ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 48 Race against time
"What's wrong?" Davos felt the strangeness in her expression.

"...Back to Greece...what do you want to do?" Christoya asked softly.

"Oh... I haven't thought about this problem yet..." Davos said. In fact, he had been thinking about it but hadn't thought about it well: "But one thing can be confirmed, no matter where I go, I will take you with me!"

Kristoya pressed her face against Davos's broad shoulders, rubbed his rough skin, and said firmly: "I will follow you wherever you go!" After saying that, she thought of something again and emphasized. : "It's just that you'd better not go back to Asia Minor!"

"Why?" Davos was a little surprised.

"Because there may be a battlefield there." Kristoya's words surprised Davos: "I heard little Cyrus said -"

Christoya glanced at Davos subconsciously again, and saw that his expression was normal, so she added: "The contradiction between the Spartans and Tissaphernes is very deep, and the Spartans are also was involved in this Persian rebellion. Now that Tissaphernes has returned to Asia Minor, he will not miss this opportunity to rectify Sparta. Because Sparta is now the leader of the Greek city-states, he must Replaced Athens as the protector of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor. However, in order to gain the support of the Persians, Sparta reached an agreement, including the terms in which Sparta agreed to hand over the Greek city-states in Asia Minor to Persian jurisdiction. The war with Athens ended , Sparta has been delaying the implementation of this agreement, and... Cyrus the Younger did not urge the Spartans for some reasons. So..."

"So, now that the new king has ascended the throne and Tissaphernes has returned to Asia Minor, he will definitely urge Sparta to fulfill the original agreement on behalf of the King of Persia!" Davers did not expect that there was such a secret between Sparta and Persia. Although Sparta's rogue behavior surprised him, it was understandable: if Sparta agreed, the majestic Greek overlord would actually hand over the land of its compatriots to the enemies of the Greeks. This is simply betrayal and "traitor"!It will undoubtedly greatly damage the prestige it established after its victory in the Peloponnesian War, and some city-states may even rise up to resist its hegemony out of dissatisfaction.If you don't agree, it's a violation of the agreement, and war may break out.

Davos held his chin, lost in thought: Could it be that Cleethorpes took the initiative to talk to me in order to win over me?He was thinking about it and suddenly remembered something: "Christoia, if I don't go to Asia Minor, will you go back to Miletus?"

"Didn't I say that I will always follow you!" Christoya said, with a slightly gloomy look on her face: "Besides, if I go back now, it will bring trouble to the family."

Davos immediately understood what she meant: as the concubine of Cyrus the Younger, she could be considered an important family member of the rebels, and her return would undoubtedly draw the attention of the Persian authorities to her family in Miletus.

Thinking of this, Davos comforted her and said, "Don't worry, one day, I will let you go home in glory!"

Kristoya looked at Davos who looked extremely serious, and the haze on her face gradually disappeared: "I believe you!"

She slapped Himachun on the head and said: "Since you asked me to manage the medical camp, I will start to exercise my rights. I will give freedom to those female slaves, so that they will work harder to take care of the wounded."

"This is your right. But I have to tell Melses first."

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

Three days later, we broke camp and marched.

In the afternoon, Tissaphernes arrived with his army.

After receiving the news from the scouts, the leaders quickly led their teams to the nearest village and started setting up camp.Because there were many soldiers among the mercenaries who could not fight at this time: one was the wounded, the other was the soldiers who carried the wounded, and the third was the soldiers who helped carry the wounded and carry the weapons of the wounded soldiers.The massive reduction in combat soldiers made it impossible for mercenaries to march and fight at the same time as before.

When Tissaphernes' army arrived at the village, the mercenaries found that there were no military flags representing Orontas and Sikosti. The generals speculated: Tissaphernes did not show up before, so he went to give them to these two royal nobles. Farewell.At the same time, they also began to worry about their future journey. The brother of the King of Persia did not need to worry, but Orontas was the governor of Armenia. He was likely to intercept the mercenaries on the road to Armenia.

