Race Against Time (I)

"What's wrong?" Davos felt the change in her expression.

"… return to Greece… what do you want to do?" asked Cheiristoya softly.

"Oh… I haven't thought about it…" said Davos. In fact, he had been thinking about it, but he just hadn't thought about it, "But one thing is for sure, no matter where I go, I will take you!"

Cheiristoya put her face on Davos' broad shoulder and rubbed his rough skin, and said firmly, "I will follow you wherever you go!" Then she thought of something and emphasized, "But you better not go back to Asia Minor!"

"Why?" Davos was a bit surprised.

"Because it might be a battlefield." Cheiristoya's words surprised Davos, "I heard from Cyrus the Younger—"

Cheiristoya subconsciously glanced at Davos again and saw that there was nothing unusual about his expression, so she said, "The conflict between the Spartans and Tissaphernes is very deep, and the Spartans were also involved in this Persian rebellion. Now that Tissaphernes has returned to Asia Minor, he will not let go of this opportunity to rectify Sparta. Because Sparta is now the leader of the Greek city-states, he must replace Athens as the protector of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor. However, in order to get the support of the Persians, Sparta had reached an agreement, among which was the agreement that Sparta had agreed to hand over the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to the Persians. After the war with Athens ended, Sparta has been delaying the agreement, and… for some reason, Cyrus the Younger did not urge the Spartans. So…"

"Therefore, now that the new king is in power, and Tissaphernes has returned to Asia Minor, he will certainly urge Sparta to fulfill the original agreement on behalf of the Persian king!" Davos did not expect that there would be such a secret between Sparta and Persia. Although he was surprised by Sparta's shamelessness, it was understandable. If Sparta agrees, then it would be a betrayal and" selling" to the enemy of the Greeks by giving up the land of their compatriots! It would undoubtedly greatly damage the prestige that they had established after their victory in the Peloponnesian War, and there might even be city-states that will rebel against their hegemony due to their dissatisfaction. If they don't agree, then it will be a violation of the agreement, and the war might erupt.

Davos held his chin and fell into deep thought, 'Did Cheirisophus take the initiative to talk to me in order to win me over?' He thought about it and suddenly remembered something, "Cheiristoya, if I don't go to Asia Minor, will you go back to Miletus?"

"Didn't I say that I will always follow you!" Cheiristoya said with a slightly gloomy expression, "Besides, if I go back now, it will also bring trouble to the family."

Davos immediately understood what she meant. As the concubine of Cyrus the Younger, she is an important family member of the insurgents, and her return will undoubtedly attract the attention of the Persian rulers to her family in Miletus.

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

Cheiristoya looked at Davos, who looked very serious, and the haze on her face gradually disappeared, "I believe you!"

She then put Hima on her head and said, "Since you want me to manage the medical camp, then I will start exercising my rights. I will give those female slaves freedom, so that they will work harder to take care of the wounded."

"This is your right, but I have to tell Mersis first."

…

Three days later, they marched.

In the afternoon, Tissaphernes arrived with his army.

After the leaders got the news from the scouts, they quickly led their troops to the nearby village and began to camp. Because at this time, there are many soldiers in the mercenaries who can't fight. One is the wounded, the other is the soldiers who are carrying the wounded, and the third is the soldiers who are carrying the wounded and carrying the weapons of the wounded soldiers. The large reduction in the number of combat soldiers has made the mercenaries unable to march and fight at the same time as before.

When the army of Tissaphernes arrived at the village, the mercenaries found that there was no flag representing Orontes and Sikosti. The officers speculated that the previous Tissaphernes did not appear, and whether they had gone to see these two royal nobles off. At the same time, they began to worry about their future journey. The brother of the Persian king did not need to worry, but Orontes is the governor of Armenia, and he might intercept the mercenaries on the way to Armenia.

The Persian army, under the attack of the mercenaries' catapults, also began to shoot arrows in front of the camp of the mercenaries, and the two sides began to play the drama of long-range attacks every day. It's just that in this kind of attack pattern, the Persian army was already at a disadvantage, and now that the mercenaries have the protection of the camp, their advantage is even more obvious, and the leaders don't understand why the shrewd Tissaphernes is so rash.

The battle lasted only ten minutes, and Tissaphernes led his troops to retreat. Because there were many cavalry in the Persian army, and they were afraid of getting attacked at night and causing chaos, so the camp of the Bo's army was 5 kilometers away from the mercenary camp.

After a discussion, the leaders decided to let the soldiers rest at dusk and march before dawn. If the Persian army catches up, they will camp. In this way, it will not only ensure the safety of the troops, but also not delay the march.

In fact, the arrangements of the leaders seemed to be somewhat redundant. For three consecutive days, the Persian army did not appear, until the morning of the fourth day, the cavalry scout in front reported that the road ahead is narrow and there are several mountains on the side of the road, and the traces of the Persians were found on the shorter mountains. The previous lesson made the leaders to be very cautious.

"Just like before, I will lead a unit to circle around the right side of the mountain and drive them away." Xenophon said, because of his previous success, his face was full of confidence.

At this time, the reconnaissance cavalry at the rear came to report that they had found the main force of Tissaphernes!

This news immediately made the leaders nervous. Because the combat strength of the mercenaries is not as good as before, and there are too many wounded, so the mercenaries don't dare to fight with all their strength. Moreover, the whole army is currently located in the hilly area, and the terrain is narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of the troops. In addition, there are too many people, and the casualties will increase greatly under the long-range attack. Obviously, Tissaphernes has gone through careful planning this time and is ready to give the mercenaries a big blow.

The situation is urgent! Cheirisophus had no time to discuss it with the other leaders, and said to Xenophon with a serious expression, "You must drive away the Persians who occupy the mountain as fast as possible to ensure that we can pass smoothly. As long as you can take down the mountain and guard the mountain path, Tissaphernes won't dare to chase us anymore."

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

"You can't have the archers and the catapults. Only they can fight Tissaphernes." Cheirisophus made a statement in advance.

"I have 500 light shield soldiers under me that I can send to you." Davos was the first to speak. At this time, they can't conserve their strength, and they must work together to get through the difficulties.

Xenophon was very grateful to Davos, because Davos had expressed his support in public many times.

"I will give you 800 Thracian light shields!" Timasion looked at the loud voice and said it out loud. Because the former leader of Timasion, Clearchus, had once used the money given by Cyrus the Younger to recruit mercenaries in Kersonis and had attacked the Thracian forces near Herles for more than a year, so he had recruited many Thracians, and among the Greek mercenaries, he had the most light shields in his camp.

After Xenophon expressed his thanks again, he then took 200 hoplites, a total of 1,500 men, and quickly set off.

The leaders also ordered the whole army to increase their vigilance and speed up their march towards the mountain path.

When Xenophon led his troops to the foot of the mountain, he found that the Persians had occupied a mountain. Just as he was about to give the order to attack, Epiphanes, the captain of the first shield unit under Davos, raised 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 our time, but also make our attack more difficult. It's better to occupy the higher mountain first, and then throw javelins and stones at the Persians from above, so that we can easily repel them."

The captains of the light shield soldiers all said that Epiphanes' method was good, and Xenophon readily followed it, and so he ordered the troops to quickly occupy the top of the mountain!