The southern tip of the Apennine Peninsula, Sicily.

The superstorm was formed by the warm current from the Atlantic Ocean entering the Strait of Gibraltar, and the convergence of cold and warm air currents was the most terrifying and terrifying thing for the Mediterranean, which is suffering from the cold current of northern Siberia.

In Palermo, a small port at the eastern end of the island, more than a dozen flagless ships are moored in the harbor to shelter from the wind and waves, and on the messy docks, there are piles of all kinds of goods, honeysuckle, rum and ivory from Carthage, wine from the Iberian Peninsula, silk from the East, enough to carry six large merchant ships.

In a small bar on the edge of the low pier, the cheers, shouts and screams of women were deafening.

"Brothers, let's have a good drink, and when this storm passes, we will go to sea to grab his mother again, haha-!" The pirate leader Greer is a strong man with a big beard, he is in his thirties, he has a strong body, a red nose, and the protruding muscles on his arms show a liliang that surpasses ordinary people.

"Big boss, there are already a lot of goods on the dock, why don't we make a move earlier, so that the brothers can have a good time." Beside Greel, a thin pirate half-hunched over asked respectfully.

"There's no hurry. Governor Crassus has ordered that the Qin people are secretly building warships in the Troy area, and we will go and return from the warships that have captured those yellow-skinned monkeys, and return to the Grand Fleet together when the time comes, waiting for the archons to give them the estates, slaves, and beautiful Gallic women--! Grell Daxiao said.

"Gallic women, I want ten, no, twenty." The thin pirate cried out excitedly, and a pair of triangular eyes shone with a lewd light.

"Pisius, you slim down and can eat twenty women, so forget it, how about fifteen for your brother?" The thin man's bold words caused a burst of laughter from the pirates.

This group of Palermo pirates. It was the culprits of the merchant ships and goods that had been a detachment of the Roman naval fleet that had been secretly sent to Sicily by Crassus three months earlier, and then a fleet of skeleton pirates led by Greer appeared in the Mediterranean.

The raging storm lasted for more than 20 days. By the beginning of March, the Greer pirate fleet had finally set sail for the Aegean Sea and the eastern coast of Anatolia. His pirate fleet can be said to have crossed the seas without encountering an adversary.

This time, of course, there will be no regular meeting, with Greer's experience, the so-called new fleet of the Qin people cannot be built without four or five years, and it will only take half a year to form, and the fleet of the Qin State is just an empty shelf, and there is no possibility of going to sea to fight him at all.

――。

Constantinople.

A meeting of the senior generals of the Qin Western Expeditionary Army was being held, after Li Yuan had returned from Chang'an to the eastern shore of the Mediterranean. Convene the congregation to make important decisions on military deployment adjustments.

From defense to offense.

was the general tone of the meeting.

After a winter of hibernation, Li Yuan not only looked ruddy and full of confidence, but the third batch of reinforcements arrived. In the face of the provocation of the Romans, Li Yuan shouted for the first time the slogan of a decisive battle against the city of Rome and the capture of the Colosseum.

Ray was thrilled. As a young general who had just arrived in the West, he met many famous generals of the Qin army who only heard of him but did not see him, Luo Jia, who commanded the cavalry, and Li Zhongxiang, who was famous in the Western Regions. There are also Gan Yong, Huan Chu, Cao Xin, Zhou Ping, Yang Yu and other twenty-eight generals of Great Qin who have been recorded in history.

"One day, I, Lei Quilt, will also become one of them, and one day, in Daqin's merit list, Lei Quilt's name will also be embedded in it; One day, the people of Great Qin will remember my deeds! Lei was in a state of flux, and beside him, so was Li Shang, one of the eight young Huainan Horses.

"Bixia, if we want to compete with Rome, we must first achieve maritime supremacy in the Mediterranean, otherwise the Jews, Greeks, and Egyptians will be suspicious and unable to contribute even if they ally with us. What's more, during this period, the pirate fleet supported by the Romans was rampant, and if they didn't crack down, they were afraid that the merchants would not be able to hold on. Dongyang City Guard Huan Chu said worriedly.

Dongyang is located at the heart of the Western Silk Road, and during this time, the number of goods transshipped from the port of Haifa was greatly reduced, and the Jewish merchants passing by complained repeatedly. The Jewish merchants, who had benefited from tax relief after their alliance with Qin, had apparently forgotten about this, and were begging Qin to do something more for them.

