Chapter 242 The Battle of Germay (2)

When the Eastern Phoenicians saw this, they immediately set out a warship to pursue the fast three-tiered oar warship, and the other four still pursued the two crow warships. The enemy ship was trying to run aground, which no doubt thwarted their plan to sink it, so they increased their speed again.

In the process of chasing, a formation of two ships in front and two ships behind gradually formed.

The sailors of the Raven Warship are gradually slowing down the speed of the paddle, giving the Eastern Phoenicians the illusion that through their efforts, they are gradually narrowing the distance with the Raven Warship.

Myrtias stood at the stern, staring closely at the enemy ships galloping behind him, listening to the gazing on the mast with his hands constantly loudly reporting the distance between the enemy ship and the flagship, and the distance between the enemy ships before and after.

Staring at the approaching enemy ship, the ramming angle that flickered in the sea made Mirtias's face covered with tiny beads of sweat. When the distance between the flagship and the enemy ship was only about fifteen meters, he suddenly Shout out, "Turn!"

The waiting crew immediately began to act: the helmsman swayed the rudder, the inner sailor increased the oars, the outer sailor reduced the force, and the neat and consistent actions of the entire crew caused the forward flagship to suddenly turn to the outer side.

It was too late for the Phoenician warships in the back to change course. The strong inertia that came along the way made the warships sprint forward even if the sailors stopped paddling.

The crow warships next to the flagship also turned to the outside of the hull at almost the same time. When the two of them had just turned their bows around, the two frontmost Phoenician warships had already passed them.

"Continue to turn inward!" Miltias and the captain of the crow warship next to him both gave the same order.

It turned out that the two Phoenician warships behind saw the Dionysian warship turning in front, and then deflected their bows and sprinted diagonally forward. The target of the bronze ramming horn was Dionia. The upturned tail of the warship, Miltias' flagship and the other Raven warship accelerated its rotation in order to avoid the stern and let the bow face the enemy ship.

If the warship was still full of soldiers, Miltias would not dare to let the flagship make such a tactical maneuver, but now that the flagship has unloaded too many soldiers, it has regained its previous lightness, the results of the crew's perennial training. manifested at this time. When the enemy ship was approaching, the bow of the flagship had already turned towards the enemy ship, and the deck manipulator saw the opportunity and lowered the 12-meter-long drawbridge that had been installed on the fore mast.

"Boom!...Boom!..." The flagship and another crow warship both successfully captured the enemy ship.

"Quick! Quick! Kill it!..." The bosun loudly reminded the 40 allied soldiers in the cabin.

This was the first time these soldiers had experienced the long-rumored Dionian-style naval battle. They excitedly rushed to the deck, rushed across the drawbridge, and killed the deck of the enemy ship.

"Damn it! These idiots forgot to pull out the drawbridge!" Myrtias cursed. He had asked the sailor to warn these friendly soldiers several times in advance, but these soldiers were so hot, they obviously forgot, no The experience of cooperating with the Raven Suspension Bridge is really unreliable.

Why did the soldiers pull out the drawbridge as soon as they crossed the bridge? Because there are three Phoenician warships not far from the flagship, the latest one has begun to turn its bow, and if the flagship is still attached to the enemy ship, then only the share of collision.

So, two flagship deck operators immediately ran across the drawbridge (there were five to eight deck operators in all on a Raven) and struggled to pull the spikes off the lower end of the drawbridge head.

The other operators quickly pulled the drawbridge up, and the helmsman and sailors began to steer the flagship away from the screaming enemy ship.

But it takes time for the flagship to go from stationary to sailing fast, and at this time the watchman is already shouting nervously: "The enemy ship is rushing over! It is rushing towards our stern!"

Myrtias stared nervously at the enemy ship rushing from behind, clenching his fists and digging his fingernails deep into his flesh, but he didn't realize it, and beside his ears was the voice of the sailors struggling to shout. , they are doing their best to get out of danger, but it takes time for a warship to go from standing still to sailing fast, and what the flagship lacks most now is time.

Seeing that the bow of the enemy ship is about to collide with the stern of the flagship, the lookout hand holding the mast (in the event of a naval battle, the lookout hand should come down from the mast, so as to avoid being killed by the collision, but during the entire flagship At the moment of life and death, they can't care much anymore) shouted again: "Our warship! Our warship!!"

I saw a warship smashing through the waves, like a flying arrow breaking into Myrtias' field of vision. Before he could see it clearly, he heard a "boom". It just hit the side of the enemy ship and cut in like a sharp dagger.

