Published at 26th of March 2024 1:16 am

Chapter 892: Unknown Fleet

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After Miltiades departed, Leotychides instructed, “Muklu, notify the troops we're sending for reinforcements to hurry to the port immediately.”

“Roger, Lord Commander.” However, Muklu didn't immediately carry out the order despite having already received it. Instead, he asked with some doubt, “Aren't the Carthaginians taking too much risk? They sent an army of several tens of thousands to cross the mountainous region, which is difficult to traverse and inconvenient in the transportation of supplies, in order to capture Agrigentum. Once our reinforcements arrived and thwarted their attempts, we won't even need to attack these tens of thousands of Carthaginians, and they would collapse due to their inability to supply them with food…”

“This Carthaginian Commander is indeed daring. It seems Mago highly trusts the ability of his men.” Leotychides looked at the map hanging on the wall with a glint, “That's why we need to send our reinforcements fast.”

.............

After the Theonian army captured Selinus, they rapidly converted its port into a simple military port. Not only would it allow the ships of the Sicilian fleet a place to dock and resupply, but also to be pulled ashore for maintenance and repairs…giving the fleet a stable and secure foothold in western Sicily for its patrols and attacks on the western seas.

Currently, there were over a hundred and fifty ships docked in the port, with soldiers from the friendly city-states of Minoa, Agrigentum, Gela, Camarina, and Inycum on the south coast, along with a thousand soldiers from Theonia's Reserve Legion. In total, six thousand soldiers were now boarding in batches.

Wanting to transport the reinforcements to the port of Agrigentum in a single trip, Miltiades even forbade the marines from boarding the corvus ship, thus freeing up more space on board.

Seclian, however, expressed his opposition to this plan. He believed that using the entire fleet solely for transporting soldiers was unwise. He insisted that they should at least use half of the warships as an escort, a necessary level of vigilance a navarch should possess.

Miltiades, on the other hand, retorted by saying that they would transport the remaining soldiers a second time if they only freed up half of the ships. Now that they are in a dire state, who will bear the responsibility once the enemy breaches Agrigentum because of a lack of troops? Moreover, they would also need to patrol the western water after completing the transportation of soldiers, so there was no room for delay.

Both sides parted unhappily again, with Seclian simply boarding the earliest fast-sailing ship to depart.

In order to save time, each warship departed as soon as it was loaded with soldiers. Once Miltiades boarded the flagship, which would depart last and leave the port, the entire fleet would spread up to two kilometres eastward to form a straight line. However, due to being packed with soldiers, each ship sailed slowly.

Miltiades was also a bit anxious. While looking at the soldiers lying on the deck with a worried expression, he tried to estimate the time it would take to travel from Selinus to Agrigentum at their current speed. By the time they completed the transportation, he feared it would be well over into the afternoon, and it would be impossible for the fleet to do any more patrols.

At this moment, he hoped for a strong northwestern wind like the day the Carthaginian army landed, which would significantly shorten the sailing time.

Then, while lost in his thoughts, he suddenly heard a startled cry from the lookout, “Attention! Attention! Enemy spotted to the southeast!!”

Miltiades was startled to hear this, leaving him puzzled, ‘With all the warships of the Carthaginian destroyed, where did the enemy from the southeast come from?’

While feeling confused, the lookout on the mast once again shouted anxiously, “The advance ship raised two blue flags! Two blue flags!”

The blue flag meant that it wasn't the Carthaginian warship that appeared. Otherwise, the advance ship would have raised yellow flags at the first opportunity. Still, two blue flags meant that a fleet appeared nearby, in numbers comparable to those of their fleet, and that, whether or not it was hostile, it posed a considerable threat to them.

Feeling panicked, Miltiades clutched the side of the ship and strained his eyes to the southeast but could only vaguely see a few dots on the sea in the distance.

Among the four navarchs, neither Miltiades nor Fulalios had the experience of independently commanding large-scale naval battles. During the South Italian War, Miltiades served as only a trireme captain. After establishing the Fourth Fleet, the Ministry of Military presented Davos with several candidates for its navarch. However, given their comparable qualifications, battle records, and abilities, Davos found it hard to decide. Ultimately, he selected Miltiades because Davos still had some impression of Miltiades as he had previously served as the captain of Davos' ship, which influenced his decision.

After becoming the navarch of the Fourth Fleet, Miltiades spent most of his time leading the fleet to patrol the Adriatic Sea, combating pirates and helping the army transport supplies. The only so-called naval battle he led was to attack the joint fleet of Messapi and Peuceti when Theonia was conquering their lands. With their opponent too weak, he didn't need to exert any effort to defeat them.

