Suddenly, the lookout hand blinked, hooked the mast with his right hand and his right foot, and stretched forward, put his left hand on his forehead, and his eyes widened: Under the dim sky in the distance, several black spots appeared on the sea surface... After only a while, the black spot doubled, and after a while...

Xiao Wang's hand was trembling all over and immediately shouted: "Discover the enemy ship! Dionia's fleet is here!..."

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The news that "Dionia's Second Fleet defeated the Iberian fleet on the north coast" made Secrean feel itchy. Although as the commander of the Sicilian fleet, his victory in this naval battle was also due to his contribution, he was disdainful to steal Flarios's military achievements. But the Carthage fleet never appeared on the south coast, making it impossible for him to fight against it.

At this time, because the land forces were about to attack Selinus, he saw an opportunity, so he discussed with Leothis and formulated a plan: by besieging Selinus and luring the Carthage fleet to rescue from the sea, so as to achieve the purpose of a decisive battle with him.

In order to ensure victory in the decisive battle, Secrean also transferred the Second Fleet stationed in Messina, which brought the fleet of Dionia's warships in Sicily to 600 and 485 three-layer oar warships. This is a huge number. Secrean firmly believed that the Carthage Navy could not match it at all.

Secrean sent numerous fast ships to the southern coast of Sicily every day, and some even ventured to the west coast to explore the enemy situation.

However, for several days, the Carthage fleet still did not show any movement, and Leotizides could not sit still, because although the Dionian army was feinting the attack on the city of Selinnus, it would cause some soldiers to be killed and injured every day. Moreover, under the long-term garrison, Lilibi's army was ready to move. Although its strength was not very strong, the Iberian army in Palermos made him feel worried, not to mention that the distance was not too far. Once several Carthaginian troops attacked at the same time, the Dionian army, which did not have much advantage in its troops, would be in trouble. Therefore, Leotizides believed that we could not wait any longer, and we must immediately capture Selinnus with all our strength to gain a foothold for the Dionian army to enter the western Sicily controlled by Carthage.

Secrean of course expressed his opposition. His reason was that as long as he defeated the Carthage fleet, the Dionysian Navy could gain an absolute advantage at sea. The coast of western Sicily was under the control of the Dionysian Sicily fleet, which would help the land forces even more.

He persuaded Leotizides to remain patient and wait for a little longer.

The two sides had a dispute, but letters from Davers and the Military Affairs Department resolved their dispute.

In the letter, Davers asked Leothis to strengthen his attack on the western part of Sicily. He had higher requirements for Secreon, hoping that he could completely defeat the Carthage Navy, cut off the maritime ties between Carthage and Sicily, and even threaten the basic city of Carthage.

Therefore, this letter forced Leotizides to continue to implement the plan to "tempt the Carthage Fleet".

This morning, the movement caused by the large-scale assembly of Carthage warships in Levitra could not escape the eyes of the investigation of the Dionian Clippers.

When the news was quickly passed back to Agrigento, Secrean was overjoyed and immediately ordered: all warships gathered and prepared to go on the expedition!

Although Flarios reminded him with some concern: "My commander, the weather at sea today is not very good!"

But Secrean has always been famous for his bold and courageous combat. Even in middle age, his characteristic has not diminished. Moreover, he finally waited for this opportunity, so he resolutely said: "Even Carthaginians dare to go out to sea, why can't we?"

In early March of the 2014th year of the Kingdom of Diony (that is, in 379 BC), at noon on the third day when Davers led his army to leave Turi and head north for Latinum, the Sicilian fleet of Diony and the Carthage Navy encountered the sea near Selinus.

In the strange weather with dark clouds, dark sky, but no wind or waves, this can be said to be the largest naval battle in Greek history.

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After learning that the Dionian fleet appeared, Annobas was a little surprised, but at the same time he felt relieved. He stared out of the window, thought for a moment, and made a quick decision: "The warships in the front advance to meet the enemy according to their original route; the warships in the middle move eastward and spread out as much as possible on the right side of the front; the Iberian fleet in the rear follow the front fleet to prevent the warships in the rear from breaking through the interception.

Annobas made such a deployment because according to his understanding of this sea area, although it is calm now, it may be windy and rainy from the weather, and there is a high possibility of southwest wind. Therefore, the Carthage warship must first occupy the advantageous position of the upper hand to facilitate later combat.

Secrean did not consider that long-term. He arranged the main first fleet near the coast and brought the third fleet led by Flarios to face Carthage's continuous extension of the flank.

