Chapter 103 The Battle of Serinus (3)

After stabbing dozens of sailors down, the ship's Carthaginians surrendered.

But this time, Sekelian was determined to fight the Carthaginian fleet to the death, so he issued an order before the war: requiring each warship not to spend energy and distracting forces to capture enemy ships in the battle, and to ensure that sufficient manpower continues to be devoted to the battle. , until the battle is over.

So the fleet infantry slashed the arms of the captured Carthaginian sailors one by one so that they could not row, and then evacuated the enemy ship.

At the same time, many Dionian warships also adopted interception tactics, but only a small number of Carthaginian warships were captured by the Raven Suspension Bridge, and most of the Carthaginian warships avoided in time, which shows that Carthage based on the experience and capabilities of the Navy. They swiftly circumvented the front of the Dionysian ship and attacked its rear.

The Dionysian warship also responded to this, it also followed the opponent in circles, always keeping its bow facing the enemy ship.

So there is a very strange battle scene: the warships of both sides are circling patiently, the Carthaginian warship is in the outer circle, and the Dionysian warship is in the inner circle. It stands to reason that the Dionysian sailor consumes less and saves more effort, but the difference cannot be reflected in a short time.

Of course, the Dionysian warship is located in the center, and there is little room for manoeuvre. Once another enemy ship joins the fray, it is difficult to escape the fate of being hit. But in this naval battle, there were more Dionian warships than each other, not only intercepting the enemies one by one, but also increasing the intensity of the attack. Because Cykrian was not prepared for a protracted battle with Carthage, although he did not know much about the conditions of the sea, the bad weather made him want a quick solution.

Thus, the second wave of Dionia's attack came: fast three-deck oars rushed into the fighting area like sharp arrows.

Elias, the captain of a fast three-deck oars. He used to be a civilian in the Corinthian port of Lekion. His family lived by fishing and buying fish for three generations. He could barely get by, but in the Corinthian War more than ten years ago, the Spartan king Agsilaus led his troops. He raided many ports and towns in the Gulf of Corinth, and like other fishermen, his family's largest property, two fishing boats, was forcibly robbed by the Spartan Allies. After the war, the impoverished Ilias heard that the kingdom of Dionia, across the Adriatic Sea, called on the Greeks to colonize and distribute the land...

Like many fishermen from the Gulf of Corinth, the Elias family, who was desperate and almost sold into slavery, took the risk to board the Dionysian passenger ship that stopped at the port of Lekion to pick up the refugees... The final result was beautiful, Elias also joined the Dionysian Navy, and later became a captain of the First Fleet because of his superb ship handling skills.

Due to the weather, the Dionysian fleet also widened the interval between the warships, which gave the fast three-tier prize warships more room to exert their combat power.

Ilias had long been eyeing an enemy ship in front of him that was fighting with his own crow warship. He commanded the warship to rush up quickly, trying to sneak up on the opponent's tail.

Who would have guessed that the other party had already noticed it, avoided it in time, and then flexibly avoided the approach of the crow warship. Obviously, the enemy ship had considered that one enemy and two would be unfavorable to itself, and began to speed up and retreat, in order to pull away and have a higher speed. The distance of the slow crow warship, first solve this three-tier prize warship without a drawbridge.

The captain of the Carthaginian warship apparently believed that as long as it was not a crow warship, in a normal warship battle, the Carthaginians would be victorious.

At this time, Elias' warship had already turned around and started chasing after him.

Both sides began to speed up their paddles and pursued, and soon the Ravens were left behind.

Looking at the enemy ship behind him, Captain Carthage shouted: "Turn right and turn around!"

As soon as the words fell, the sailors responded immediately.

Captain Carthage's plan was that his sudden turn would cause the fast-moving enemy ship to be pushed forward by the inertial speed when caught off guard, causing the offense and defense to be out of position.

But at this moment, his eyes suddenly widened: because the speed of the enemy ship increased again, almost as if floating from the sea, coming straight at him.

His decades as a warship sailor had taught him that a triple oar could go no faster than 13 knots, and that's how he developed his tactics, but the ship behind him clearly exceeded that speed (instantaneous). The speed actually reached 15 knots), the Carthaginian warship had to reduce some speed because it was going to turn, so he watched in shock as the dark bronze ram of the enemy ship crashed into the rear of his warship at a high speed.

There was a loud "bang", and the huge impact force made the tens of meters long Carthage warship turn half a circle in place, almost overturning.

The captain fell heavily on the deck, and regardless of the pain, he hurriedly hugged the mast beside him.

The sailors in the cabin staggered and screamed, mixed with a shrill scream. It was the helmsman at the stern who had no time to escape, his chest was pierced by the broken board, blood was splashed everywhere, and he couldn't see alive.

