ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 7 Javelins and Food

The task assigned to Davos and the others was to go to the battlefield and pick up the spears, shields and even carriages discarded by both sides, and use them as wood for cooking meat.A bullock cart was also allocated to them for this purpose.

The battlefield is not far from the camp.Yesterday, the cavalry went out for reconnaissance and found that the Persian king's army had left, so they dared to send soldiers out to clean the battlefield.However, many soldiers were sent out, mainly because they were afraid of being attacked by Persian cavalry.

Before reaching the battlefield, Davos saw the sky in front of him from a distance, as if it was dark, with countless crows hovering around. The harsh cries made him feel palpitated!

When you get closer, the grassland for several miles around is covered with human and horse corpses in layers. The corpses are densely covered with flies and insects. There are even wild wolves and wild leopards gnawing on the bones. Dodging, just watching from a distance, with a cold light in his eyes...

Every time Davos took a step, a layer of flies was lifted up, buzzing and flying straight into his face, unable to be driven away.

Davos turned pale and felt his whole stomach churn.

"Davos, you have experienced this kind of scene many times, why do you still feel uncomfortable?!" Matonis's concerned words contained a hint of joy.Because he felt that although Davos had changed, there was still something he needed to take care of.

"I'm fine!... Ugh..." Davos swallowed hard.Memory is memory. After all, this is the first time for him as a modern man to witness such a bloody battlefield with his own eyes.But he knew in his heart: In this troubled world, such scenes will appear in front of him again and again in the future, and he must adapt!

He released the hand covering his nose, forced to endure the pungent stench, picked the corpses on the ground apart, pulled out the shield underneath, quickly slapped away the maggots on it, and threw it onto the bullock cart.

When they first arrived at the battlefield, the cow in the trailer couldn't stand such a terrifying environment. It was always restless and almost injured Matonis. It was Davos who came up with an idea and covered its eyes with linen cloth. Much quieter.

Everyone has been busy for a long time, the bullock cart is full, and everyone has a bundle.

"Where's Davos?" Matonis found that there was one less person in the team.

"There!" Olivers pointed not far away: Davos was throwing a javelin at a vulture pecking at a corpse, but the seemingly clumsy vulture nimbly dodged it.

"Looks like he's getting ready to compete in the javelin at the Olympia!" Olivers said jokingly.

"Shut up!" Matonis glared at him and then walked towards Davos.

Davos saw his arrival and picked up a javelin from the ground quite naturally.Now, he has begun to adapt to this harsh environment.

"Matonis, how many archers do we have?" Davos asked, stroking the sharp spear head with his hand.

Martonis is not good at this aspect at all, but fortunately he has the attentive Geogris: "Archers?... I remember that only Clearchus had nearly three hundred Cretan archers... If Counting the peltasts who can throw javelins... Well, all of them... there may be... 3000 people."

"3000 people. How many light shield soldiers do we have here?" Davos asked.

"There are about 400 people..."

"Matonis, don't use the javelins to burn. It's a pity. How about each of us equip one or two javelins. What do you think?" Davos thought for a while and said
Before Matonis could answer, Olivers said first, "We are hoplites!"

"But when facing the Persian cavalry, our heavy infantry can't get close to them. We can only avoid the bows and arrows they shoot!" The reason why Davos made this suggestion is because this regret remains in the memory of this body.While collecting this wooden weapon, he suddenly had this inspiration, because he knew that another world-famous Roman heavy infantry in history was not only amazing in close combat, but their javelin throwing was equally terrifying, so he came up with this proposal.

"There are enough cavalry in Arirus," said Olivers.

Davers smiled: "It's better to rely on yourself than to rely on others."

"Is this the 'oracle' given to you by Hades?" Geogris asked urgently.

Davos smiled but didn't answer.

"I think this is a good idea, go back and talk to Hilos." Matonis took the javelin in Davos's hand, turned around, and suddenly threw the javelin, and the vulture that was still pecking fell to the ground.

"However, Davos, you still need to learn your javelin skills!" Matonis said proudly.

The fact that the Greek heavy infantry did not use javelin is just a matter of tradition and habit. However, the Greeks’ javelin skills are not bad, and are even considered top-notch in the Mediterranean region. Because javelin is one of the pentathlons in the Olympia Games, Greek boys have been in the arena since they were young. Start training these.