Li Yuan sneered, nodded and said: "General Huan said well, Dongyang City's low tax policy has been implemented for a year, after you go back, you can raise the tax rate by one level, if the Jewish merchants make trouble, tell them that the new tax will be used by our Great Qin army to fight pirates." ”

In addition, the situation in other cities was carried out in the same way. As for the fight against piracy, I would like to ask General Gan Yong to talk more carefully about the coping strategy. ”

Li Yuan's words lifted the spirits of the generals of the Qin army, and the murderous aura revealed from the words made them feel that this time, Li Yuan was really determined to fight a decisive battle with the Romans.

Gan Yong listened to the words and strode forward, on his left and right, Hu Lu and Luan Bu had already taken the lead, covering the eastern Mediterranean Sea sand table model unveiled, the chart is a must for naval warfare, an accurate chart, not only can help their fleet occupy a favorable position, but also be able to avoid the enemy's pursuit when the war is unfavorable, from the map of the sea area shown by Gan Yong, these days, he and his soldiers have not stopped moving forward.

"Bixia, generals, please see--, this is a map of the sea area in the eastern Mediterranean centered on the Greek island of Crete, from the analysis of the previous robbery of merchant ships, the scope of activity of the pirate fleet is mainly concentrated in the southern tip of the Peloponnese, several small islands here, there are many harbors, suitable for concealment, pirates may hide nearby in advance, and wait until they find merchant ships passing by, and then suddenly appear to plunder, so, our battle plan is-!"

Gan Yong's tone was calm, and on his dark face, there was no other expression except for calmness, but as soon as his words ended, the faces of the generals of the Qin army who heard it changed one by one.

Clean sweep!

How is it possible that the Jihua they formulated is ready to annihilate the pirates in one fell swoop? With the current strength of the Qin fleet, it is fortunate to be able to maintain a confrontation situation in a naval battle, and if the tactical level is used properly, it will at most defeat a few enemy ships, and as for total annihilation, it is completely impossible.

"Bixia, the pirates have succeeded several times, they are very arrogant now, I am sure, as long as we have enough bait, those pirates will definitely smell the fish." Gan Yong said resolutely.

Li Yuan pondered for a while and asked: "I basically agree with your jihua, however, it is not an easy task to encircle and annihilate a notorious pirate fleet, in the choice of ambush location, we must be cautious, not people who trust and understand, if you can, you don't need it, as for the need for the cooperation of the Tianlei Army, there is no problem with this, I will pull out a thousand people from the Chinese army and hand it over to you, as for how to use it, it depends on yours, but there is one thing, this battle can only be won, not defeated--!" ”

"The last general will obey! In this battle, we should take the lead, do not behead the head of the enemy, and never withdraw troops! Gan Yong, Hu Yu, and Luan Bu responded excitedly.

Troops of the Heavenly Thunder Army.

It has always been the most mysterious one of the Qin army's departments, his system and number of people, is the most hidden among the departments, in the era of cold weapons mixed with gunpowder weapons, itself is a cheating nature, in case the recipe for making gunpowder is leaked, so that the opponent has mastered this cutting-edge jishu beyond the times, and the Qin army will lose Zuihou's killer weapon.

Therefore, in terms of the number of times the Tianlei troops have been used, Li Yuan has always been able to use it. And once used, it is an earth-shattering shock, and it must be a devastating heavy blow.

A pirate fleet is just a puppet driven by the Romans, Scipio released it to attack merchant ships, the purpose is to attack the prestige of the Qin army, and the second is to take a look at the hole cards of the Qin State.

Of course, in order to boost the spirit of the soldiers, in order to maintain the confidence of the alliance Shili, this encirclement and annihilation operation planned by Gan Yong is necessary, and the decisive battle with the Romans is imminent, even if the Tianlei Army is exposed, it is nothing, if the battle can end perfectly, even if the Romans know that the Qin army has a secret weapon in their hands, they will be helpless in a short time.

――。

March 4th.

In order to prepare for the naval operations, Cao Xin's army of more than 30,000 soldiers left Constantinople and marched west along the high mountains and hills of the Balkans.

In the entire Balkan Peninsula, the strength of the Gallic legion was about 20,000 people, but due to the military system within the Roman Republic, the Gauls did not belong to the Roman lineage, but were mercenaries.

The most practical possibility is that Scipio would wait until Petius's troops were almost as good as the Qin army before sending troops, and then neither the Gauls nor the Qin would be able to match the strong and well-trained Roman army.

"Hey, if it really doesn't work, let the Thracians take the lead for a while, anyway, these simple-minded barbarians don't need to be used in vain, don't they want to regain the lost land and cities? Let's put on a good show. Pelius thought and thought, and finally made a judgment that he thought was feasible.

After the surrender of Adesilia, the Thracians were scattered, and a considerable part of them defected to the Romans, who were used as slaves of the Gauls in peacetime, and now this slave army was to be sent into battle as cannon fodder for the two great powers. (To be continued......)