The upturned stern of the warship was directly smashed, and sea water poured in from the crack.

The Carthaginian sailors had no intention of paddling at this time. Those with experience immediately broke the oar, took the paddle, rushed to the deck, and jumped into the sea.

After the fast three-tiered oars hit the enemy ship, it detoured for half a circle to confirm the victory, and then Elias announced loudly: "Brothers, crash and sink one!"

The cabin immediately cheered.

"Captain, there is a big one ahead!" At this moment, the watchman on the mast shouted anxiously.

big? ! Ilias was stunned for a moment, and immediately understood: a warship larger than a three-tiered oar warship can only be the rumored four-tiered oar!

Although he has never seen it before, the Dionysian Military Department has always regarded Carthage as the strongest enemy, and spared no effort in collecting and researching its military intelligence. The advantages and disadvantages of this kind of warships that are larger and higher than the three-tiered oar warships have been specially analyzed, and the captains of the warships have been specially studied and understood in the training.

So Ilias immediately had an idea in his heart: "Avoid it and find another target, the clumsy four-tier oars can't catch up with us!"

However, the watchman on the mast continued to shout: "This four-deck oars ship is turning, heading towards a crow ship diagonally ahead of us, which is connecting with the enemy ship!"

Elias's heart was tight: it is said that Carthage's four-tiered oars are equipped with 50 to 60 infantry, which can be used for jumping gangs, and the crow warship in front is fighting against enemy ships. If it encounters it again. , the situation will be very dangerous.

"Front right, go ahead at full speed, and catch up with that big ship!" He gave the order decisively.

The sailors who were still in the excitement of victory immediately pushed the oars hard, and the warship made an arc-shaped water mark on the sea and accelerated forward.

After a while, Elias saw the whole picture of the Carthaginian four-layer oared warship: its wide hull was two meters higher than his own warship, and a layer of oars bulged out from the middle of the sides of the ship, as if It is the skirt of the warship, and you can vaguely see the dense oars inside...

Elias counted carefully, and there were indeed four layers of oars.

The Carthaginian four-tiered oars obviously saw the approach of the Dionian warship, but it continued to sail towards the crow warship ahead without dodging or evading.

"Charge speed! Pinch off its oars!" Ilias calmly gave the order. The reason why he didn't give the order to hit was because he remembered that Chief Sekelian had emphasized that the hull of this kind of warship is relatively strong and is said to be able to withstand Live a few hits.

So Ilias was afraid of not sinking it, but because he was close to the enemy ship, he was attacked by the opponent's jump gang.

The speed of the warship was quickly increased to 13 knots, and it was still climbing, and soon caught up with the enemy ship.

The helmsman controlled the rudder nervously to ensure that the warship was facing the right side of the opponent's hull without any deviation.

"Close the oars!" Ilias gave an order, the oarsmen skillfully put the oars into the hull, and the warship sprinted forward according to its inertia, preparing to pass the enemy ship.

Surprisingly, the Carthaginian sailors were equally skilled in retracting their oars in time, although they had more oars. And the archers on its deck also shot arrows at Ilias' warship, and at the same time dropped a dozen rope hooks.

At the beginning, in order to increase the speed of the fast three-layer oar warship, there were no ship rails on both sides of the deck. Except for the mast, the deck was bare, and there was no place for the rope hook at all.

On the contrary, the arrow that shot down hit the watchman at the top of the mast and fell straight to the deck. A few arrows passed through the gap in the middle of the deck and fell into the cabin, causing a few screams.

The Dionian sailors were slightly flustered.

Fortunately, the fast three-layer oar warship was very fast, and before the enemy could shoot the second round of arrows, it had already passed the enemy ship and rushed to the front.

Ilias, who got out of the cabin, immediately ordered the warship to turn back and put on a posture to continue the attack.

However, the Carthaginian four-tier oars ignored its provocation, still maintained its course, and continued to approach the crow warship ahead.

The infantry of the crow warship had already rushed out of the enemy ship's bilge, and began to accelerate back to their own warship. But the four-tiered oars enemy ship was only more than ten meters away from them, and it was too late to dodge.

At this time, another lookout who had just climbed the main mast of the Ilias warship suddenly shouted excitedly: "Captain, another fast warship! The other fast warship is about to hit-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Elias heard a "bang" sound, and the huge hull of the four-layer oar warship in front of him seemed to be sneezing, his whole body was shaken, the speed of advance suddenly stopped, and the ship The exclamations of the sailors were incessant.

Although he could not see the situation on the other side of the enemy ship because of the huge hull of the four-layer oar in front, he knew that his comrade-in-arms drove the warship to bravely hit the enemy.