Different Plans

And on this day, the Persians were not idle.

After Artaozus succeeded in his attack, he returned to the camp and proudly showed his achievements to Ariaeus, and proposed that Ariaeus should hand over all the archers to him, and that he would defeat the Greeks in one fell swoop.

Ariaeus first congratulated him, and then began to find reasons to patronize Artaozus. After all, the army of Cyrus the Younger had been defeated in the battle with the Persian king, and after his recruitment, there are only 7,000 men left. If it is done according to Artaozus, then Ariaeus only has 3,000 men left. As the nominal commander of this army, the number of troops under his command is not as much as his subordinates, so how can he command the whole army? What's more, a Persian army without archers will not be a Persian army. Therefore, the cautious and petty Ariaeus does not approve of such gambling tactics.

Artaozus was furious that Ariaeus did not agree. He thought that Ariaeus was jealous of him and did not want to see him succeed.

Therefore, in a fit of anger, he ran straight to the camp of Tissaphernes.

…

"As long as you have enough cavalry and archers, you will be able to defeat the Greeks?!" Tissaphernes asked suspiciously.

"Lord Governor, because of Cyrus the Younger, I have come into contact with the Greek mercenaries many times and understand the situation of their army. Most of their soldiers are mainly infantry, and their movements are clumsy. As long as we don't fight them at close range, they won't be able to exert any strength, and they have very few archers, which is totally not our match. Therefore, I only brought 400 cavalry and archers to attack them, and without losing a single soldier, it resulted in about 500 casualties among the Greeks (this is obviously an exaggerated result). If it wasn't for the fact that their bows and arrows were exhausted, the Greeks would have suffered even more casualties!" said Artaozus respectfully, "Therefore, I want to increase the number of archers, increase the long-range attack on the Greeks, and increase their casualties. I hope that we can defeat them as soon as possible and get rid of these Greeks for the king and the barbarians as soon as possible!"

Then he changed the topic, "But Ariaeus rejected my proposal, so I can only come to the lord governor!"

Tissaphernes did not answer directly, but said with a heavy expression, "I am sad and surprised that Mithridates died in battle!"

"At the same time, his death may also give confidence to the Greeks who have lost their leader!" Tissaphernes' expression turned grave, "I heard that the inspector of Sparta, Cheirisophus, has become the new leader of this army, right?"

"Yes, lord governor. That's what the Greek soldiers who escaped said." said Artaozus.

"We can't let him smoothly take over this Greek army and gain prestige!" Tissaphernes said in a cold and firm tone, "We must constantly attack them and make them flee, cry for death, and wail for hunger! Artaozus, since your method is very effective, then continue to use this method to attack the Greeks! I will give you 2,000 archers and 500 cavalry, and Ariaeus—"

Tissaphernes then turned to Sist, who was standing on the side and said, "I will have to trouble you to go first. Since Ariaeus doesn't dare to fight the Greeks, then we will leave the soldiers to the capable people to command! Otherwise, I don't mind discussing with him what he did during the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger!"

Sist smiled and said, "Lord Governor, you don't have to be so angry. I believe that Ariaeus is a wise man."

"He better be like this!" A cold light flashed in Tissaphernes' eyes.

"Thank you for your trust, lord governor. I will bring you the news of victory!" Artaozus thanked him excitedly.

"When you win, you will be my adjutant." Tissaphernes made a promise.

Watching Artaozus happily follow Sistes out of the tent, Orontes said with some concern, "Will Artaozus really succeed?"

"Since he has already won a perfect victory, why can't there be a second time? If we can get rid of the Greeks at once, I am willing to take a gamble!" Tissaphernes said firmly.

"I didn't expect the inspector of Sparta to be among these mercenaries! It seems that the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger must have been supported by the Spartans!" said Orontes hatefully. As the son-in-law of the king of Artaxerxes, he was naturally vigilant against any party that might be Cyrus the Younger.

"The Greeks hated us, and it has been like this for decades. At that time, I opposed funding Sparta against Athens, but unfortunately, His Majesty Darius was deceived by Cyrus the Younger and removed my position, placing Cyrus the Younger in an important position and supporting Sparta!" Tissaphernes said with resentment, "What was the result! Sparta supported the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger in order to benefit from it! Sparta and Athens should continue to fight, and not help Sparta win, which is in the interest of us Persians!"

"You are right, Tissaphernes! When this matter is over, I will certainly suggest to the king to reconsider our relationship with Sparta."

"Yes, this is why I want to solve these Greeks quickly. Artaozus will bring us good news, he will!"

…

At dusk on this day, the leaders once again gathered in the military council tent.

"The unit of the slingers already has a sling in each of their hands. After a day of training, they have become adept at using it and can now go into battle to kill the enemy!" Cleanor reported to everyone. Because his troops were the rearguard, and had lost the most in yesterday's battle. Therefore, under his strong request, this newly built unit was temporarily under his command.

Then, Davos also made a report, "It's not a problem for the cavalry to go into battle and kill the enemy." Because most of the cavalry were from his camp and he was on the flank, the cavalry is temporarily under his control.

Davos'speech was brief. After watching the cavalry training for a day, he also roughly understood the attack methods of the cavalry in this era: horse collision, spear stabbing, javelin throwing, and archery shooting. Because there is no stirrups, they don't dare to run with all their strength, nor do they dare to fight with all their strength, otherwise, they will easily fall off their horses.

The newly built cavalry is only equipped with one weapon – spears, so their best way of attack is to pursue the fleeing enemy.

At this time, Cheirisophus said, "Everyone, today, I will take my guide out of the camp to explore the route and the surrounding terrain tomorrow—"

"This is too dangerous! Now that the Persian scouts are wandering around our camp, it will be troublesome if we run into them!" shouted Timasion.

"I was on guard against it, and with the blessing of Zeus, I did not encounter the Persians." Cheirisophus nodded to Timasion and expressed his gratitude for his concern, "Instead, I have made an important discovery."

"What important discovery?!" Cleanor asked anxiously.

"I found that there are several mountains about 4 miles ahead, and there is only one valley to pass through, otherwise, we can only take a long detour." Cheirisophus said while gesturing on the grass with his stick, "This valley can accommodate about 20 people passing side by side."

"You mean… you are afraid that the Persians will attack us when we pass through the valley!" Xanticles asked worriedly.

"This is indeed a problem. However, it can be solved. We set out to pass through the mountain valley before dawn. The Persians must not have thought of it." Xenophon had an idea and said.

"This is a good idea! The Persians are afraid of the night, especially when their cavalry can't see the road under their feet in the dark, so it's easy for them to fall down. So when Cyrus the Younger was around, they marched with the Persians, and they always had to wait until the sky was completely bright before they left the camp, and the day before yesterday, Mithridates had also caught up with us at dawn for a long time. If it was the same tomorrow, we would have passed through the valley long ago." Cleanor expressed his agreement, and the others then agreed one after another, and then looked at Cheirisophus, who had the final decision.

Cheirisophus glanced at everyone and said in a deep voice, "Everyone, I have a plan. Since the Persians are pursuing us, we can use this valley to strike them hard!"