It should be said that Barikos successfully completed the mission. The fleet he led dragged the main fleet of Dionia for more than three hours.
But for Morbar, the results he obtained were not satisfactory. He sank 35 Dionysian warships and lost 7 of his own. This was the first time he watched the Carthaginian warships attack carefully. After the Dionian warship, he changed his tactics to obtain a record, but it was still far from his original idea. He originally planned to destroy all the Dionian warships that had been lured out.
The reason for the failure was that the commander Dionia of this fleet gathered more than half of the warships in time, but did not lead them out of the small area to rescue the warships scattered around the periphery. An irregular circular formation was placed in that area, and the defense was focused on the relatively open west.
After the Carthaginian fleet eliminated the other lone Dionian warships, it regrouped and surrounded the remaining Dionian warships. It also tentatively launched several attacks, but Dio The Nia's fleet was so well-defended that Morbar did not dare to make up his mind to launch a storm.
After receiving the news that "Dionia's main fleet is coming to aid", Morbar finally made up his mind: "Inform the warships to gather on the west side of Gila Island to complete the final mission."
"Sir, what about our sailors on these islands?" his subordinate reminded.
"Everyone dies, so do you and me..." Morbar said that, but he still regretted it in his heart. He sighed again: When planning, they should have reminded them to swim to Sicily after falling into the water!
During this period of time, the Carthaginian fleet had the upper hand in this sea area, but on various islands and reefs, it was Dionia's drowning crew that ruled the roost, although most of the drowning Carthaginian crew were killed by nearby friends. The ship was rescued, but most of the sailors of the merchant ships who were sunk by the Dionysian fleet swam to various islands and reefs. How could they be the opponents of the Dionysian crew with fleet infantry, either killed or captured.
After Sekelian led the fleet into this sea area, his mood suddenly became very bad, because he saw fragments of warships floating on the sea from time to time, and heard the joyful cry of Dionysian crew on the nearby islands and reefs...
"What did this idiot, Stepakas, do!" The worry in his heart became stronger and stronger, and he couldn't help shouting angrily.
But after seeing more than 40 remaining warships and hearing Stefankas recount the whole battle, Sekelian didn't get angry anymore, but said unwillingly: "We are all fooled..."
When Stefankas continued: "According to the report of the Clippers, the Carthaginian fleet is forming on the west side of Gila Island-"
Sekelian's anger burst out again: "The Carthaginians attacked us and won a small victory, and they thought they were proud of themselves, but they still wanted to fight with us! Very good! Very good!! Very good!! Order all the warships to bypass the Isle of Hilla and fight the Carthaginian fleet to the death!"
Sekelian first ordered several warships to take the crews on the islands and reefs on board. At the same time, he led about 240 warships to the west side of Gila Island. As expected, he saw the Carthaginian fleet lined up. Awaiting.
Sekelian sounded the bugle without hesitation, raised the red and black flags, and all the warships of the entire fleet quickly lined up in a starry formation as they moved towards the Carthaginian fleet.
However, the Carthaginian fleet suddenly turned its bow, away from the Dionysian fleet, and headed south.
"Don't let them escape into the port of Lilibe!" The unwilling Sekelian gave the order to "pursue".
However, the Dionia fleet was originally about two miles away from the Carthaginian fleet. The speed of the crow warship was relatively slow, and the speed of the fast warship was fast, but the Carthaginian fleet was neat and just won the battle. Klian didn't dare to let the fast warship rush too far, otherwise it would be too far away from the crow warship, and it would be easy for the opponent to counterattack and cause losses.
In fact, the Carthaginian fleet did not intend to fight the Dionysian fleet again, nor did they enter the port of Lilibe, but led the Dionysian fleet to wander around the sea near Lilibe and Mazara. , then turn around and head west, destination - Carthage.
Unwilling to lead the team to chase for a while, Sekelian finally had to return.
It was already afternoon, and it was approaching dusk. During most of the day, the Sicilian Fleet had been tricked, raided, and pursued to no avail... After a series of embarrassing incidents, both Sekelian and the crew were both physically and mentally exhausted. Tired, where can I still have the physical strength and energy to continue cruising the western seas, all of them drove the warships and returned to the port of Serinus...
… … … … … … …
The main army led by Davos was stationed in Minoa not far from Serinus, and the news that "the new Sicilian fleet was defeated in the first battle" could not be deceived from him.
Of course, Sekelian didn't want to hide it. Although it wasn't a big failure, he did feel a little ashamed, so he wrote a battle report truthfully, and then prepared for "the task of patrolling the Sicilian waters" as an excuse. In the early morning of the second day, the Clippers were sent to King Davos, but he did not go to apologize in person for the time being, but led the fleet to look for fighters in the western waters, fight a victory as soon as possible, and win back his dignity before going to meet Dave. s.
