Chapter 35
At this moment, thunderous cheers rang out. "Devers! Devers!! Devers!!! " The shouts were so uniform and loud that they overwhelmed all the noise, causing the expressions of the leaders to change.
"Those are Menon's mercenaries!" Timason stood on tiptoe and looked in the direction of the voices.
"They should be called Devers' mercenaries now!" Hieronymus said enviously.
The Devers on the stage smiled and said, "Warriors of Greece, I am Thessaly's Devers. I will replace Menon and become the new leader!"
When the soldier on the stage finished speaking, the soldiers of the Devers' barracks immediately stood up and applauded him, causing the other soldiers to look at each other. Were these guys crazy?!
Some of the people who knew the inside story began to show off in front of their companions. "I heard that this young man is Hades's Chosen. Every time he receives an oracle, it is extremely accurate!"
"I heard that he also miraculously brought a dying soldier back to life. Yes! It's the person standing behind him! "
"He also invented some things that are very useful to us! For example, this … hmm, leggings on my leg … "
The soldiers spread the news by word of mouth. In the blink of an eye, everyone looked at him with less contempt and more curiosity.
The Devers' words reached their ears again. "Just now, Chalisthorpes' words were very exciting, but it was too short! It's like when a man and a woman do it. The woman has just started to get excited, but the man ends it. How uncomfortable would that be for the woman! "
The soldiers below the stage did not expect such vulgar words to come out of the mouth of this somewhat childish young man. They were stunned for a moment, and then immediately burst into laughter. "Hahaha …"
Many people even took the opportunity to make vulgar hisses …
"This young man is very interesting!" Many soldiers said with a smile and nodded.
"Nonsense! He's too reckless! "Timason looked at Chalisthorpes and scolded.
Xenophon was also very surprised. The Devers he knew was a young man with unique knowledge and manners. He shouldn't be so rude.
Chalisthorpes said nothing. Although the Devers were making fun of him, he was not angry. Having lived in the barracks until the age of thirty, Chalisthorpes was well aware of the soldiers' thoughts. He did not know whether the Devers had done it by accident or on purpose, but the dirty joke had made the soldiers feel close to their too-young leader. It also made Sheryl Thorpes look forward to the speech that was about to come.
"When I came up just now, I saw that all of you were dejected, and some of you even had tears in your eyes. You are afraid! He was afraid that he would not be able to return to Greece! You are afraid! Fear that Persia will destroy you! But think of it, when we were in the hinterland of Persia, and our employer Cyrus the Younger was killed, and we did not know what to do, the Persia, who had many more soldiers than we did, did not at once attack us and destroy us! How did they do it? "The Devers were slowly trying to arouse the soldiers' interest with questions.
"Everyone here knows this very well. The Persia spent so much effort to negotiate peace with us, provided us with abundant food, and accompanied us on such a long journey … They spent so much time, money, and energy to deceive our leader and kill him! " The Devers spoke slowly. Then he paused and asked loudly, "Soldiers, tell me! Who is afraid?! Who is afraid?! It's the Persia! They are more afraid than we are! They are afraid of our bravery! They do not dare to fight us head-on! They are so cowardly that they only dare to use these schemes secretly! They are more afraid of us than of their gods, so much so that they have broken the oath they made before the gods!
Now they have killed our leader, and when we are in chaos, they dare not attack us immediately, and even want us to surrender! In the face of such cowardly Persia, what is there for everyone here to be afraid of?! We, the Greeks, are a race that fears no threat! Decades ago, King Darius of Persia led an army and conquered all the races in this land. When he set his next target on the other side of the strait, the weak Greek city-states, soldiers, please tell me, has Greece surrendered?! "The Devers leaned forward, straightened his right hand, and asked the soldiers in a loud voice.
"No." Someone answered one after another.
"Too low, I can't hear you! Please tell me, has Greece surrendered?!! "The Devers raised his voice and asked.
"No!" This time the answer was very uniform.
The Devers was still not satisfied, "Your voice is as low as the cowardly Persia people! Say it again, has Greece surrendered?!! "
"No!!!" The soldiers roared, their emotions were stirred up.
"Yes! We, the Greeks, did not surrender! At Marathon, the Athenians outnumbered the Persians and beat the living hell out of the Persians. Darius returned to his lair and died of illness a few years later. His son, Xerxes, gathered an unprecedentedly large army for revenge and invaded Greece again. However, we, the Greeks, will never surrender to power!
Soldiers, tell me, where did we defeat the Persia people?! "
This time, there was no need for the Devers to guide them. The soldiers answered enthusiastically, "Salamis!"
"Plataea!"
"And Hot Spring Gate!"
...
The Devers continued, "Yes, the Greek people united and defeated the Persia people again, making Greece a fertile land of freedom, and there were decades of peace and prosperity. Soldiers, can any of you tell me the names of the generals and soldiers who participated in the war against Persia?! "
"Mitaiad!"
"Aeschylus!"
"Philipodes!"
"Leonidas!"
"Themistocles!"
"Aristides!"
"Sanya!"
...
The soldiers shouted out the names one by one. At first, it was the names of the generals, then the names of the soldiers who participated in the war. It had only been about 80 years since the Greek War, and it had affected almost the entire Greek world. The mercenaries still remembered it vividly. Many of the soldiers present were descendants of those who participated in the war. They could not wait to proudly announce the names of their ancestors to the public. Even leaders like Zantiparis, Cleano, and Hieronymus could not help but join in. The atmosphere in the hall began to boil.
Timason could not help but widen his eyes, realizing that he had underestimated this young man.
After a long time, the cheers from all directions finally died down.
The Devers continued, full of passion, "The names you are shouting, they were written into history by Herodotus, written into your memories! They became the heroes of Greece! Their spirits are as immortal as the gods! We grew up listening to their stories, and when we grew up, we looked up to them as role models, eager to accomplish earth-shattering feats like them! Now, soldiers, you have a chance, a great chance to become Greek heroes like them, a chance to be written into history! "At this point, the Devers paused again.
The eager soldiers stood up and asked impatiently, "Tell us! What chance is it?! "
"Haven't you noticed?!" The Devers said loudly, "Although our ancestors defeated the Persia, it was not on the mainland of Greece, but on the sea. No Greek army has ever been able to break into the territory of the Persia Empire. Now, we have penetrated deep into the heart of Persia. As long as we work together to defeat the Persia, overcome all the difficulties, and return to Greece in victory, we will have made history! Our deeds will be written into books, made into songs, and sung throughout Greece. Beautiful girls and cute children will pester us, asking us to tell our stories! Our descendants will also be proud of us like we are today! More importantly — "
The Devers took a deep breath and said excitedly, "Our deeds will inspire the Greeks in the future! We will let them know that the Persia may look strong, but they are actually weak on the inside. They are just giants made of mud. Countries are just like people. They have times when they are strong and times when they grow old. One day, when Persia and Greece go to war again, the Greeks will use us as an example and follow the path we took to invade Persia. When they win, they will come to the battlefield where we once shed our blood, worship us, and praise us. What will they say?! "
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