"That's great! Not only are there beef and mutton for lunch, but there's also bird meat!"

"I heard that the meat of this bird cannot be eaten because it comes from hell..."

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

In the camp, the animals have been slaughtered, the meat has been cut, placed in earthen jars, filled with water, and placed on a makeshift earthen stove. Everything is ready.

Everyone pulled back their weapons, chopped them into pieces, and cooked the meat.

Matonis told Xiros about Davos's idea.

Since it was the proposal of the "God's Favored One", Hilos carefully considered the idea and found that the idea was acceptable: the javelin was not heavy, and it was completely acceptable for a heavy infantryman to carry two javelins.So, he went to Antonios, hoping to get support.

Antonios called the other nine squad captains over and wanted to hear their thoughts first.Some of the squad leaders were in favor, and some were against it.Opponents adhered to the tradition of Greek heavy infantry and believed that Menon already had [-] peltasts under his command, so it was completely unnecessary for the heavy infantry to hold javelins. Those in favor believed that although there were [-] peltasts in the camp, They are both Thracians, and the cooperation between the two parties is not very tacit.The heavy infantry had javelins themselves, which could at least force the Persian cavalry not to get too close to reduce casualties.The two sides were arguing, and Antonios could not make a decision, so he had to say: As long as it does not affect the battle, each team will decide whether to carry the javelin.

Hilos came back happily, and was about to tell Davos, but found a group of people salivating staring at the churning meat in the crock, except for Davos.

"Where's Davos?"

"They said they were going to see the internal organs of the animals that were thrown away... and they said it was a waste..."

When everyone was puzzled, they saw Davos walking over with a bloody sheep intestine on a spear.

"Hey, get this smelly thing away! It affects our appetite!" Everyone covered their noses and shouted.

Davos ignored it and said loudly: "I saw a lot of cattle and sheep offal discarded at the baggage camp, allowing birds and wild dogs to take them away. This is such a waste! Don't forget, we were so hungry two days ago I wish I could eat it with my own hands! In the next few days, whether we are fighting or marching, there may be times when we starve. We should pick up these things and store them to prevent this from happening again. We still have something to eat!”

"Can those things be eaten?" asked a strong soldier.

Davos remembered that his name was Martius, a soldier who lived in another tent, and his question was exactly what everyone wanted to ask.The Greeks mainly eat grains as their staple food and eat very little meat. It was only this time when they went deep into Persia that they began to eat meat frequently because of logistical supply reasons.Animal offal not only smells fishy, ​​but also tastes very fishy in the absence of spices and cooking methods. Therefore, apart from using it for divination, few people will try to eat it, and even think that eating it will cause poisoning.

"Of course it can be eaten! These things are not only very nutritious... they can not only fill our stomachs, but also improve our bodies. For example, they can help us see more clearly at night." Davos answered affirmatively.

"Really?! That's great!" Matonis said happily.

The five people in the other tent looked suspicious.

"Davos is the 'God's Favorite'! Do you know? He fell on the battlefield before and after he fell into a coma..." Olivers began to brag to them about Davos's amazing changes in the past two days.

　To answer the question from Crow One readers, why did the protagonist have the rather awkward name of Davos?This is probably a question that many readers have.My original intention was to choose a Greek name that is closer to the Chinese name but also has a special meaning. But I am ashamed that I do not understand Greek. After checking a lot of information, I found that the Greek root word "Dever" is an attribute of the god of heaven. The case, plus the masculine "Si", means "the man favored by God", and the transliteration is similar to the Chinese name, so I chose it. This name also plays an important role later in the story.Of course, maybe the formation of this name is wrong, because it doesn't sound like Greek, but the protagonist is a Thessalian, a barbarian among the Greeks, and the pronunciation is messy, which is understandable.Haha, I hope the Greek experts won’t laugh at me!The name of the protagonist in the previous book, Shiloh, originally meant guardian, and was used on the squad leader of the protagonist in this book, Shiloh, which is the guardian.

　　Finally, I would like to thank readers I forgot to write last night: Situ Lei and kk5418 for their votes!In addition, I have created a book group, please add it if you like it!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)