After much thought, Xia Zhe still couldn't find a suitable entry point.

It wasn't until his eyes caught sight of something in the corner of the cabin that he seemed to have some understanding.

That was a box of gold coins.

From the vault on Tino Island.

Originally, these things should have been moved to the Trojan warships.

However, Xia Zhe was always worried that he would be caught up by the Athenian navy, and always wondered if he could escape on his own.

So, to be prepared, he had a box of gold coins placed in his cabin. This would be enough for his daily expenses in case he needed to escape alone.

"Yes! I have 500 million gold coins! If this thing is used well, it is better than thousands of ships! Why didn't I think of it at the beginning!" Xia Zhe said to himself excitedly.

Without hesitation, he immediately opened the door and called in his personal guards, asking them to notify the commanders of the various fleets to come to his cabin for a meeting. There was something important to discuss.

At the same time, about twenty nautical miles to the north, the huge Athenian fleet was moving south at a high speed.

On the flagship, the old but strong Themistocles listened carefully to the intelligence sent back by the reconnaissance ships, with a look of surprise on his face.

"King Strobius is very powerful! Not only did he get reinforcements from the main fleet of Troy, he also got the main forces of the three maritime powers, Corinth, Argos and Achaia! Even Sparta, which didn't have many ships, sent all its troops to respond to him! Is this going to join forces to deal with the Athenian navy and start a world war?" said Themistocles.

"Then, should our army suspend the attack? Send someone to negotiate first?" one of his generals asked.

"Negotiation? What to negotiate? Let them ignore Stobi? Not to confront the Athenian navy? Don't be naive! These countries are all enemies of Athens. It is their deep-seated need to unite to fight against the Athenian navy. How could they give up just because of a few words from you?" Themistocles shook his head.

"Then, what should we do?" the general asked again.

"What should we do? Of course we have to fight! Destroy this joint fleet in one fell swoop, and beat all the enemies of Athens until they are terrified! Make them accept the fact that Athens dominates the Aegean Sea!" Themistocles said fiercely, waving his arms heavily.

It is certainly a bad thing when enemies unite.

But looking at it from the other side, isn’t it a good thing?

Although the opponent was a combined fleet of the six major powers, its total strength was still inferior to that of the Athenian navy.

It would certainly not be as easy for the six-nation coalition to enforce discipline as it was for the Athenian navy.

This is a rare opportunity to cripple the navies of all the major Greek powers that are qualified to covet the Aegean trade!

After this battle, Sparta, Corinth, Troy, Argos, Achaia and Stroby will all lose their main fleets!

In this way, the threat from within Greece can be resolved once and for all, allowing Athens to dominate the Aegean Sea!

It will take more than ten or twenty years for these countries to develop their new fleets!

In this sense, King Stoby has done a great thing!

"Break them!"

"Send them together to see the Poseidon!"

"Long live the Athenian navy!"

…

After hearing what Themistocles said, the Athenian generals became excited and shouted in response.

yes!

Although the enemy is the coalition of six nations, its total strength is only nine thousand warships!

Athens participated in the war with a total of 13,000 warships!

With the great naval artist Themistocles personally commanding, this battle is impossible to lose!

After this battle, it can be expected that the era of Athens dominating the Aegean Sea will come!

By then, everyone here will be a great hero!

An hour later.

The vanguards of the two fleets could already see each other with the naked eye.

There were still three or four hours until sunset. Neither Xia Zhe nor Themistocles wanted to wait until tomorrow.

I plan to beat the other party down this afternoon!

The Athenian navy was powerful and its formation was well-arranged.

Themistocles deployed an encirclement and annihilation formation, but he also attached great importance to the central assault force.

He deployed 2,500 ships on each side, forming an open arc fan, like the wings of a giant bird, tightly encircling the joint fleet of the six nations.

In the center, Themistocles did not underestimate the enemy at all.

He deployed a total of 8,000 warships in a heavy spearhead formation, charging straight towards the joint fleet of the six nations.

The intention is to cut the joint fleet of the six countries in half!

The most surprising thing was that these 8,000 Athenian standard warships were all equipped with heavy sandbag baffles on the side exposed to the joint fleet of the six countries.

There is no doubt that this is to defend against Stoby's new flamethrower!

When Themistocles arrived, he took with him the thousand or so ships that had been withdrawn from the siege of Tinos.

He took the fact that Stoby had a fire-breathing ship very seriously and did not take it lightly.

Before launching the attack, Themistocles specifically ordered his troops to prepare a large amount of sea sand to prevent fire.

In this way, even if Greek fire was continuously used against the Athenian warships, it would be difficult to completely destroy them before they rammed into them.

Themistocles felt it was worthwhile to lose two or three hundred ships in order to close the gap and then replace Stoby's new flamethrower ships.

As long as the two fleets are completely entangled, it will be a battle of close combat capabilities!

At this point, Themistocles had great confidence in the Athenian soldiers.

After all, many of them had participated in fierce battles with the Persian navy.

His skills and confidence in naval battles are far beyond the reach of those rookies in the Six-Nation Combined Fleet!

Seeing the Athenian fleet's terrifying formation, thorough preparation, and indomitable spirit, the commanders of the six-nation coalition fleet could not help but admire it.

Themistocles must be in that fleet!

If it were an hour ago, seeing such a perfect attack, the six-nation combined fleet would have instantly fallen into panic.

Then, they would all turn around and flee, without even being able to put up a decent resistance.

However, after Xia Zhe's new tactical arrangement just now, no one was panicking at this moment.

Because, what King Stobi had arranged was a very strange tactic. At first, no one had thought of doing it that way.

At a command, ten pot-bellied transport ships slowly came out of the line and stood directly across from the Athenian center army.

Those ships were the large gold-carrying ships that Hector had taken Eurybiades and others to visit the day before.

Each ship is loaded with one million gold coins!

I don't understand what the joint fleet of the six countries is doing. The spearhead of the 8,000 warships in the center of the Athenian fleet has not slowed down.

The rams installed on the bows of the ships rammed into the ten sideways ships one after another.

boom…

boom…

In the continuous violent collisions, all ten ships were smashed into several pieces.

Wood fragments were flying all over the sky, it was extremely tragic.

There were also many tiny hard lumps mixed in, which sparkled in the sunlight, just like the ripples produced by the wind blowing across the lake, except that they were not silver but gold.