Augustus Road

"God, I have often contributed to you in the past. Today you must agree to my request and shoot arrows at the enemy!" - Congratulations from the ancient Greeks

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"One decked ship, two ships, three ships..." At the tower built on the east bank of the old port, two centurions of the Ligurian local army blinked and counted one by one. The scale of the local fleet that appeared at the port of Selia was "seventeen decked triremes, nine double-row raiding ships, and thirty-six undecked fast warships. The crews on them were all ready, There are scythes, axes and 'crow' suspension bridge equipment. "In the end, the person responsible for observing and counting leaned against the wall tiredly, rubbing his sore eyes to rest, and then the person who recorded it handed the writing board to Sabo. .

On the vast sea outside the tower, Masseria's fleet was showing off its might, coming in and out of the port. Showing off force was their daily job. Now Dumijius and Cato have regained their confidence - although the previous Albi The Western Barbarians suffered a heavy blow, but Triali also made a surprise attack and occupied the city's external channels. In addition, Lepidus was unable to block the harbor. This meant that in less than two months, Pompey's army would attack by sea and land. Supplies continued to arrive. But what was unexpected was that three days later, Lepidus personally led four infantry brigades of the 15th Army and two archer brigades. and five hundred horsemen, riding on them which he had brought from Cyrene. There were only eighteen warships, and the transport ships transporting soldiers were placed behind them. While the city's fleet was returning to port, they suddenly seized an unnamed island in the southeastern sea of ​​Masseria and moored all the ships in the island's harbor. Such an action was completed in just one day and night, which shows that Lepidus has been planning this for a long time. It can be seen that as long as the besieging party does not forcefully attack the city and cause heavy losses, they have enough maneuvering rights.

Upon learning of this development, Cato immediately summoned all the generals and senior centurions and consulted the city's Presbyterian Council about the origin of the island. The answer he received was:...

"This island is called Seymours Island. When the old port was still prosperous, it originally served as a lighthouse to direct traffic. However, later the old port became silted and declined, and the island was abandoned, so there were no troops to garrison it before."

"Is there any water source or warehouse on the island?" Little Cato continued to ask, this was the question he was most concerned about.

"The island is mostly rocky and has only creeks. It is difficult to supply a large number of people. However, it is not far from the land beside the old port, only about five stadias."

This answer made Cato very excited. After carefully checking the number of the opponent's ships, he loudly pointed to the sand table and said, "Our fleet has the advantage in numbers, especially the large ships with upper decks, which are the opponent's." Three times, not to mention that I heard that Masseria has the best sailors and helmsmen, and the Albisci can also fight on the water. Now the local commander, ignorant of his situation, came aboard with a large number of troops. Once he has captured the island, we should attack, destroy his fleet, and isolate the island from the mainland. In this way, within three to five days, the other party will be completely finished!"

Cato's plan was bold enough, and many people agreed with it, but his brother-in-law Dumitius was worried, "Lepidus clearly deployed a large number of siege troops in front of the acropolis, but now he personally led his people to seize the island. , it seems that he not only wants a base to command naval battles, but also has he won the support of the Ligurians, thinking that Liguria can provide him with a large number of ships in a short period of time? "

"It will be the hot rainy season soon. Even if Liguria builds new ships, it will not be able to dry the wood quickly, so the temporary advantage is still with us. This advantage will be even greater after the arrival of the Spanish navy. Obviously, we will be the first to blow the horn of victory at sea. Dumijius, I will leave this naval battle to you," Cato said confidently.

In this case, Domitius did not want to sit still, so he got to work. He mobilized all the shipwrights in Masseria, and in the dock, he brought dozens of large and small ships that Cato had brought from Sicily. It was completely repaired with wood and glue paint, because many ships were damaged to varying degrees during the voyage, but the repair work was nothing to the Massellians. Dumijus planned to use these ships as a second-line reserve to It is guaranteed to maintain an uninterrupted attack on Lebida.

Subsequently, he carefully armed all the seventeen warships provided by the city. Because the copper ram was limited, he could only equip eight of them. Therefore, Dumitius asked a large number of Masseria citizens to carry the remaining ones. Bows and arrows were mounted, acting as long-range fire suppression. As for the other smaller attack ships, Dumitius also filled them with Albisci armed with spears and daggers, installed drawbridges, and prepared to approach and fight. As for the flagship he was sitting on, Dumijus not only hoisted the flag of the Golden Sea Horse, but also armed a large number of tenants and patrons of the Cato family to assume their own guard duties in naval battles.

While Dumijus was preparing, Lepidus was obviously also scrambling for time. He began to mobilize his soldiers and quickly repaired a bridge between the island and the protruding promontory on the east coast of the old port.