Chapter 502 503. Naval Battle
“Raise the sails!” Barnabas shouted.
The huge coat of arms on the sail was rolled back into the canvas, while the twenty men sitting on the leather benches each picked up a long oar made of fir wood and ran to both sides of the ship. , lifting the oar, threading it through the leather loop and resting it on the fork. With a rhythmic sound of hitting the water, the wooden oars hit the waves in unison.
The Adrestia is a not too big ship. Of course, this "not too big" is compared with the trireme warships in the city-state army.
Among private boats, it's nimble, efficient, and fairly well-armed. The size is between a galley and a trireme.
Lan En and Cassandra stood on the command seat on the deck, Barnabas acted as an advisor on the side, and Phob was stuffed directly into the cabin by Lan En.
After all, we are not sailing freely on the Aegean Sea now. Megaris is very close at hand.
Just as Barnabas described this battlefield - Sparta invested a considerable amount of land forces here, and Athens used their fleet to block the ocean here.
A blue striped sail is flying in the air, and below it is a fir mast and a painted hull. Each ship was filled with heavy armored infantry, archers and light shields wearing linen armor with external bronze armor.
Some ships were even loaded with horses from Thessaly, and in order to prevent the horses from becoming frightened when they saw the ocean, each horse's head was covered with a cloth to block his sight.
The symbol of Athens is an owl composed of lines on a blue background with white stripes.
This bird of prey was considered a symbol of wisdom and the goddess Athena, and Athens even depicted the symbol on their drachma coins.
The abstract pattern of an owl squatting and looking back was originally cute, but when this pattern appeared in large numbers on ferocious warships filled with murderous intent, this pattern made people feel uncomfortable. Flustered.
The Adrestia is still approaching the coast of Megaris.
Icarus in the sky screamed nervously, and Lan En's cat eyes also shrank uncertainly.
Kassandra and Lan saw clearly the expressions of the soldiers and officers on the Athenian warship opposite.
Nervousness, fear, and the ferocity oppressed by fear.
Most of the soldiers in ancient wars had this expression.
The harsh atmosphere of the military camp and the fear that they may go out to fight at any time and be killed by the enemy linger in the heart of every soldier.
As long as it is not clear that the huge advantage lies with one's side, this emotion will not disappear.
As we all know, when human beings are in a long-term state of extreme stress, the string of reason in their brains is very fragile.
As the Adrestia crossed a certain invisible limit, the three ships in the Athenian fleet broke away from the blockade and sailed this way like lions enraged by mice. come over.
The soldiers on board shouted and pointed their fingers at the Adrestia, while their commander roared at them to raise their javelins and aim at the enemy.
The wind and waves in the Aegean Sea are not that big, so the style of the ship is different from that of later ships. There is no higher side of the ship erected to prevent the crew from falling out during the shaking.
The deck of the entire ship looks like a large flat surface, and the main means of combat is for the soldiers standing on the deck to shoot out bows, arrows and javelins. Sometimes this attack will also include arrows. The arrows and javelins were wrapped with tarpaulin.
And if the position is right, the warship will also use its solid bow to launch a direct collision with the enemy's fragile hull.
All this makes it easier for Cassandra and Lan to see the actions of the opponent.
"Raise your shield! Now!"
"Prepare your shield!"
Lane and Cassandra shouted at the same time.
Barnabas was still directing the route. Although he saw the Athenian warship approaching, he was still a little confused.
"Raise the shield? We shouldn't be"
Before the second half of the sentence 'Adjust the position of the ship' was uttered, there was a sound in the sky like a swarm of locusts swooping over. .
Lane pulled Barnabas to squat down, and Cassandra did the same as them.
The guardrail of the command seat is a good protection.
The crew members, who had already taken off the big buckler from their backs as instructed and squatted with it on their heads, were unscathed by this wave of arrows. Under the rain of arrows, the crew members under the shields looked at each other in surprise.
A hail of arrows was fired from the opposite side, but no one on their side was fine. They had never encountered such a situation before!
“Zeus!”
Barnabas, who was pressed down by Lan En, murmured unconsciously.
On the contrary, Cassandra and Lan were very calm from beginning to end.
For warships in this era and in this region, all attack methods and methods are placed on the large flat deck.
Guys like Lan En and Kassandra, whose vision range is far beyond that of ordinary people, can even clearly see the braids under the helmets of Athenian soldiers from the edge of the arrow rain.
The vision distance beyond the times brings the battlefield observation ability beyond the times.
Every move on the opposite side is actually in the eyes of two people.
"What's going on on the other side?" Lan En asked Kassandra calmly, pointing at the top. "It's not convenient for me to probe, what did Icarus see?"
Cassandra's eyes were empty and unfocused. Because she was not seeing with her own eyes at this time.
There was an eagle's cry in the sky.
"The arrow rain was caught by another ship. The Athenian commander is well-trained. Another galley is adjusting its position and wants to knock us in half from the middle."
Barnabas was sandwiched between Lan and Cassandra like a helpless little girl.
He looked left and right, his old face wrinkled into a walnut, and found that he couldn't understand what was going on between these two people.
But in the end, his face glowed red and he shouted with great energy.
"Guys! Turn the ship around! Don't let him hit it, let the ship pass us! With the help of the gods, we will not sink here! Poseidon's There is no place ready for us in the Coral Palace! This is what your two captains said!"
Barnabas' sudden burst of enthusiasm made Lan and Cassandra stunned. , came out of their respective sensory states and looked at each other in confusion.
Oh, they all forgot. Barnabas is a devout believer.
"Javelin ready!"
Kassandra shouted with her head buried under the rain of arrows.
"You don't need to remove your shields, just follow my command! Prepare to the port side!"
The Athenian warship that collided did not follow the planned position and directly broke the Adrestia's hull. The hull of the ship just passed by.
The Athenian soldiers on the warship didn't care. If it crashed, they could try again.
Anyway, they are here too.
"Javelin! Release!"
The heavy sharp projectile pierced the air, and also tore apart the relaxed mentality of the Athenian soldiers.
Until their death, they could not understand how the crew of that ship could prepare to throw javelins while holding up their shields and facing the rain of arrows.
But it doesn’t matter.
A large number of Athenian soldiers were shot by the powerful and heavy javelins. The javelins pierced their bodies and even took their bodies into the air for a moment!
Like wheat being cut, people fell down on the deck of the Athenian warship.
After a moment of contact, this warship was severely reduced in number, to the point where it was unable to fight back!
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(End of this chapter)