Chapter 26
When the soldiers guarding the camp gate saw that it was the Devers and Antonios, they let them through. They stopped Hilos and the others behind them. The Devers did not have time to pay attention to their shouts. They followed Antonios and ran north. After running for a while, they saw a group of people in front of them.
Kleicus was walking and talking with Thistle, the younger brother of the Queen of Persia, who had come to greet him. Suddenly, he heard a shout from behind: "Stop! Stop! This is a conspiracy! A conspiracy of the Persia!! … "
The five leaders, more than a dozen platoon jarls, and two hundred soldiers who were escorting them and preparing to go to the market to buy were all shocked and immediately stopped to look back.
The Devers rushed in front of them. Facing the many strange eyes, he panted and said loudly, "This is a conspiracy! … Tisafniss is preparing … preparing to catch all of you in one fell swoop! This way, without a leader, we will fall into chaos and lead to the destruction of the whole army! "
The leaders subconsciously looked at the Persia messenger, Thistle.
Thistle pointed angrily at the Devers and roared: "Who is he?! How dare he say such things! It was you who asked for a meeting. Tisafniss responded to Kleicus' request and entertained him warmly. Now this is how you repay the commander of Persia, Tisafniss?! This is not only an insult to him! It is also an insult to our king!! Get out of here! I will report this to Tisafniss and suggest that he report this to His Majesty and suggest that His Majesty cancel the agreement with you Greeks! "
The leaders hurriedly stopped his horse and apologized profusely.
The Devers did not expect that this meeting was requested by Kleicus. He could not care less and said eagerly: "Even if there is a meeting, we should not have all the leaders and platoon jarls go to the Persia camp! Haven't we always been on guard against the Persia? Who knows if Tisafniss has been friendly to us for more than ten days just to numb us?! Have you forgotten how he went back on his word?! "
As soon as the Devers' voice fell, Menon jumped out and scolded, venting his anger over the past ten days: "Bold madman! Shameless liar! Not only did you lie to the soldiers in the barracks, you incited them to oppose me! Now they want to destroy the peace between us and Persia! Do you want to cause everyone to be unable to return home?! Men, capture him!! "
However, none of the soldiers listened to his orders. Firstly, he only brought two platoon jarls and no other attendants. Secondly, some of the soldiers recognized the Devers as the long-rumored "Blessed" in the Menon Barracks and were muttering softly.
At first, the leaders were a little hesitant when they heard what the Devers said, but Menon's scolding immediately made them feel disgusted with the Devers. Although Menon's character was not good, after all, they had been together for a long time, and the leaders knew that he was not weak. An ordinary soldier actually dared to rebel against the commander. This was undoubtedly a taboo for the leaders.
Krylkus had a different idea. He strangely thought that Menon had found a soldier to put on a show here to ruin the meeting. Because there was another purpose to this meeting: Tisafniss had promised him that he was willing to publicly point out who was in cahoots with the Persia army and spread rumors among the mercenaries.
Krylkus had always guessed that it was Menon. Because from the beginning of the march into Persia, Menon had openly competed with him for the command of the Greek mercenaries, and now he had been staying with Alreus, who was already close to Tisafniss. He had been in private contact and secret talks with Socrates and Achilles, definitely to oppose him. This time, he had to expose his vile nature in front of everyone and solidify his command. Because he firmly believed that only he had the ability to bring the army back to Greece intact. This was also why, although he hated the Persia, he endured the humiliation and negotiated peace with Persia. He hated any villain who destroyed the unity of the team.
So he immediately went with the flow and said, "Since Menon has said so, then take this clown-like man down and send him back to the camp to be imprisoned. We'll interrogate him when we return!"
He looked around and said firmly, "Now I'm going to negotiate with Tisafniss! Those who believe me will come with me, and those who don't can go back! " With that, several soldiers went over and pressed the Devers to the ground. Antonios stepped forward to stop them and was also taken down.
Krylkus strode north, and Proxinus and the others hesitated for a moment before following closely. Menon spat on the Devers's face and scolded proudly, "When I come back, you're dead!" With that, he laughed and moved forward. Most of the soldiers also followed their leaders, and only a few soldiers who had heard of the Devers' "miracle" stayed where they were.
The Devers was not in the mood to care about Menon at the moment. He was pressed to the ground and ate a mouthful of dirt. He struggled and yelled in the direction of the leaders' departure, "Krylkus, you idiot! Your stubbornness will not only harm you, but also the entire army! You will regret it! By the way, you won't have time to regret it! … "
However, his scolding did not call back Krylkus, and the figures of the leaders became more and more distant and blurred. Finally, the Devers calmed down and slumped to the ground. Previously, he thought that Krylkus was a "famous general" and should be very clear-headed, but he did not expect him to be so stubborn and not listen to any opinions. In fact, the Devers did not know that most of the Sparta men were conservative and stubborn. Once they made up their minds, they often would not turn back until they hit a brick wall. The most famous example was before the Battle of Plataea in the Greek War. The commander of the Greek coalition forces ordered the troops to retreat, but a general of Sparta believed that retreating in front of the enemy was against Sparta's tradition. He refused to retreat after many persuasions, causing the Sparta army to lag behind the team and almost lead to the failure of the battle.
The team continued to move forward, and the soldiers who escorted the Devers pushed him back. The soldiers who stayed behind instead came forward to introduce themselves and comfort the Devers.
At this time, Antonios finally had time to ask, "Devers, will the leaders really be in danger?"
"What good will come of a sheep negotiating with a wolf!" The Devers sighed. There were countless such scams in the history of China and the West. The reason why Tisafniss's scheme was successful was mainly because Krylkus and the others had illusions about the peace talks, and the trust the others had in Krylkus outweighed their concern for their own safety. His influence was still not enough!
"What should we do?" Antonios panicked a little.
What to do? Of course it was to save themselves! The Devers suddenly thought of Xenophon. Why did he boast in his book that he had led the retreat? So it was because of this — more than twenty mercenary leaders and captains had been slaughtered, and the entire leadership of the Greek mercenary army was facing a reshuffle!
Thinking of this, he threw away his depression and reinvigorated himself. "Quick! Let's go back! "
… …
Along the way, Menon told Proxinus and the others about the "misdeeds" of the Devers with embellishment, successfully arousing their anger. He was secretly delighted. This time, he could finally get rid of this big trouble!
Before arriving at the Persia barracks, most of the soldiers who were going to the market said goodbye to their leaders.
Entering the Persia barracks, Krylkus saw the same scene as when he left yesterday. There were even some leisurely Persia soldiers who looked at them curiously and talked to each other about "why are there so many Greek barbarians in our barracks", which made Krylkus and the others feel relieved.
When they arrived at Tisafniss's tent, Thistle went in to report and came out to say, "Five leaders, please come in. The others will wait outside for the time being!"
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