Despite Miltiades possibly facing his first major naval battle, the situation was rather complex: They couldn't discern whether the other side was friend or foe, preventing him from making a sudden decision to face them. Furthermore, not only was his fleet out of formation, but every ship was loaded with soldiers, resulting in their fleet's speed slowing down and weakening their ability to engage in battle. Unfortunately, at this moment, the entire fleet found itself near Thermae, making it difficult to retreat. Thermae, being a small town, possessed a small and rudimentary port that was insufficient to accommodate their entire fleet.

In such a situation, he couldn't help feeling panicked. He did his best to calm down and then issued his first command, “Raise the flag of Apollo, sound the salpinx!”

With the sound of the salpinx ringing out, the golden flag rose to the top of the mast and fluttered in the wind.

Hearing the salpinx and seeing the fluttering flags, the warships in front of the flagship turned their bows and approached Miltiades' ship.

When they raised the flag of Apollo, it signified that the flagship assumed a central position, and the other ships would then manoeuvre closer, reducing the distance between warships to facilitate more efficient command and defence.

At this moment, Miltiades thought that since the fleet was full of soldiers, which wasn't favourable for combat, and his flagship was closer to Selinus, he wanted all the warships to approach him. This way, if the unknown fleet indeed attacked, he could first lead the fleet back to Selinus.

The Theonian fleet stretched too far across the sea, particularly the warship at the front. Their lookout couldn't see the flag on the flagship at the rear, nor could they discern the signals from the fast-sailing ships cruising behind the flanks. They could only adjust accordingly when they observed the tactical manoeuvres made by the ships behind them. As a result, the transmission of messages was slow at this critical moment.

.............

The fast-sailing ship Seclian was riding on had already distanced itself from the entire fleet because they had left the earliest. As Seclian sat in the bow after boarding, the crew saw that he was in a bad mood, and no one dared to disturb him, resulting in the whole ship being unusually quiet.

Suddenly, he became puzzled, touched his ears, and asked the captain, who was observing the sea condition near him, “Did you hear that? It seems like someone sounded a salpinx.”

Confused, the captain shook his head and tried to listen carefully before answering truthfully, “My Lord, I didn't hear anything.”

Despite the captain's words, Seclian wasn't assured. He stood up, looked at the rear and then at the mast, “What's the movement of our warships?”

After a while, the lookout replied, “They haven't changed much.”

“My Lord, perhaps you heard wrong,” said the captain.

Seclian didn’t listen to him, as he felt uneasy. Perhaps this unease had started when he learned that Miltiades had loaded the entire fleet with soldiers without having any escort ships, and now this feeling became stronger.

Without hesitation, he decisively said, “Turn around and sail back to take a look.”

The captain complained inwardly of Seclian being too suspicious. Still, he didn't dare to express his opposition. After all, Seclian had a high prestige as a former navarch, a victorious general, and a hero admired by the crew members.

.............

Just as the Theonian warships turned back one after another, the unknown fleet continued to approach the Theonian fleet, with many small black spots already appearing in Miltiades' line of sight, making him terribly frightened.

Suddenly, he heard the lookout exclaim, “Two yellow flags! Two yellow flags were hoisted! It's the enemy! It's the enemy!!…”

Hearing that crushed the hope in Miltiades' heart, and it was too late to retreat to Selinus since the other ships still hadn't fully gotten close yet. Luckily, he had already thought of a backup plan while waiting, “Blow the salpinx again and have the ships docked at the nearest coast, unload the soldiers and return to battle!”

Naturally, they couldn't express his following words with the flags, so his flagship must set an example and let the other warships follow suit. Therefore, after giving orders, his flagship sailed straight towards the coast.

The fast-sailing ships scouting the southeast side of the Theonian fleet had actually been unable to identify the approaching fleet. However, as the other side continued to draw near, gradually organising into formation, lowering sails, and increasing rowing speed, the standard preparation for a fleet entering battle, it became evident that they were unquestionably the enemy.

It turns out that the fleet wasn't from Carthage but from the Phoenicians in the eastern Mediterranean. With the storm decimating the Carthaginian navy, the Theonian fleet seized this opportunity to rampage across the sea while the Carthaginians had no maritime strength. They had not only severe the connection between Carthage and Sicily but also threatened Carthage's maritime trade. In this life-and-death situation, while stepping up the construction of new warships, Carthage had gone to ask its mother city.

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