Chapter 164 The Voyage of Sekelian (2)

Davos sighed, put his hands on his shoulders, and said sincerely: "Even if I have a great advantage in the face of Syracuse's forces, the ocean has become the world of their navy, and there is Dionysius. As the commander-in-chief of this terrible opponent, under such a bad situation, I will also lose! And you managed to keep most of the soldiers of the two legions, and at the same time cooperated with Crotone to hold on to the arrival of reinforcements, so that we could turn defeat into victory hope. Not only I should thank you! All the people of Dionia should thank you!"

These words brought tears to Felixius' eyes, tears of relief.

"Dracos' death is not your fault! I know him, he never admits defeat, so whether he takes the initiative to break the back and be captured, or crash to the ground and die, it is what he thinks is the most correct choice! All we can do is capture Dionysius and pay homage to the heroic spirit of Drakes with his head!"

"Yes!...Yes!!" Felixius nodded again and again.

"How are the soldiers of the Fifth Legion?" Davos asked again with concern. The soldiers of the Fifth Legion, a legion composed of Brutians, witnessed the death of the commander who founded it, and during this period of turmoil in the Bruti region, Davos was of course worried about their state.

"The soldiers can't wait to fight the Syracuses and avenge Drakes!" Felixius replied immediately.

"That's good." Davers encouraged him, "I met your wife, Delia, when I was leading the army out of Turii, and she asked me to give you a message, 'She and the child are fine now, I hope you can lead your soldiers to drive the enemy out of Greater Greece as soon as possible!'"

When Felixius came, he was depressed, his head bowed, and his figure shrunken; when he left, he was relaxed and strode.

Davos looked at the back of his departure, but thought in his heart: Felixius is too gentle, his will is not strong enough, and he is not a general who can be alone.

In fact, he still has another reason to thank Felixius that he did not say: the failure of the battle of the Lamato River caused the Greek power in the southern part of Greater Greece to be greatly weakened, and there was no longer the ability to resist Syracuse. Isn't Ornia the same?

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The Dionysian fleet continued southward, approaching the sea near the city of Lockeri.

It can be said that among these port cities on the east coast, only the port in Lokrie still has frequent merchant ships entering and leaving, even busier than before the war. Because of the blockade and suppression of the ports of the city-states of the South-Italian Alliance by the Syracuse Navy, the merchant ships traveling on the eastern and western Mediterranean routes could only transit or trade in the port of Locle.

"Lower the sails!" Sekelian looked at a sail shadow in the distance,

A cold light flashed in his eyes: "Attack!"

With the sound of the horn, the fleet's warships gradually unfolded, and the sailors excitedly accelerated their paddling frequency. The merchant ships did not pose any threat to them, giving them the pleasure of cruelty, and they could also exercise their actual combat experience.

Driven by high-speed paddling, the speed of the warship reached a terrifying 13 knots. Other merchant ships could not escape without the assistance of strong winds. Compared with the three-tier oar warship, the size of the merchant ship was undoubtedly a child facing an adult. Not an opponent at all, and soon overturned under the impact of the warship.

There are broken ships floating on the sea, people calling for help, goods large and small... Seeing this horrific image, the ships in the distance fled in fright. Outside the fleet, no other ships were to be seen.

Sekelian led the fleet to cruise back and forth outside the port for several laps, and then went away.

Loclery was furious, but could not do anything about it, because the Syracuses had taken their 30 triple oars two days earlier, citing their confrontation with the Dionian fleet. Seeing the flamboyant enemy ship outside the port, everyone had a bad premonition.

"It seems that Syracuse's fleet has been defeated again!" Demodocus said with a gloomy expression.

"Yeah!" Panticapes said worriedly: "From now on, the Dionian warships will control the east coast, which will cause a huge blow to our maritime trade! I'm more worried about Syracuse. Zha also lost to Dionysus on land, and you must know that the young consul of Dionia has returned to Turii."

"It is impossible for the Syracuses to be defeated on land!" Demodocus retorted without hesitation: "You and I have both seen the Syracuses' army of more than 80,000 people, isn't it? Any Greek city-state can resist, including Sparta!"