The Persian army withstood the attack of the mercenary slingers and began to fire arrows in front of the mercenary camp. The two sides began the drama of long-range attacks on each other every day.However, in this attack mode, the Persian army was already at a disadvantage. Now that the mercenaries had the protection of the camp, the advantage was even more obvious. The leaders did not understand why a shrewd man like Tissaphernes was so reckless.

The battle lasted only ten minutes, and Tissaphernes led his army to retreat.Because there were many cavalry in the Persian army and they were afraid of being attacked at night and causing chaos, the Persian army camped ten miles away from the mercenary camp.

After discussion, the leaders decided to let the soldiers rest at dusk, march before dawn, and set up camp if the Persian army caught up.This not only ensures the safety of the troops, but also does not delay the march.

In fact, the arrangements of the leaders seemed a bit redundant. The Persian army did not show up for three consecutive days. It was not until the morning of the fourth day that the cavalry exploring ahead reported: The road ahead is narrow and there are several peaks on the side of the road. Among them, the shorter mountain Found traces of Persians.Previous lessons made the leaders extremely cautious about this.

"It's still the same as before. I will lead a troop to go around the right side of the mountain and drive them away." Xenophon said, his face full of confidence due to his previous success.

At this moment, the reconnaissance cavalry from the rear came to report: Tissaphernes' large army was discovered!

This news immediately made the leaders nervous.Because the combat effectiveness of the mercenaries is not as good as before, and there are too many wounded, which makes the mercenaries dare not fight with all their strength. Moreover, the entire army is located in the hilly area at this time, and the terrain is narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of the troops. In addition, the personnel are too dense, and the casualties under long-range attacks will be high. will increase significantly.Obviously, Tissaphernes had carefully planned this time and was preparing to give the mercenaries a big blow.

Urgent situation!Chrysops had no time to discuss with other leaders and said to Xenophon with a serious look: "You must drive away the Persians occupying the mountain as quickly as possible to ensure that we can pass smoothly. As long as you capture the mountain, We can guard the mountain road, and Tissaphernes will not dare to pursue us anymore."

"I need some light infantry!" Xenophon immediately made his request.

"Archers and slingers cannot be given to you. Only they can fight against Tissaphernes." Chrysops declared in advance.

"I have five hundred light shield soldiers who can be sent to you." Davos said first. We cannot preserve our strength at this time and must work together to tide over the difficulties.

Xenophon is very grateful to Davos, because Davos has expressed his support for him in public many times.

"I'll give you eight hundred Thracian pelts!" Timasong glanced at Daodao and said loudly.Because the former leader of Timason, Clearchus, used the money given to him by Cyrus the Younger to recruit mercenaries in Cersonis to attack the Thracian forces near the Hellespont for more than a year, so he collected a lot of mercenaries. The Thracians had the largest number of peltasts in their camp among the Greek mercenaries.

After Xenophon expressed his thanks again, he quickly set off with two hundred heavy infantry, a total of 500 people.

The leaders also ordered the entire army to increase their alertness, speed up their march, and move closer to the mountain road.

When Xenophon led his army to the foot of the mountain, he found that the Persians occupied a mountain ridge. He was about to order an attack when Epithenes, the captain of the [-]st Light Shield Squadron under Davos, put forward his opinion. , he pointed to the mountain and said: "Xenophon, look at the mountain next to the Persians. If we attack the Persians directly, they may retreat to the higher mountain again... This will not only delay time, but also To make our attack more difficult, we might as well capture the higher mountaintop first, and then throw javelins and stones at the Persians from a high position, so that we can easily repel them."

The captains of the peltasts all said that Epithenes' method was good, and Xenophon followed it well, so he ordered: let the troops quickly occupy the top of the mountain!

　The weather is getting warmer and football starts tonight, so an early update!
　　In the future, we may update in advance every Thursday night because we have to play football.Only by exercising can you write healthier!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)