Half an hour later, a clipper returned and informed Admika that the Dionian fleet, having approached the coast, had turned north and was preparing to round the northern tip of the island of Sardinia, passing through St. Ibenia.

Hearing this, Ademika relieved most of her heart: it seemed that the Dionian fleet had returned to Alenia.

Thus, the Admika fleet began a comprehensive rescue: all the sailors who had fallen into the water were rescued and placed on the ships that had been poisoned by the raven warships; bandaging the wounds of the slashed sailors and partially transferring them to other warships; The less damaged ships were simply repaired, while the more damaged ships were towed by other ships and ready to be brought back to port, after all, there were too few Carthaginian ships to save one; In addition, Admika also tried his best to rescue the Ionian crew who had fallen into the water, not out of kindness, but in exchange for the Phoenician people captured by the Dionian fleet in previous raids, and they were also used by the fleet to show off his exploits when the fleet returned to the port of Salos, after all, he had gained some achievements compared to the defeated Anobas.

The crews of the Admika fleet have been busy for this, and several warships that originally belonged to the Anobas's command have arrived one after another and merged into the fleet.

It wasn't until the setting sun turned the western sky red that it began, and the entire fleet slowly sailed eastward.

During the voyage, the crew of one of the ships devised a method of amusement, forcing the captured Ionian sailors to run naked on the slippery deck, and not to slow down, to be beaten with wooden clubs if they stopped, and to be whipped if they fell.

Soon, the other crews of the ships followed suit, and quickly spread the word, because watching the painful and comical appearance of the captives and listening to their terrible screams, their resentment at the defeat of the Dionian navy several times was well vented.

Some crew members even came up with other ways to humiliate the captives, such as:

In the flagship's cabin, the boatswain grabbed the leather helmet of a captive, touched the red tassel on the top of the helmet, and asked, "It seems that you are a captain?" ”

The captives, bound to the ship's post, glared at him.

"Head, he doesn't understand what you're saying." A sailor coaxed.

"He'll understand." The boatswain smiled coldly, waved his hand, and slapped the captive hard.

The captive screamed "ah", and half of his face quickly swollen.

The boatswain shrugged at the sailors: "Look, he understands. ”

The sailors laughed "hahaha".

The captive scolded angrily.

The boatswain frowned, and suddenly took his leather helmet and urinated into it.

"Uh......" the sailors looked disgusted.

And when the boatswain put his helmet in front of the captive and forced him to drink it, they became excited again.

The captive glared at him and spat in his face.

This angered the boatswain, who grabbed the captive by the neck with his right hand and pressed his leather helmet against his mouth with his right hand.

The captives struggled hard, their faces swollen red, and finally they had to open their mouths to catch their breath.

The boatswain poured urine from his helmet into his mouth, choking the captives and the sailors laughing.

Admika watched the scene in the cabin through the gap in the middle of the deck, and although a smile appeared on his face, he had to be reminded: "Be careful, don't kill him!" ”

"Don't worry, my lord, we'll be very careful to 'entertain' him." The boatswain playfully patted the captive on the head and said respectfully.

Admika snorted, stood up and walked to the bow of the ship, looking ahead, lost in thought,

He had learned from the rescued crew about the entire battle that had taken place before, and realized the mistakes made by Anobus in the battle, and he was considering how to write a letter to Margo, the patriarch of the Magonides family and the military commander of Carthage, so that he could use it to send a challenge to Hanno in the Senate and take back command of the navy.

"My lord, a warship has appeared in the rear!" His thoughts were interrupted by a loud shout from the lookout hand on the mainmast.

Before he could respond, other faint images appeared behind the warship in the sky's vision.

Wangshou blocked the dazzling light of the setting sun with his hand, closed his eyes hard, and opened them violently, and the image in front of him became clear, it was many warships!

"My lord, it's not a warship, it's a fleet!" Holding the mast with one hand, he pointed to the back with the other, and shouted nervously.

"Whose fleet?!" Ademika was nervous, too, but he had to figure out whether it was friend or foe first.

Since there was still a slight southeast wind at this time, neither Admika's fleet nor this strange fleet had raised their sails, and the lookout had to keep his eyes open and struggled to distinguish: "...... Black bow! It's Dionia's fleet! My lord, they travel fast!! ”

Wangshou's words shattered the luck in Admika's heart, and also made him wonder: how could the Dionian fleet appear in the west?!