His idea was: to use all his strength to defeat the enemy in front, and to act as if he wanted to attack the fleet in the rear to rescue Selinus, forcing the formation of Carthage to retract and rescue, which not only consumes the enemy's physical strength, but also makes Carthage's formation chaotic.

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"Flute! Flute! Flute!..." The sailors pushed the wooden oars at the speed of the double-tube flutes. As the sound of the double-tube flutes continued to accelerate, the crow warship in the front line of the Dionian ship was advancing rapidly. The sea water split at the bow fell on the suspension bridge erected beside the foremast again and again, splashing water, almost making the 12-meter-long wooden bridge a wave blocker for the warship.

Stefakas, during the Southern Italian War, was also a sailor of the Dionian Navy. What he was proud of was that he had experienced all the battles of this newly built fleet defeating the powerful Syracuse Navy. Now he is the commander of the Second Squadron of the First Fleet of Dionian, directing a ship to charge at the forefront of the ship formation and is about to fight in Carthage, the most powerful maritime hegemony in the Western Mediterranean.

But he was far less excited than the sailors, and instead calmly focused on the Carthage warship rushing towards him. He felt that the opponent was not very fast. He was experienced and immediately realized that the opponent was probably not ready to collide head-on with his warship, but controlled the inertia of the warship in order to flexibly bypass the front and avoid being hooked by the crow suspension bridge. After all, the unique tactics of the Dionian Navy are no longer a secret, not to mention that the Carthages had lost in the naval battle before, so they were probably prepared.

"Preparation for interception!" Stefakas gave the order decisively and loudly.

The suspension bridge operator at the bow, the sailor at the cabin, and the helmsman at the stern immediately repeated the order, and the crew members maintained a high degree of tension and concentration.

The two warships were approaching quickly.

Stefakas looked ahead and judged the best time to act. Suddenly he shouted: "Stamp to the left!"

The helmsman swings, the sailor's oar on the left reduces the force, the sailor's oar on the right increases the force, and the warship quickly rows diagonally to the front left.

This is a very dangerous tactical maneuver. It is undoubtedly a taboo for today's naval battles. Even for the Dionia warship with a crow suspension bridge, it is very dangerous. Because the distance is too close and the enemy ship is advancing at a high speed. If the crew is not focused enough and the cooperation is not good, it is very likely that the suspension bridge will not have time to put down and the warship has been hit by the opponent.

But Stefakas is full of confidence in the skills and tacit cooperation of his crew, which comes from the results of strict training day after day, year after year.

Even so, the suspension bridge operators were still highly nervous: some quickly turned the suspension bridge according to the direction of the enemy ship attacking; some quickly loosened the rope tied to the mast, and while holding it tightly, staring at the enemy ship rushing towards him, shouting... Everyone's face was covered with sweat, and the muscles on their arms protruded due to tension.

Originally, Captain Carthage was ready to deflect the warship and avoid the attack of the opponent's crow suspension bridge, but the sudden attack of the crow warship in front was beyond Captain Carthage's expectations, and he was stunned for a moment.

After a moment of confusion, the warship had already rushed out a few meters.

He immediately understood and hurriedly issued an order: to turn the warship to the right.

The Carthage sailors responded quickly, and the rushing warship quickly turned to the right.

But it was already a little late. The direction of the Dionian warship was moving forward was exactly the same as their warships, and the speed increased instead of decreasing.

The Crow Suspension Bridge immediately fell, and the 40 fleet infantrymen on the ship immediately rushed out of the cabin, passed the suspension bridge, and entered the enemy ship.

After Annobas knew the combat characteristics of the Dionian fleet, he was not unprepared. During this period, he made Carthage and the Allies make a large number of daggers to equip the sailors, because only this lightweight and small weapon would not affect their paddlings, and at the same time they had some self-defense and counterattack.

However, it was impossible to exert the advantage of large numbers on the narrow warships. Most of the Carthaginian civilians who served as sailors had not undergone regular infantry training and were completely unable to compete with the infantry of the Dionian fleet that was coming in full swing.

In addition to not wearing the heavy infantry equipment of the Dionian Legion, the training intensity of these Dionian Fleet infantry is not weaker than that of the army. Not only do they need to master the dagger stabbing technique, the shield and sword joint attack technique, the chessboard array, the javelin and the charge, and the team-group combat cooperation... In addition, they also bet on more energy in two training sessions: fast landing operations and long-distance swimming.
Chapter completed!