Chapter 270: Defeat

"Hey, Lord Hermanus!"

Luca's armor was particularly dazzling under the sun. He held the rope in one hand and looked down at the ship where Hermanus was. The huge six-row warship really frightened the Vandals. They no longer sought a fight, but screamed and fled back to their warships along the iron hook.

"Oh, I hope I'm not too late, Sir Hermanus." Luca said to Hermanus below, and turned his head to signal. A huge wooden board was dropped from the six-row warship where Luca was. The board was very familiar to old sailors like Hermanus who often lived on warships. This thing was invented in the war with the Carthaginians and has been passed down to this day. The duck-billed warships no longer used it, but such a board was kept.

"What are you standing there for? Come on board!" Luca called out to Hermanus, who came to his senses. He walked onto the plank with the help of the soldiers and then came to the six-row warship where Luca was. Luca allowed all the remaining soldiers and slaves to board the ship.

Even after surviving the disaster, the soldiers, covered in blood, huddled in the corner of the ship. They kept shaking, their eyes dull. Those were the aftereffects of long-term mental tension, which would take some time to ease.

"Hey, Belia..."

When Luga saw Belialiu coming up, he was ready to go up to him to say hello, and even wanted to interview him about how he felt after surviving the disaster. However, Belialiu walked away weakly, and he didn't pay any attention to Luga at all. Instead, he passed by Luga and huddled in a corner with the equally listless team.

"What is he doing?" Luga couldn't understand Belia's behavior, because he faced such a brutal battle when he first went to the battlefield. However, he was able to adjust his mentality quickly. When he recalled his actions at that time, he didn't feel scared at all. Maybe he had become accustomed to the psychological suggestion of courage that came with risking his life.

"Oh, please forgive me, Master Luca."

Hermanus came forward to apologize to Luca and said, "He must be frightened, that's why he is like this. Your Excellency, please forgive him. I'm afraid he will need to calm down for a while."

"I can understand, Lord Hermanus." Luca said and smiled at Hermanus, indicating that he did not blame Beliario for this.

"I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you for coming to help me this time. Really, if it weren't for you, I might have..."

"Now is not the time to discuss this, Sir Hermanus!" Luca interrupted Hermanus' thanks and got back to the point, "Sir, we have solved the trouble on land. We saw that your battle on the river was not going well, so we came here to ask you what was going on. We didn't expect to see you in danger, so it was natural for us to rescue the Romans."

"I'm sorry, Lord Luca!" Hermanus looked very disappointed, because this was not a battle of equal strength. He did not expect that it would become a stalemate, and he was even almost captured alive by the Vandals. As the supreme commander of the fleet, he naturally had an unshirkable responsibility.

"Well, I don't mean to blame you, Lord Hermanus." Feeling that his words were a bit harsh, Luca immediately corrected his words and said hurriedly: "The loss of this battle cannot be said to be your fault, because I have just learned the general situation. The sudden attack of the Vandals really caught you off guard. If it were me, I would not have guessed that the Vandals would use small boats to surround the large ship and then use fire attacks to destroy six rows of warships. And the practice of gathering superior forces to besiege the flagship, at least from this, it can be seen that they are too smart!"

"I'm sorry, sir. I was negligent. I thought that I could destroy their fleet by sending heavy warships in parallel to push forward." Hermanus apologized repeatedly, which made Luca feel embarrassed. In terms of seniority, he was decades older than Luca, and in terms of experience, he was far superior to Luca. However, because Luca was the adopted son of Augustus Theodosius, the difference in status was revealed.

"I told you, this is not your fault, Lord Hermanus."

Luca looked at him seriously, and came to his side and said to him: "Although there were mistakes in the early stage of the battle, we still maintain an absolute advantage. The Vandals are already out of breath, and we just need to work harder to defeat them in one fell swoop!"

"So, your Excellency means..." Hermanus asked.

"Come!" Luca pulled Hermanus to the bow. At this time, the Vandals were attacking other warships, and their tactics were still to surround the big ship with small boats. Luca pointed to the "land" formed by the small boats and said to Hermanus: "They are trying to restrict the already heavy six-row warships by crowding together, but this also restricts their movement. So we can use the same method."

At this point, Hermanus still looked confused, as if he didn't understand the meaning of Luca's words.

"I mean, they gathered it into land, so we might as well use another method, deploy troops on the edge and fight a land battle with their navy!"

"Your Excellency means that we should board their ship and fight on their warships?" Hermanus suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly to show that he agreed with Luca's idea.

"So, I still want to ask Lord Hermanus for help!" Luca said, looking at Hermanus.

"If you have any instructions, please feel free to tell me. After all, you are the supreme commander now!" Hermanus agreed immediately.

"You are in charge of this warship, so this warship is the flagship of the combined fleet!" Luga pointed to the warship under his feet.

"Then, Lord Luca, you..." Hermanus asked.

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"I will lead the army to attack the Vandal warships, and you will be responsible for dispatching the warships to put enough pressure on the Vandals so that they cannot be distracted during the battle. This way, we can kill more enemies."

"This..." Hermanus looked troubled, and he seemed dissatisfied with this countermeasure.

"Anyway, I'm not here to seek your opinion." Luga tapped the armor on his chest and continued, "Since you agree with me as the supreme commander, then just follow my instructions. I've been through life and death for so long, and I've encountered all kinds of dangerous situations, so you don't have to worry about me. Just stay at your post and cooperate with my attack."

Hermanus hesitated for a long time before finally nodding slightly.

(End of this chapter)