Novels online

Chapter 897

Seeing this, the East Phoenicians immediately sent one of their warships to pursue the fast three-oared warships, while the other four continued to pursue the two raven warships. As the East Phoenicians saw the raven warships heading straight for the coast, they understood that the enemy warships intended to stop at the shallow beach. This would undoubtedly cause their plan to sink the raven warships to fail, so they increased their speed again.

In the process of the chase, they gradually formed a formation with two warships in front and two behind.

The sailors of the raven warships gradually slowed down, giving the East Phoenicians the illusion that they were gradually closing the distance between them and the raven warships.

Miltias stood at the stern of the ship, his eyes fixed on the approaching enemy warships. His ears listened to the lookout on the mast continuously reporting the distance between the enemy warships and the flagship, as well as the distance between the two warships.

Miltias stared at the approaching enemy warships, his face covered in tiny beads of sweat. When the distance between the flagship and the enemy warships was only about fifteen meters, he suddenly shouted, "Turn!"

The crew who had been waiting immediately began to move. The helmsman swung the rudder, the sailors on the inside rowed harder, and the sailors on the outside slowed down. The entire crew moved in unison, causing the flagship to suddenly turn outwards.

It was too late for the Phoenician warships to change course. The strong inertia caused the warships to continue moving forward even after the sailors stopped rowing.

The Raven Warship next to the flagship also turned to the outside of the hull at almost the same time. When they had just turned their bows, the two Phoenician warships at the front had already brushed past them.

"Continue turning inwards!" Miltias and the captain of the raven warship next to him gave the same command.

It turned out that when the two Phoenician warships saw the Diónia warship in front of them turn, they immediately turned their bows and charged forward diagonally. The target of the bronze ram was the raised tail of the Diónia warship. The reason why Miltias' flagship and the raven warship sped up and spun was to avoid the tail of the warship and let the bow of the ship face the enemy warship.

If the warship was still fully loaded with soldiers, Miltias wouldn't have dared to make such a tactical maneuver. But now that the warship had unloaded too many soldiers, it had regained its usual lightness. The results of the crew's years of training were displayed at this moment. When the enemy ship approached, the flagship's bow was already tilted towards the enemy ship. The deck operator seized the opportunity and lowered the 12-meter-long drawbridge that had been installed on the foremast.

"Boom! Boom! The flagship and the other Raven Warship had both successfully captured the enemy's ship.

"Quick! Quick! Kill them! The boatswain loudly reminded the 40 allied soldiers in the cabin.

It was the first time these soldiers experienced the legendary Diónia style of naval warfare. They rushed to the deck excitedly and swarmed over the drawbridge, killing their way onto the deck of the enemy's ship.

"Damn it! These idiots forgot to pull out the drawbridge! " Miltias cursed. He had asked the boatswain to remind the allied soldiers a few times, but the soldiers were too hot-blooded and had obviously forgotten that they were unreliable without any experience of fighting with the raven drawbridge.

Why did the soldiers pull out the drawbridge once they crossed it? Because there were three other Phoenician warships not far away from the flagship, and the nearest one had already begun to turn its bow. If the flagship was still connected to the enemy ship, it would only be able to ram into it.

So, two of the flagship's deck operators immediately ran across the drawbridge (there were a total of five to eight deck operators on a raven warship) and struggled to pull out the spikes at the lower end of the drawbridge.

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

But no matter how fast the flagship was, it still needed time to move. At this moment, the lookout was already shouting anxiously, "The enemy ship is coming! It's rushing towards our stern! "

Miltias stared nervously at the enemy ship that was charging at them from behind. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his flesh, but he was completely unaware of it. His ears were filled with the shouts of the sailors. They were doing their best to get out of danger, but it took time for the warship to go from a stationary state to a fast sailing state, and that was exactly what the flagship lacked the most right now.

Seeing that the bow of the enemy ship was about to collide with the rear of the flagship, the lookout who was hugging the mast tightly (in a naval battle, the lookout should logically come down from the mast to avoid falling to his death during the collision, but at this moment of life and death for the flagship, they could not care less) shouted again, "Our warship! Our warship!! "

He saw a warship cutting through the waves like an arrow flying into Miltias's field of vision. Before he could see it clearly, he heard a loud bang. The warship had collided with the side of the enemy ship, cutting in like a sharp dagger.

It was the fast three-tiered warship that had lured the enemy ship away. It led the enemy ship in a big circle, then used its speed to shake off the enemy ship and quickly rushed to rescue the flagship.

