When Caesar's fleet appeared on the surface of the sea beyond the harbor in the gloomy waters of the Corinth Strait, the Corinthian defenders defending the city were actually somewhat prepared, sounding the alarm bell and lighting the beacon fire on the tower. www.biquge.info Soon, hundreds of Pompey Legion ships in the harbor began to anchor and set sail with a creaking sound.

The soldiers hurried into the cabin, and the slaves were herded into the lowest level of the cabin, where the oars were paddled and where the water was most easily entered.

The whole bay soon became boiling and restless, and although Pompey sent some legions to control the situation throughout the Greek peninsula and fend off Caesar's other armies, a large part of the army remained in the port of Corinth. Here, at least three legions of Pompey, fifteen thousand men, were gathered at this moment.

Soon, the ships of both sides met on the sea outside Corinth.

Ancient Roman ships were not equipped with European post-Industrial Revolution artillery, and were powered only by manual paddles and sails, and the throwing weapons on the ships were the scorpion ballistas, catapults, and fixed ballistae launchers found on land.

And such a naval battle, Apis had seen before. Only then it was in the Atlantic, at war with the Gallic tribes, and now, the opponent is the Roman legions, which also have advanced launchers.

The fleets of the two sides approached cautiously, lined up in a straight line with each other, and there were also formations in naval battles, and neither dared to charge first and enter the range of the opponent's weapons. Until Crassus Jr.'s fleet was the first to rush into battle, his flagship raised its sails and drove straight in, beside him, five Roman warships closely escorted the commander's flagship. Standing on the deck of his battleship, Apis could clearly see the scene of Crassus's battleship breaking through the enemy's position on the neat line of the fleet.

Soon, fierce battles began between the two sides.

Those Roman heavy artillery crossbows first began to fire at each other. The Corinthian defenders pulled the cables on the ships and dropped a hairstone projectile on the battleship of Crassus the Younger.

From a distance, around the flagship of Little Crassus, snow-white waves splashed in an instant. The launch of the catapult was almost covered. Falling from the sky, the entire fleet was surrounded by those high splashes. But the distance was too far for Appis to know if the blows of these crossbows, catapults to the small Crassus battleship group caused substantial damage.

Soon, however, the opposing Pompey fleet became impatient with the lone fleet of the Crassus the Younger. They began to dispatch a dozen warships to encircle the flagship convoy of Crassus the Younger.

Naval warfare is not like land warfare, where the fire of the ships is concentrated on the sides, not on the front, except for assault assault boats, but these large warships coming from the opposite side are clearly not of this type. With the help of sails and oars, they constantly adjusted the direction of their ships so that the sides of their ships were aimed at the enemy's positions.

The five battleships of Little Crassuna were soon surrounded in the middle. A large number of artillery crossbows, arrows were thrown from the deck of the Corinthian fleet in Pompey.

Dense fire even obscured the sky. Those arrows, stone bullets, constantly streaked across the sky, making a whooshing sound, although spectacular, but once hit, the battleship was not sunk, but also in danger of serious damage.

"Why didn't we rescue him?"

Crane led the newly cultivated Hidden Commando to stand behind Appis and asked puzzled.

However, this question, Apis is also not clear. Apis didn't know much about naval battles, after all, naval battles rarely took place in Gallic wars, and Apis didn't have much experience in this area.

"I don't know, brother. But I have the feeling that Caesar must have had his own ideas and plans. Maybe he's waiting, waiting for a fighter. I mean, Caesar couldn't have let little Crassus die for nothing. Maybe he wanted Crassus's fleet to be the bait? ”

Appis's speculation soon became a reality.

A few minutes later, when the battleships of Pompey's regiment surrounded the main ship of the Lesser Crassus, Caesar began to give the order to lay siege to the Corinthian battleship group.

A majestic trumpet came from the sea, and the raised flag symbolized the order of all to attack.

A large number of Caesar's Legion ships rushed out of the battle line, and they were like wolves pulling open the encirclement net, speeding down, surrounding the dozen or so battleships of Pompey's Legion in the center.

It's like adding another vortex to the top of one vortex. The two warships staggered over each other, almost stirring up a whirlpool storm on the surface of the sea.

However, in the midst of this staggered drive, a large number of crossbows, arrows, and stone bullets have been flooded with them. On the side of the fleets of both sides, layers of huge waves were stirred.

This time, however, the confrontation was no longer limited to cold weapons, the stone projectiles were coated in tar, and then the sappers ignited the stones on the catapults, and when they were thrown, they were already flaming flints.

The flints on both sides flew in the air, drawing a stunning arc of Mars. The battleship that was hit was even more like a small earthquake, and the whole ship suddenly trembled.

A number of high-speed flying stone projectiles burst through the air, with a terrifying whistling sound, piercing the hull of the ship, and the planks were shattered with a terrifying cracking sound. The crew inside didn't even have time to dodge before they were shattered by the high-speed flying stone projectiles. A real crush.

Most of the ships hit by the stone bullets died in their cabins before they could let out a cry of pain.

And a Corinthian battleship that was set on fire by the Lepida battleship was even more shattered, and its hull was pierced by flying stone projectiles, and it was riddled with holes.

The flying stone projectiles shattered the deck as well as the flesh and blood on the deck, and the flying sawdust carried bright red blood, like a layer of blood mist over the hull of the ship.

The horrific scene was even more terrifying than the land battle. Because, at all, the soldiers have no possibility of surrendering and fleeing. Until the entire battleship is completely sunk into the water, I am afraid that no one will come to the rescue.

In the midst of the fire, Lepida's fleet began to surround the dozen or so ships of Pompey's legion. Obviously, anyone with a little experience in Roman naval warfare knew that Caesar began to prepare for the landing of the ten large attack ships of Lepida, on enemy warships. This was a special way of naval warfare for the Roman navy. Invented by the Romans against the Carthaginians, it has been refined and used in all kinds of naval warfare, including the suppression of pirates and civil wars.

Lepida's five large transports first turned around with all their might and rushed towards the dozen or so embarrassed Pompey warships. At the same time, the navy of Caesar's legion on the periphery began to stop long-range strikes on those Pompey warships. So as not to accidentally damage these large transport ships that rushed in. (To be continued.) )