Having said that, Demodocus was still a little irritable in his heart, and he knew very well in his heart: Thanks to the support of Dionysius, Demodocus has been in control of the highest regime in Locri for many years, and it is already de facto "tyrant". For this reason, he fiercely suppressed his political opponents and his opponents, and the people were dissatisfied with him. During this time, this dissatisfaction was intensifying, because in order to ensure the supply of materials for the combat troops and some Syracuse troops, he levied a relatively high "war special tax" among the people of the city-state to increase the revenue of the treasury to buy war supplies. Once the Syracuse army was defeated, it was difficult for him to imagine what would happen to the seemingly mild and peaceful people under the provocation of his political opponents?

"The city is too empty now. If Dionia's army landed here, we would be in danger!" Demodocus said suddenly: "The troops stationed in Medama City must be transferred back."

Panticapes was stunned: "What about Medema City?"

"Lijim's army has been severely damaged. Even if they want to attack the city of Medema, they will not be able to win it soon. We can reinforce it at any time." Demodocas replied.

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The Dionysian fleet continued south and soon reached the southernmost tip of Greater Greece.

Sekelian's ship was at the forefront of the team, carefully leading the fleet around the tip of the peninsula, turned north, and entered the Strait of Messina.

After sailing for a while, they approached Lijim.

It was already dusk at this moment. Although Sekelian was more curious about the city of Messina, the port of Messina was at the narrowest part of the strait, at least a dozen miles away.

Before, when the Syracuses rebuilt the city of Messina, which was destroyed by the Carthaginians, they moved the city site and the port was abandoned for a time, but it was soon dominated by the Syracuses, Locri and their allies. The immigrants took possession of them and vigorously developed them. Before the outbreak of the Great Greek War, Syracuse also sent a fleet to maintain the port security, control the ships entering and leaving the strait, and incidentally block the port of Lijim. Although a few days ago, all the three-tiered oar warships in the Messina fleet were dispatched to Siridium to participate in the naval battle with Dionia, and there were only more than 30 small and medium-sized warships left in the port, but this is not Lijim. able to resist. If it wasn't for the Syracuses' clippers who noticed the arrival of the Dionysian fleet from a distance, and quickly withdrew the warships to the port, the fleet led by Secrian would definitely be able to see Syracuse when they arrived at the port of Lijim. Zha's warship was cruising outside the port, and a battle was inevitable.

Considering that it was getting late, and that there was still something to be done with King Davos, Cykrian temporarily suppressed the urge to let the fleet continue northwards and took the lead in sailing to Lijim port.

The Lijim people had not seen any foreign ships enter the port for two months. When they heard that Dionia's fleet was coming, they rushed out of the city and rushed to the port with great joy.

Under the guidance of the Lijim patrol boat, the Cykrian fleet entered the naval port. The Dionia sailors were still disembarking, and the Lijim people rushed over, surrounded the warship, and loudly asked about the battle situation outside.

It is no wonder that they are so eager, because Lijim has been tightly locked by the Syracuse fleet for more than a month, and they know nothing about the outside world. Generally speaking, it is difficult to completely blockade a seaside city. After all, warships cannot be soaked in the sea for a long time. They need regular maintenance, they need to be towed to the shore to bask in the sun, and the ship maggots need to be cleaned up, and the door also needs to go ashore. Rest, eat and drink water. But Messina is too close to Lijim. The two cities are only a dozen miles apart across the strait, and the Syracuse people are determined to completely blind the Lijim people, causing them to panic. , Therefore, the fleet stationed in the port of Messina was divided into several groups, and the blockade of Lijim took turns without interruption. Coupled with the land passage between Lijim and the outside world, the east side was blocked by Lochry, and the west side was where the Lochry army was stationed in Medmar City, blocking the way. The coalition forces completely retreated south of the Maro River.

Therefore, the arrival of the Dionia Fleet gave the people of Lijim a great surprise, especially when they learned that the Dionia Fleet had completely defeated the Syracuse Navy and became the new master of the coast near Great Greece. Cheers erupted from within. The people of Lijim surrounded the Dionian sailors, sang and danced, as if they were holding a celebration parade, and lively welcomed the Dionians into Lijim City.

That night, Lijim's chief general, Artili Cruz, entertained Sekelian.

At the banquet, at the request of the guests, Cykrian told the story of the Battle of Taranto, which attracted bursts of cheers and admiration from the crowd...

At this time, Atili Cruz coughed a few times and asked loudly: "General Cykrian, Lijim generously lent all our three-deck oars out of friendship with Dionia, even because of There is no fleet, and it has been blocked by the Syracuses for a long time. Now that Dionia has successfully defeated the Syracuse Navy with our help, should we return our warships?"