Beside him were the screams of the Phoenicians, and behind him were the screams of the Phoenicians. Miltias was still in high spirits as he shouted, "Quick! Quick! Turn around! "

Because the crisis had not been resolved, the Phoenician warship that had been chasing the fast three-tiered warship also followed closely behind.

The flagship struggled to turn around, but it was too late. Miltias could only watch as the bow of the enemy ship collided with the rear of the fast three-tiered warship that had rescued the flagship.

This special warship of the Diónia Navy had a narrow, slender hull, shaped like a willow leaf. Speed was its strength, but resistance to collisions was its weakness. In order to protect the flagship, this warship ignored its pursuers and bravely collided with the enemy ship that threatened the flagship. It placed itself in the most dangerous situation.

Because there was an enemy ship in front of it, the fast three-tiered warship had no room to cushion the impact. It bore the full brunt of the impact. The bow of the enemy ship had completely cut into the warship, and the rear of the warship had split open. The seawater was quickly dyed red with blood.

"Speed up!" Miltias gritted his teeth and shouted.

The sailors in the cabin did not know what was happening outside. They continued to row at the fastest speed, causing their arms to be a little numb, but they gritted their teeth and persevered.

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

"Pick up your weapons and follow me!" Miltias shouted towards the cabin.

The sailors were a little stunned. They had always been responsible for rowing, and killing the enemy was the task of the fleet's infantry.

"What are you waiting for? Obey my orders!" the boatswain urged.

The sailors suddenly understood and picked up the bayonets and swords that the soldiers who had jumped into the sea had left behind.

"Kill!" Miltias angrily brandished the sword he had picked up and personally led the sailors to charge at the enemy ship.

At that moment, the other Raven warship did not retreat in time, and was hit by the Phoenician warship that had turned around. Although the damage was not great, the influx of seawater forced the sailors to urgently block it. This affected the speed and agility of the Raven warship, and it was difficult to escape the danger of being hit again.

… …

The three warships led by Miltias faced the attack of five enemy ships, and actually managed to obtain a 4: 3 ratio. This was enough to show that the Sicilian fleet was well-trained and coordinated. However, due to Miltias' mistake, most of the Diónia warships in the rear of the fleet were scattered, and when faced with the attack of the East Phoenician fleet, they were in a dangerous situation. This was especially so for the Raven warship. Without the protection of the other warships, not only could it not display its powerful jumping ability, but its weaknesses such as slow speed and inflexible turning were also exposed.

One by one, the Diónia warships sank, and a few warships directly rushed onto the beach.

At the same time, the East Phoenician fleet was also moving east, and like adding fuel to the fire, the Diónia warships that were returning to the west were surrounded by the Phoenician warships. Seeing that the situation was not good, the warships at the back began to retreat east.

It was not easy for the East Phoenician fleet to find such a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy. How could they let them escape so easily? Some of the warships split up and chased after the enemy.

The soldiers on the Diónia warships jumped into the sea to reduce the weight of the warships so that they could escape. Even so, the Raven warships were caught up due to their speed, and they had no choice but to fight back …

The battle lasted for less than half an hour. The middle and rear of the Sicilian fleet had been defeated by the East Phoenician fleet. Other than some warships that were still struggling to deal with the enemy ships, the rest had either sunk or fled. The defeat of the Sicilian fleet seemed to be certain.

The Phoenician warships pursued eastward and were about to reach the surface of the Minoan Sea.

At this moment, the faint sound of a bugle came from the front. Several watchmen on the fast three-decker warships that were retreating eastward shouted almost at the same time, "Our fleet! Our fleet is here!! "

The captains, who had been nervously watching the enemy ships behind them, turned their heads and looked east. They saw dozens of Diónia warships in the distance. They lined up in the familiar starship formation and were speeding towards them.

The captains immediately became spirited and shouted to the sailors in the cabin, "Brothers, keep your spirits up! Our reinforcements are here!"

When the sailors heard this, they gripped the oars tightly with renewed strength. They steered the warships to the sides to make way for the fleet to attack.

At this time, the Phoenician warships also noticed the abnormality in front of them. They stopped chasing and began to move closer to each other.

This Dionysian fleet that was moving rapidly from the east to the west was made up of 35 of the 42 warships of the First Fleet's Second Fleet. Among them, 25 were the Raven warships, and 10 were the fast three-decker warships. Their commander was Stefakas.