athenian navy in the battle of Rhodes.

At this time, the loss suffered by Telsforos on the left flank, although it was lighter, but it also frightened him, and although he had ordered his troops to counterattack, he began to think about the question he had never considered, that is, whether he could win this time!

Concentrate:

1 Ephialtes: Admiral of Athens

22 Telethforos: Antigonus's nephew, after the outbreak of the Third Diadochi War in 313 BCE, Telethforos led 50 warships and a large army to the Peloponnese to deal with Cassander and Polybecon. At first his military campaign was quite successful, and he drove most of the Macedonian garrison of the Peloponnese away, except for Corinth and Sicyon, which was the base of Polybecon. After Telsphos joined forces with another general, Medius, Cassander led an army to the siege of Oreus, and the two men led a fleet to the rescue, but they were defeated and lost many ships. In the summer of 312 BCE, Antigonus sent his nephew Ptolemy as supreme commander of the Peloponnesian front, and Ptolemy's military campaign was successful, conquering Boothya in one fell swoop. Dissatisfied with the decline in status and jealous of Ptolemy's achievements, Tellthphos decided to rebel and lure his soldiers to follow him, establishing his power in Elis, and plundering the treasures of the Holy Land of Olympia. When Ptolemy heard of Telethflorus, he immediately returned to defeat Telethflorus and regain Olympia. Soon after, Telthfroth was forced to submit to Ptolemy