Augustus Road

After learning the news of Marcus's defection, Cato was speechless. Then he locked himself in the room for a long time. It is said that he watched the ancestral teachings for a long time, and then walked out and ate his only meal of the day. During the meal, he was a person who absolutely did what he said, and then sighed to his personal slave: "There are always people who cannot persist in their determination at the moment before the infinite light comes, and fall into the endless abyss of darkness. Marcus is a typical example. , I really misjudged him. Come here if you like to play and watch."

But then he began to think seriously while eating. The departure of Malclus would inevitably betray the reality and defense points of the city to Lepidus. Then he found Domijius and Triari and asked sincerely what should be done about such a thing. How to make amends. As a result, the two opponents looked at each other. Among them, Triali still had a malicious smile and said to Cato in a sarcastic tone: "My dear Sir, do you still think that we are lacking supplies until now?" , is it still a 'secret' to Lepidus? And the city defense of Masseria is like this. There is nothing imperfect or incomplete about it. The premise is that the soldiers can guard it well. In addition, Pompey's fleet can be guarded. It is an established fact that reinforcements are coming. Fighting is not a speech in the Roman political arena. Politicians can refute previous statements at any time. Fighting is to pray to the gods and strive to win after deploying properly." Sure enough, in the weather in May, the fleet near Spain broke through! The sea was naturally dangerous and under the leadership of Afranius' lieutenant Nasidius. A total of sixteen light and heavy ships came from the west and anchored on Tauroas Island. Several scout boats under the command of the brave Aidanjis, after arriving in detail for reconnaissance, conveyed the news to Lepidus as soon as possible.

Lepidus decided to personally send reinforcements to Masseria and Pompey again. Start a decisive battle at sea.

And this idea. It also happens to be what Dumijius has. "This battle is inevitable, and I have already made up my mind to become a benevolent person." This is what Dumijius said to his subordinate Crean and the armed slaves. After learning that Nasidius had arrived on the sea outside the city, he immediately organized his men and sailed the previously severely damaged but now fully repaired flagship out of the harbor. He was wearing the most gorgeous armor. Standing conspicuously on the towering bridge, behind him are forty or fifty warships of various colors, all of which are Masseria crew members and Albisi barbarians. Dumitius looked back. Among the farewell crowd was his adopted brother Cato, who was as thin and short as an ugly but strong sea rock. He kept raising his arms towards him. Domigus understood that this was the posture of a Roman gladiator. , which means fighting to the death, "The earliest gladiatorial competitions were held in front of the graves of the deceased. It seems that the same is true for the naval battles on the horizon. Go with the confidence that you will die. This will give you a chance of survival."

On Tauroas Island, Dumitius, who landed ashore without any interception, held a brief meeting with Nasidius, determined to immediately go to sea to fight the Lepidus fleet on the opposite island of Simos, "If the enemy If it cannot be stopped, then request more reinforcements and supplies from Spain. "The battle plan stipulates that Dumitius is responsible for the right wing and Nasidius is responsible for the left wing assault.

But Nasidius obviously did not have the firm determination to die as Dumitius did. He talked many times about the difficulty of his ship's lack of collision angle. However, his demeanor was ignored by Dumitius, who was full of fighting enthusiasm. Two days later, on a sunny day with calm seas and no wind or rain, Dumitius's combined fleet set sail from Tauroas. Of course, Lepidus also chose this day. After replenishing military supplies, ammunition and food, he stood in the repair shop. In the new lighthouse and command room, he said this to all his subordinates:

"We defeated them when they had strong troops and horses. Now that the defeated army is defeated, how can we talk about showing off in front of our army?"

Then the fleet under Lepidus weighed anchor at full speed to fight. This time, a large number of new ships from Liguria and Sardinia participated in the battle, including eleven large warships with double decks. However, because the wood had not yet dried, they were rushed into battle. , speed was not an advantage, so Lepidus judged and observed the situation with his generals on the lighthouse, and placed them all on the left wing to deal with Dumitius - because the enemy's right wing fleet clearly surpassed the slow left wing. , "It seems that Pompey's reinforcements on the left lack fighting spirit. After their two wings are separated, my elite right wing will attack quickly!"

The fleets of both sides are approaching each other, and at this moment, almost all the citizens of Masseria have climbed to the top of the city near the sea to personally watch this naval battle that affects everyone's future. If they win, they will recover. If they lose, they will recover. If they are killed, they will be beyond redemption.

And all the oarsmen, archers, and harpooneers in Dumijius's fleet all had resolute expressions, which could even be said to be dull. If they died in this battle, they would have left before their friends in the city at best. It's just one step, especially for the Albissi people. Their women and children had already died at the hands of Lepidus' traitors, and they had no hope of living.

The newly formed fleet of Liguria and Sardinia stood in front of the Domitius front line, led by Commander Aidangis. Under the instruction of Lepidus, he ordered the entire army to form a strange formation, namely a "T" shape. All the heavy ships were lined up in a row with their sides facing sideways. The rowers were all resting, while the combatants on them were constantly moving, shouting one after another. When the Domitius fleet entered the range, rockets, slingshots and javelins maintained the widest firepower output in the broadside direction, hitting like rain, dyeing the entire sea red. Many of Domitius' light ships were destroyed and sunk before they could come to their senses to save themselves, but the rest of the ships continued to charge forward fearlessly with flames.

Then the large ships in the "T" shape separated to the sides, and the light assault ships rushed out, splitting into the enemy's formation in a line, shooting iron hooks to both sides, but this time Dumigus obviously learned his lesson and added a metal cover to the cabin - most of the iron hooks shot by the crossbows slipped off, and the whole scene turned into a thorough melee. Sometimes the Albisi were dozens of Roman feet away, and they jumped out of the air without hesitation, jumped onto the deck and waved their weapons until they surrounded Lepidus's crew, pierced them into hedgehogs with darts and daggers, and then fell into the sea, causing bright red ripples.)