…………………………………

Midorades led the Third Fleet to speed eastward, until the lookout told him that the Carthaginian ships in the rear had stopped pursuing.

Although he gave the order to slow down, he still led the fleet to continue to follow the large number of fleeing Carthaginian warships in front of him, until he saw the enemy fleeing into the port of Salos in disarray, and then directed the fleet to continue north.

When he reached the northern tip of the island of Sardinia, he assumed the illusion of returning to Alenia, but in fact led the fleet in a small circle, avoiding the detection of the Carthaginian clippers, and then broke away from the shore and sailed straight west.

He was to lead the Third Fleet to attack the Carthaginian fleet to the west, because he knew very well that the entire fleet was missing nearly ten ships, and they must have fallen into the hands of that Carthaginian fleet, and as the commander of the Third Fleet, it was his responsibility to recover the lost ships and captured crews.

He also knew that according to the usual procedure of naval warfare, the Carthaginian fleet must have been cleaning the battlefield, rescuing overboard, and helping wounded ships...... It takes a lot of time, and it makes the whole fleet bloated and slow.

At the same time, he knew better that the task given to him by King Davos was to defeat Carthage's new fleet, and now that he finally had such an opportunity, how could he let it go so easily!

However, despite the experience of Midorides and his captains, it was not easy to find a target in the vast sea, and the whole fleet sailed to the west of the Carthaginian fleet, which delayed for some time, until the sun set, and they had to abandon the search and began to return eastward, but after a certain voyage, the clippers who were scouting in front suddenly returned: the Carthaginian fleet had been discovered!

Midorladstone became excited and ordered all ships to be ready for battle.

In fact, the Third Fleet was a blessing in disguise precisely because they went in the wrong direction and fell behind the Carthaginian fleet, and Admika did not send clippers to reconnoiter his rear, because he did not think that the enemy would attack from the far sea, and the Carthaginian fleet would not be prepared when the Third Fleet was within sight of both sides.

Hear the lookout on the mainmast tell in detail how slow the Carthaginian fleet ahead was slow, and some of the battered ships were being towed...... Midolades knew that his speculation had come true, and he suppressed the ecstasy in his heart and gave the order in a loud voice: "Blow the trumpet of the attack, raise the red flag and the black pennant!" ”

The Ionian navy usually adopts a formation of "full of stars" when attacking, which is a naval battle formation that has been tested by the navy for a long time and has been proven to be able to give full play to the advantages of the Dionian warship, its flag is black, and it has multiple variants: the standard is that the crow warship is in front, the fast warship is in the back, and the black triangular flag raised at this time means that the fast warship is in front and the crow warship is in the back.

This was because Midorades wanted to take advantage of the high speed of the fast warship to enter the enemy line as soon as possible, further disrupting the already unprepared Carthaginian fleet.

The sailors in the cabin heard the order issued by Midorades on the deck and began to get excited.

The boatswain was also inspiring: "Brothers, the time has come to rescue our comrades and make brilliant deeds!" Get ready for battle! ”

"Roar!! The sailors roared in unison, their eyes once again bursting with fighting spirit, and they all stuffed the remaining rations into their mouths and grabbed the oars in their hands.

Although the crew had been exhausted from a hard fight and chase, after returning to the near coast, the sailors took turns paddling and were rested. In particular, when sailing from east to west in a circle, the sails were raised, and with the help of the southeast wind, they saved some effort and recovered some physical strength.

"Start accelerating." The boatswain gestured to the piper.

"Tick! Backbite! Backbite! ......" With the sharp flute of the piper, more than 200 pieces of wood pulp on both sides of the warship slid up like the feet of millipedes.

The whole warship was like a sharp knife, cutting through the incoming waves without hindrance, and the waves timidly bypassed the dark bow and jumped onto the deck, splashing Midorides' body wet.

Midorades didn't care, he stared motionlessly ahead, and seeing that the Carthaginian ship was getting closer and closer to him, he motioned for his men to bring the helmet with purple and red hats and tassels, and put it on solemnly.

At this moment, a fast warship caught up from the rear and skimmed to the left of the flagship, and the captain solemnly saluted Midorades from the deck.

Midorades solemnly returned the salute.

Then another fast warship passed by the right side of the flagship, and Midorades returned the salute again.