ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 22 Blocking
The soldiers guarding the camp gate saw that it was Davos and Antonios and let them go.Stop Hilos and the others behind them.Davos had no time to pay attention to their shouts and just ran northward with Antonios.After running for a while, I saw a group of people in front of me.

Clearchus was walking and talking with Theaster, the brother of the Queen of Persia, who came to greet him, when he suddenly heard a cry from behind: "Stop! Stop! This is a conspiracy! A Persian conspiracy!!... ..."

The five leaders, more than a dozen squadron leaders, and the two hundred soldiers escorting them and preparing to go to the market to buy things were all startled and immediately stopped and looked back.

Davos rushed in front of them, faced many strange looks, and said loudly and breathlessly: "This is a conspiracy!... Tissaphernes is ready... ready to catch you all! In this way, we will fall into chaos without a leader. Chaos led to the destruction of the entire army!”

Several leaders subconsciously looked at the Persian envoy Theaster.

Theaster pointed at Davos angrily and shouted: "Who is he?! He actually said such a thing! It is you who requested the meeting. Tissaphernes responded to Clearkus' request and entertained him warmly. He, now this is how you repay Tissaphernes, the commander of Persia?! This not only insults him! It also insults our king!! Go back! I will report this matter to Tissaphernes and suggest He reported to His Majesty and suggested that Your Majesty cancel the agreement with you Greeks!"

Several leaders hurriedly stopped his horse and apologized profusely.

Davos did not expect that this meeting was requested by Clearkus. He did not care about many things and said eagerly: "Even if there is a meeting, all the leaders and captains should not go to the Persian military camp! We are not always Are you all on guard against the Persians! Who knew that Tissaphernes had been friendly to us these past ten days, not to paralyze us?! Have you forgotten his previous betrayal?!"

As soon as Davos finished speaking, Menon jumped out and cursed, venting his anger for more than ten days: "Bold fanatic! Shameless liar! Not only did you deceive the soldiers in the military camp, but you also incited them to oppose me! Now! You want to destroy the peace between us and the Persians again! Do you want to prevent everyone from going home?! Come on, arrest him!!"

However, none of the soldiers listened to his orders.First, he only brought two squadron captains and no other entourage; second, some soldiers recognized Daves as the "God's Favorite" who had been rumored for a long time in the Menon Barracks, and were whispering.

At first, several leaders felt a little hesitant after hearing what Davos said. Unexpectedly, Menon's scolding immediately made them hate Davos.Although Menon has a bad character, after all, they have been with him for a long time, and several leaders also know that he is not weak in ability.An ordinary soldier dared to rebel against the commander. This was undoubtedly a taboo for the leaders.

Clearkus had another different idea.He strangely thought that Menon had found a soldier to act here and wanted to sabotage this meeting.Because this meeting also had another purpose: Tissaphernes promised him that he was willing to point out in public who was colluding with the Persian army and creating rumors among the mercenaries.

Clearkus had always guessed it was Menon.Because from the beginning of his march into Persia, Menon had openly competed with him for the command of the Greek mercenaries, and now he has been staying with Arerus, who was already close to Tissaphernes, and privately had many conflicts with Socrates. , Achilles's contact with secret conversations must be to oppose him.This time he must expose his villainous identity in public, thereby consolidating his command authority.Because he firmly believed that only he had the ability to bring the army back to Greece intact.This is why although he hates the Persians, he endures humiliation and negotiates peace with Persia. He hates any villain who destroys the unity of the team.

So, he immediately followed the trend and said: "Since Menon said so, let's take down this clown-like person and send him back to the camp for detention. We will interrogate him when we come back!"

He looked around and said decisively: "Now I am going to negotiate with Tissaphernes! Those who believe in me will come with me, and those who don't believe can go back!" After saying that, several soldiers went over and pressed Davos's button. When it fell, Antonios stepped forward to block it, but was also captured.

Clearchus strode northward, and Proxenus and the others followed suit after hesitating for a moment.Menon spat a thick mouthful of phlegm on Davos's face and cursed proudly: "When I come back, you will be dead!!" After that, he laughed and moved forward.Most of the soldiers followed their leader, and only a few who had heard of Davos's "miracle" stayed behind.

Davos had no intention of caring about Menon at the moment. He was pushed to the ground and ate a mouthful of dirt.He struggled and yelled in the direction where the leaders were leaving: "Clearchus, you idiot! Your stubbornness will not only harm yourself, but also the entire army! You will regret it! By the way, when the time comes You must have no time to regret it!..."

However, his curses failed to call Clearchus back, and the figures of the leaders became farther and farther away, becoming increasingly blurry.Finally, Davos became quiet and sat slumped on the ground.Before, he thought that Clearkus was a "famous general" and should be very clear-headed, but he didn't expect to be so stubborn and unable to listen to any opinions.In fact, Davos didn't know that most Spartan men were conservative and stubborn. They would never look back until they had made up their minds.The most famous one is that before the Battle of Plataea in the Greco-Persian War, the commander-in-chief of the Greek coalition ordered the troops to retreat. However, a Spartan general believed that retreating in front of the enemy was against Spartan tradition, and despite repeated persuasion, he still refused. Refusing to retreat, the Spartan army lagged behind and almost led to the defeat of the battle.

The advancing team continued to move forward, and the soldiers escorting Davos pushed him back.Instead, the soldiers who stayed behind stepped forward to introduce themselves and comfort Davos.

At this time, Antonios was free and asked: "Davos, are the leaders really in danger?"

"If the sheep go to negotiate with the wolf, what good will happen!" Davos sighed.There are countless such scams in the history of ancient and modern China and foreign countries.The main reason why Tissaphernes's plan was successful was that Clearchus and the others had illusions about peace talks, and the trust of others in Clearchus outweighed their worries about their own safety.Or my influence is not enough!

"What should we do?" Antonios panicked.

what to do?Self-rescue of course! !Davos suddenly thought of Xenophon.Why does he boast in his book that he led the retreat?It turned out to be because of this - more than 20 mercenary leaders and captains were massacred, and the entire Greek mercenary leadership was facing a reshuffle! !
Thinking of this, he threw away his depression and cheered up again: "Quick! Let's go back quickly!"

..............................

Along the way, Menon eloquently told Proxinus and the others about Davos's "bad deeds", which successfully aroused their anger, and secretly rejoiced: This time, this big trouble can be completely cleaned up!

Before arriving at the Persian camp, most of the soldiers who were going to the market to buy goods said goodbye to their leaders.

Entering the Persian military camp, the scene Clearkus saw was no different from what he saw when he left here yesterday. There were even some casual Persian soldiers looking at them curiously and talking to each other, "Why are so many Greek barbarians coming to our military camp?" Come" and the like, which made Clearkus and the others feel relieved.

When they arrived at Tissaphernes' big tent, Theaster went in to report, and then came out and said, "Five leaders, please come in. The others are waiting outside the tent for the time being!"

Clearchus was the first to go in. The light inside the tent was dim. He squinted his eyes slightly and found that there were many people in the tent. He was shocked. Before he could react, he heard a shout: "Take it down!!"

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(End of this chapter)