But what he did not expect was that before the fleet left the port, the king's messenger came from Minoa and read Davos' warrant to him, asking him to rush to Minoa to meet Davos immediately. king.
With an uneasy mood, Sekelian came to the Minoan Barracks.
When the serious Davos saw him, he handed him a papyrus scroll without waiting for him to speak.
After Cykrian read it quickly, he was surprised: "Yesterday, there were thousands of merchant ships full of military supplies docked in the bay north of Eryx?!"
To the north of Eryx there are two slender hills that go westward for about a mile or two into the sea, like the bent horns of an ox, thus forming a large bay in which indeed the Phoenicians established The two ports, but they are not big, have never had so many merchant ships docked in them.
Davos said coldly: "This is the information obtained by the Kingdom's intelligence department's spies in Sicily. It was only delivered to me late last night. There is no mistake! Just when the Sicilian fleet was teased by the Carthaginian Navy, I am afraid that You didn't think that the real purpose of the Carthaginian navy was actually to deliver rations to the Carthaginian army that was about to run out of food in Sicily! And everyone in the Sicilian fleet, including you, was like an enraged bull, just staring at the sight in front of you. Enemy, you have completely forgotten your true mission! Now that the Carthaginian army has food, it has enough patience to confront us, which will definitely bring us a lot of trouble! Secorian, this time, You have disappointed me a bit."
Sekly was ashamed and astonished at the same time: Everything the Carthaginians did yesterday was ultimately because of this? ! But the Carthaginians never showed any attempt to guard the huge transport fleet and intercept the Sicilian fleet cruising north, but it was true that he and his subordinates were all focused on the enemy, and they didn't even want to send them. The warship crossed Eryx and probed north. The incident yesterday made him very annoyed, but he didn't expect to lose more!
Seeing that he was silent, Davos said coldly, "What?! Frightened by the Carthaginians?!"
Seklian raised his head, looked at Davos, and said in a deep voice, "No, Your Majesty, I admit that I lost to the Carthaginians this time, but there will be no next time!"
"Well, this is the Victorious Admiral of the Dionysian Navy that I am familiar with." Davers nodded and said in a soft tone: "The Dionysian Military Law emphasizes that, 'As a commander, you must Always keep calm, and don’t let any bad emotions affect your reason and make wrong judgments.’ And this time anger blinded you and made you make these mistakes, I hope you can learn from it, Please remember that you are the commander of the Sicilian fleet, and the orders you give are not only related to the life and death of the Sicilian fleet, but also to the victory or defeat of the entire Sicilian war! Don't be like a captain, obsessed with sinking enemy ships! Instead, you should open your mind and focus on the whole battle! Do you understand?!"
This time, Cykrian nodded thoughtfully.
"Since the establishment of the kingdom's navy, its development has been very smooth and has not encountered any major setbacks, which has led to a very high morale in the navy, but it is also easy to generate pride..." Davers continued to remind: "Yesterday's This defeat is also a good thing, allowing the naval soldiers to calm down and take the enemy more seriously. After all, Carthage is a maritime power in the Western Mediterranean with a profound background, and their new naval commander is not a simple figure. The Carthaginian heroes who led their fleets to the ocean have fought at sea for decades, if you can defeat such a general, it will make your victory even more valuable!"
Davos looked at Cykrian, who had thrown his frustrations away and became a fighting spirit again, and asked, "What do you think of the Carthaginian merchant ships that teased you?"
At this moment, Secrian's heart was already in turmoil, he thought about it, and said seriously: "Your Majesty, I admit that these Carthaginians are indeed very capable of sailing, but last night we interrogated the captured Carthage. Merchant sailors, they learned from their mouths that this Admiral of Kataiji called Morbal had specially summoned all the sailors with superb sailing skills in Carthage and the nearby Phoenician city-states, and more than half of them were his former subordinates. He motivated them with the news that "Carthage is in trouble and desperately needs heroes to save", and at the same time promised a high pension, so he formed these two Carthaginian fleets and used them to lure the Sicilian fleet. .
Although his tactic worked in the end, it was a method of killing the chicken and taking the egg. In fact, it was excessively depleting the sea power of the Carthaginians, which just showed that after our successive naval victories, the Carthaginian navy was already understretched. This extreme approach was taken as a last resort to gain some advantage, but it could neither last nor deceive our navy.
Your Majesty, I have formulated a new action plan based on the current situation of the Carthaginian navy. I believe you will soon hear the news of the victory of our Sicilian fleet! "