Augustus Road

But it was too late. The Dumitius flagship with its sails spread wide and its bronze horn like a bird's beak rushed up to meet it. Although "Carabia" tried its best to avoid it, it was still torn out diagonally. There were extremely long wounds, wooden planks were flying everywhere, and the two ships were violently colliding with each other. The people on them fell and rolled as if they were in the core of an earthquake's vortex. Moreover, at the moment of the collision, Dumijusifang, who was well prepared, threw down the heavy lead ball hanging from the bridge boom, and immediately made a shocking big hole on the deck of "Calabria" ——The bridge of Lepidus's ship was completely destroyed, and seven or eight members of the Medici Guards beside him were smashed on the spot. He fell into the mess and held on to the sail rope with all his strength, so as not to be thrown into the sea.

"I'm still here, I'm still alive!" Soon, with his face covered in blood, he struggled to grab the rope and stood up, shouting to all the guards and crew. He wiped his face and saw many people in front of him. Groaning and crawling around, the two ships were embedded in each other, still shaking violently on the water. Over there, Dumitius was still on the bridge. When he saw this, he shouted, "Get away quickly, and then give me another Hit it once!”

"Don't give them this opportunity, lower the suspension bridge and gangplank." Lepidus roared, then picked up a shield and took the lead to rush to the other side of the deck. At this moment, the two ships were like black bears fighting each other. It was so crooked that even the keel was clearly visible. Most of the oarsmen on the side were covered in blood and flesh, with death and injuries all over the place. The ones on the other side were still rowing hard, shouting their trumpets. Seawater poured into the Calabia, but because there was a water barrier below, it only deflected. Not incapacitated. This is Dumijus's flagship. Because it was damaged and flooded, it was inconvenient to retreat. For a moment, there were gongs and drums on the Calabia, and the oarsmen advanced instead of retreating, continuing to tangle with the opponent's ship.

Pieces of suspension bridges and springboards were stretched out, lowered, and placed between the two ships, followed by those on both sides who could still climb up. They all started fighting like a tide, fighting each other fiercely with sickles, axes, broken oars, bows, arrows and slings. Lepidus became frantic. He drew his sword, rushed to the drawbridge with his shield, and fought with the soldiers coming from the opposite side. Some people were hit by arrows, or fell into the water because they couldn't stand. "Come on, Dumitius. My predecessor's Archon, your luck may be faster than my sword. Come here and fight with me!" Lepidus took off the shoulder of a centurion, and then grabbed the javelin that the opponent had stabbed with his backhand. The bridge where Dumijus was was thrown over, and he shouted.

"Do you think I came here just to play a walnut-throwing game with you? For the sake of the reputation of the Republic, I will also kill you, a thief, you foreign ghost!" Dumijus said after dodging the flying javelin. He roared, grabbed a small buckler, jumped down with his sword, and joined the fight in person. The two sides were on the drawbridge springboard on the side of the ship, and the light of the sword blades was everywhere.

In the entire surrounding sea area, ships ignited by bellows guns were smoking and burning. The two fleets continued to try to get closer to their respective flagships, and there was a melee.

"Commander, over there, over there!" Several of Dumijus's retinues and asylum seekers shouted. He turned his eyes and saw several warships flying the Ligurian flag quickly sailing out of the waterway of the old port. The boat, and many people rowing single-file boats rushed towards the battle group, "Damn it, Lepidus indeed set up an ambush in the old port. The Ligurians are also a natural sea tribe. Besides, what the hell are these guys using?" "Tactics." Dumitius thought to himself. At this time, his flagship was slowly hanging halfway and was out of the docking battle. Many people on Lepidus' side, including the Governor of Sardinia himself, were unable to stand still and jumped. Into the sea.

Fortunately, Lepidus was not wearing heavy armor at that time, and was only wearing light Egyptian-style linen armor. After drinking some sea water, he was finally pulled up by a hook - after the Ligurian navy arrived, After expelling the remaining ships of Dumijus, the "Calabria" was slowly towed back to Simos Island.

At dusk, Lepidus still won a great victory in the naval battle. Dumitius's seventeen large ships were sunk, five were burned, and three were captured. Even his flagship was severely damaged, while Lepidus only lost a few ships. It's just a light rowing boat. As Lepidus said before when encouraging mobilization, this is completely a victory of new tactics and new technology.

From then on, even though Dumijus repaired the prepared ships, he never dared to leave the port easily to cause trouble again. At the request of Lepidus, Liguria and Sardinia must recruit twenty new large decked ships and forty to sixty light assault ships within three months, even if the wood and keels have not yet dried. , and the work must be delivered on time.

About half a market day later, a brave young knight named Aidanguis from Corsica wanted to try his luck. He was also a fanatical admirer of Caesar. He used his private wealth to raise four ships and set sail. After arriving in Ar, he was appointed as lieutenant-general by Lepidus and stationed on the island of Seymour, supervising the progress of all ships and bridges.

From Aidanguis' mouth, Lepidus learned that the war at Brindisi was over. Except for leaving twelve legions to garrison Talinton and Brindisi, Caesar quickly headed north with the remaining six legions. , will arrive in Masseria soon, and will then join the attack on the provinces near Spain.

"Where did Pompey flee?"

"Pompey and the two consuls fled by boat. Before leaving, he dug up and destroyed the breakwater of Brindisi, and laid wooden stakes and spikes in advance at the moat and the gate. The entire harbor turned into a swamp, making it impossible for Caesar to chase him. Later, it is said that Pompey went to the Peloponnese and started a counterattack." The other party replied.

Lepidus said confidently that Pompey would not go to the other side of the sea, which surprised Aidanges, but then the governor analyzed: Pompey did think that the entire Greek Macedonia and the Eastern countries were his backyard, with inexhaustible manpower and financial resources, but since the war began, Asia Minor has almost betrayed half, and Egypt and Cyrene have also clearly stated that they will stay out of it. Pompey feels that it is difficult to counterattack with the East behind him. Africa has two complete legions newly recruited by Tulas, and it is said that King Juba also expressed his willingness to be Pompey's ally. The king has a strong and large cavalry and elephant troops.

"More importantly, Lusitania and the two Spains are now also Pompey's sphere of influence, which happens to be in a pincer attack with Africa and Mauritania." Lepidus made such a confident judgment.

Indeed, when Caesar's legion arrived a month later, he told Lepidus very clearly, "Greece and the East were handed over to Pompey's trusted confidants Marcellus and Gabinus, and he took the senators and other generals to Carthage."

"Then you shouldn't go to the Spanish battlefield." Lepidus said to Caesar. (To be continued...)