This is exactly the fast three-layer oar warship that lured the enemy away before. It took the enemy ship that was chasing it around in a large circle, and then used its own speed to throw off the opponent and quickly rushed to the rescue.

Next to it was the screams of the Phoenicians, and behind it was the screams of the Phoenicians. Myrtias still shouted nervously: "Quick! Quick! Turn back!"

Because the crisis has not been lifted, the Phoenician warships that were chasing the fast three-tier oars also followed.

The flagship was struggling to make a U-turn, but it was too late, and Myrtias watched helplessly as the bow of the enemy ship collided with the side and rear of the fast triple oars that had rescued the flagship.

This special warship of the Dionysian Navy has a narrow hull, a slender hull, and a shape like a willow leaf. Its speed is its strength, and its anti-collision ability is its weakness. When this warship protects its flagship, it ignores the rear. chasing soldiers, bravely ramming the enemy ship that threatened the flagship, and it put itself in the most dangerous situation.

Due to the obstruction of the enemy ship in front, the fast three-layer oar warship has almost no room for buffering, and it has endured the entire impact force firmly. It can be seen that the bow of the enemy ship is completely cut into the warship, and the rear of the warship has been cracked. The sea water was quickly stained red with blood.

"Speed ​​up!" Myrtias shouted through gritted teeth.

The sailors in the cabin didn't know what was going on outside. They rowed at the fastest speed in a row, making their arms a little sore and numb, but they still persisted.

The flagship rushed over and the drawbridge fell, hitting the deck of the enemy ship.

"Take up arms and kill me!" Myrtias shouted to the cabin.

The sailors were a little stunned: they had always only been responsible for rowing, and killing the enemy was the task of the fleet infantry.

"What are you still doing, obey the order!" urged the sailor.

Suddenly, the sailors picked up the lances and swords left in the cabin by the soldiers who jumped into the sea before.

"Kill!" Miltias waved the sword he picked up angrily, and personally led the sailors to the enemy ship.

At this time, another crow warship was hit by the Phoenician warship that turned its head because it was not evacuated in time. Although the damage was not large, the influx of sea water forced the sailors to urgently block it. , which affected the speed and agility of the crow warship, and could not escape the danger of being hit again.

………………………………

The three warships led by Mirtias faced the attack of five enemy ships, and even achieved an exchange ratio of 4:3, which shows that the Sicilian fleet was well-trained and cooperated tacitly, but due to Mirtias's decision mistakes , causing most of the Dionian warships in the rear of the fleet to be scattered around, facing the attack of the East Phoenician fleet, they are completely in a dangerous situation of fighting more with less, especially the Raven warships, without other warships on the flanks It is not only unable to play a strong jumping gang combat capability, but also its weak points of slow speed and relatively inflexible turns are fully exposed.

One after another, the Dionian warships were smashed and sunk, and a very small number of warships washed up directly on the beach.

At the same time, the Eastern Phoenician fleet was also attacking eastward, and the Dionian warships, which were returning westward one after another like fuel, were also besieged by the Phoenician warships. The situation was not good, and they began to turn around and retreat to the east.

The Eastern Phoenician fleet finally found such a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy, how could they easily escape, and separated some warships to chase after them.

The full load of soldiers on the Dionian warships jumped into the sea to lighten the weight of the warships and enable them to escape, but even so, the raven warships were overtaken one after another because of their own speed problems, and they had to fight. ...

The naval battle lasted less than half an hour, and the middle and rear of the Sicilian fleet had been routed by the East Phoenician fleet. Except for some of the warships that were still struggling to deal with enemy ships, the rest were either sunk or fled. The Sicilian fleet It seems that defeat is set.

The Phoenician warships pursued eastward and were approaching the waters of Minoa.

At this moment, there was a faint sound of bugles in the front, and the watchers of several fast three-layer oars that were retreating in a hurry to the east shouted almost simultaneously: "Our fleet! Our fleet is here!!"

The captains, who were watching the enemy ships in the rear, turned their heads and looked east. They saw dozens of Dionysian warships appearing on the sea in the distance. They were lined up in the familiar starry boat array and were heading towards them. .

The captains were instantly refreshed and shouted loudly to the sailors in the cabin: "Brothers cheer up, our reinforcements are here!"

When the sailors heard this, their hands gripping the oars regained strength, and they steered the warship to the sides to make way for the fleet's attack.

The Phoenician warships also noticed the strangeness in front of them at this time, and they also stopped chasing and began to move closer to each other.

This Dionysian Fleet, coming from east to west and fast, is composed of 35 warships out of the 42 warships of the Second Squadron, the only remaining part of the First Fleet, including 25 Raven warships. There are 10 three-tier oars, and their commander is Stefankas.