"Octavian collected grain and grass from various villages during his negotiations with us, how cunning!"

At the base camp of Appis's legion outside Rome, Levius walked into the military tent depressedly and chatted with Appis. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 infoIn the past three days, Macinus, the negotiator sent by Octavian, and himself have ostensibly been in peace talks, but in fact they have not reached any agreement on key issues, but have been rambling on some minor issues, which makes Livius a little annoyed every time he comes back from negotiations. When Octavian heard that he had been sent to Rome for food during this period, he was even more anxious.

"Leave them alone, in fact none of this is important, what matters is the outcome of the Battle of Messina. Whether Commodus can win or not is the key to the whole war. We have now reached another crossroads. ”

In the face of Livius's anxious mood, Apis responded lightly. And then continued-

"Actually, I don't care at all how much food and grass Octavian can muster into the city in these few days, it doesn't matter. The city of Rome, with a population of one million, was nothing to rely on this little support and supply on the outskirts of the city. Octavian's move was more about winning the hearts and minds of the people. And I, on the other hand, complied with his wishes, and even asked Klein to help Octavian deliver grain and grass to the civilians in the city in the suburbs these days. Because none of this matters, what matters is whether Commodus can win the naval battle and blockade the Tiber. If this could be done, then Octavian's two legions overseas would not have been able to reach Rome in a short time. Then our siege strategy will work. ”

"Okay, okay, you've done another 'big thing' without me."

Levius shook his head, a helpless look of self-deprecation.

"But don't let up your negotiations and continue to force Masinas to negotiate key issues."

"Okay, I see. Also, Bunodius has now managed to infiltrate Commodus' fleet and has earned Commodus' trust, when are you going to start? ”

Livius continued. In the dark tent, only two people could hear such conversations. The matter was so secret that it was the most secret assignment since Apis began his espionage work.

"Wait. When you need him, let him do it. Now is not the time, at least until this naval battle is over. Bunodius dedicated the design of the water tank to Commodus, gained his trust, and successfully arranged for a group of our men to participate in the construction of the new ship, and Bunodius himself was transferred to Commodus's side as a deputy, if this naval battle was won again, then Commodus would definitely use Bunodius more heavily and be defenseless against him. Bunodius could take advantage of this opportunity to arrange his own men into the pirate fleet little by little. In the future, it will be much easier to regurgitate water when you need to. This requires a process and cannot be achieved overnight. We need to give him enough time to complete this task. ”

Apis lowered his voice in the tent and whispered to Levius. In fact, the Union Commodus, from the very beginning, was a lie. The alliance is just an illusion, Appis's real purpose is to use Commodus to contain Octavian, on the other hand, secretly arrange his own men to infiltrate this pirate fleet, use Commodus to cultivate this fleet, and when needed in the future, he will kill Commodus, and then occupy this fleet himself, after the loss of Marseille, Appis knew that he had almost no navy in the Mediterranean, and in the future against Octavian and Antony, the power of the sea is indispensable, so when he was in Gaul, Apis set his sights on Commodus. Take advantage of the special situation to trick Commodus into allied with him, and then use Commodus to train a navy for himself. Eventually, when needed, assassins will steal the fruits of other people's hard work. Sometimes, Apis thinks that his methods are too vile, but such is the struggle, he does not live in a fairy tale, but in the cruel political society of ancient Rome.

……

The Battle of Messina, full of artillery fire.

Countless corsairs staggered past the Capua naval battleship, fiery cannons and heavy javelins fired from the deck, dealing devastating blows to the ships on the opposite side.

The stones struck the hull of the ship, and even the sturdiest planks were shattered. The crew on deck operated a variety of ballista machines while dodging the cannon and javelins flying from the ship opposite. Some of the crew members even raised their shields to defend themselves, still being knocked away by the high-speed artillery projectiles, and blood was splashing everywhere.

A stone-throwing with a thick flame fell from the sky, with a long black tail of smoke, and landed on the deck of Commodus's flagship, and suddenly the huge battleship shook, and the deck was so blazing that the stones shattered the front deck, and the rubble carried the flames scattered all over the ground. The sailors and crew rushed to extinguish the burning flames with spare seawater. Where the stones fell, there were several corpses that had been crushed to the point of not being human, and a mass of charred rotten flesh stuck to them, which was extremely terrifying.

"Damn it! Counterattack! Counterattack! ”

Commodus shouted. Beside his Pirate King's flagship, a three-sailed Roman light ship quickly approached, from which the stone cannon was fired. At the moment of the Pirate King's order, countless cannons and heavy javelins were thrown from the battleship of Commodus, and flew straight towards the oncoming Roman light ship.

The naval men aboard the Roman light warship didn't even have time to dodge before they were shattered by the javelins and cannons of the pirate king's battleship. The lead-covered cannons were shot at a rapid pace, and the Roman soldiers, who had no time to dodge, had their entire heads smashed, their brains and blood splattered, and a headless corpse fell on the deck. There were also some soldiers of the Legion, even though they were hiding under the guardrail, but the lead stones thrown by the powerful heavy weapons still shattered the planks and smashed the soldiers hiding behind the guardrail to blood.

Then, under the intensive long-range attack of the flagship of the king of pirates, the entire Roman light warship was riddled with holes, and the hull continued to enter the water, until finally it slowly sank to the surface of the sea. Leaving behind a blazing flame and black smoke billowing out.

On the other side of the battlefield, another Roman heavy warship fired dozens of heavy javelins with hook ropes, pulling the flanking pirate ship tightly to its side, and then the commander of the Roman naval warship ordered the soldiers to lower the crow drawbridge when they were close enough.

The huge drawbridge moved sideways, and then, in an astonishing manner, it fell heavily and smashed into the deck of the pirate ship with a terrifying loud thud. The huge heavy iron nails at the end of the drawbridge are embedded deep into the deck of the pirate ship. Then, the two warships were firmly connected! At this time, the Roman heavy infantry, who had already been on standby, rushed up from their own ships and rushed towards the opposite pirate ship...... This was the typical tactic of the Roman navy, approaching, gluing, and then destroying.

The sailors of the pirate warship looked horrified, and they stood on the deck and threw stones and spears in the direction of the Roman heavy infantry, but to little effect, these Roman heavy infantry shielded their bodies, lowered their heads and charged, stones and spears flew and hit the hard shields, making a tinkling and continuous blow, but did not destroy the few Roman legionnaires who were boarding.