Novels online

Chapter 52

"What's wrong?" Devers sensed the change in her expression.

"… Back to Greece … What do you want to do?" Cristoya asked softly.

"Oh … I haven't thought about it …" Devers said. In fact, he had been thinking about it, but he did not have a good idea. "But one thing is for sure, no matter where I go, I will take you with me!"

Cristoya put her face on Devers's broad shoulders and rubbed his rough skin. She said firmly, "Wherever you go, I will follow you!" After that, she thought of something and emphasized, "But you better not go back to Asia Minor!"

"Why?" Devers was a little surprised.

"Because it may be a battlefield." Cristoya's words surprised Devers. "I heard from little Cyrus —"

Cristoya subconsciously glanced at Devers again. Seeing his expression did not change, she said, "The conflict between Sparta and Tisafniss is very deep, and Sparta was involved in the Persia rebellion. Now that Tisafniss has returned to Asia Minor, he will certainly not let go of this opportunity to punish Sparta. Because Sparta is now the leader of the Greek city-states, it will inevitably replace Athens as the protector of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor. However, in order to get the support of Persia, Sparta reached an agreement, in which Sparta agreed to hand over the Greek city-states in Asia Minor to Persia. After the war with Athens ended, Sparta has been dragging out this agreement, and … for some reason, Cyrus did not urge Sparta. So … "

"So, now that the new king has ascended the throne, Tisafniss has returned to Asia Minor, and will definitely represent the king of Persia to urge Sparta to fulfill the original agreement!" Devers did not expect that there was such a secret between Sparta and Persia. Although he was surprised by Sparta's shamelessness, it was understandable. If Sparta had agreed, the Greek overlord would have given up the land of its compatriots to the enemy of the Greeks. This was simply betrayal and "treason"! There was no doubt that it would greatly damage the prestige that it had established after the victory in the War of Peloponnesus, and there might even be city-states that would rise up to resist its hegemony due to dissatisfaction. If they didn't agree, it would be a violation of the agreement, and war would probably break out.

Devers rubbed his chin and fell into deep thought. Did Kellethorpes take the initiative to talk to me in order to win me over? Suddenly, he remembered something. "Cristoya, if I don't go to Asia Minor, will you go back to Miletus?"

"Didn't I say that I would always follow you!?" Cristoya said, looking slightly gloomy. "Besides, if I go back now, it will bring disaster to my family."

Devers immediately understood what she meant. As the concubine of Cyrus the Younger, she could be regarded as an important family member of the rebels. Her return would undoubtedly attract the attention of the authorities in Persia to her family in Miletus.

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

Cristoya looked at the serious expression on Devers's face, and the haze on her face gradually disappeared. "I believe in you!"

She put Hima on top of her head and said, "Since you asked me to manage the medical camp, then I will start exercising my rights. I want to give freedom to those female slaves, 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, the army broke camp and marched.

In the afternoon, Tisafnese arrived with his army.

After the leaders received the news from the scouts, they quickly led their troops to the nearest village and began to set up camp. Because at this time, many of the mercenaries could not fight: the wounded, the soldiers who carried the wounded, and the soldiers who helped carry the wounded and the weapons of the wounded soldiers. The large reduction in combat soldiers made it impossible for the mercenaries to march and fight at the same time as before.

When Tisafnese's army arrived at the village, the mercenaries found that the flags representing Orontas and Sicosti were gone. The generals guessed that Tisafnese did not appear before because he had gone to see the two royal nobles off. At the same time, they began to worry about their future journey. They did not have to worry about the brothers of the king of Persia, but Orontas was the governor of Armenia. He was likely to intercept the mercenaries on the way to Ameria.

The Persia army withstood the attacks of the mercenaries' stone throwers. When they reached the mercenaries' camp, they also began to fire arrows. The two sides began their daily long-range attacks. However, in this mode of attack, the Persia army was already at a disadvantage. Now that the mercenaries had the protection of the camp, the advantage was even more obvious. The leaders did not understand why the shrewd Tisafnese would be so rash.

The battle only lasted ten minutes before Tisafnese retreated with his army. Because there were many cavalry in the Persia army, the Poles' camp was ten miles away from the mercenaries' camp for fear of being attacked at night and causing chaos.

After a discussion, the leaders decided to let the soldiers rest at dusk and march before dawn. If the Persia army caught up, they would set up camp. This would ensure the safety of the troops and not delay the march.

In fact, the leaders' arrangement seemed to be a little redundant. For three days, the Persia army did not appear. It was not until the morning of the fourth day that the scouts in front reported that the road ahead was narrow and there were several mountains on the side of the road. There were traces of the Persia on the lower mountains. The previous lesson made the leaders extremely cautious.

"Like before, I will lead a team to go around the right side of the mountain and drive them away," Xenophon said. Because of the previous success, his face was full of confidence.

At this moment, the scouts in the rear came back to report that Tisafnese's main force had been found!

This news immediately made the leaders nervous. Because the mercenaries' combat power was not as good as before, and there were too many injured, the mercenaries did not dare to fight with all their strength. Moreover, the entire army was in a hilly area, and the terrain was narrow, which was not conducive for the troops to spread out. Coupled with the fact that the people were too densely packed, the casualties from long-range attacks would increase greatly. Obviously, this time, Tisafnese had carefully planned to give the mercenaries a big blow.

The situation was urgent! Chalisops had no time to discuss with the other leaders. With a serious expression, he said to Xenophon, "You must use the fastest speed to drive away the Persia occupying the mountain to ensure that we pass smoothly. As long as you take the mountain, you will be able to hold the mountain road, and Tisafnese will not dare to pursue us again. "

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

"I can't give you archers and stone-throwers. Only they can fight against Tisafnese," Chalisops stated in advance.

"I have 500 light shield soldiers under me that I can send to you," the Devers said first. At this time, they could not conserve their strength. They had to work together to get through this.

Xenophon was very grateful to the Devers, because the Devers had publicly expressed their support for him many times.

"I'll give you 800 Thrace Light Shieldbearers!" Timasong looked at Yali and said loudly. Timason's former leader, Krylkus, had used the money given to him by Cyrus the Younger to recruit mercenaries from Kersones. He had attacked the Thracian forces near the Hellespont for more than a year, so he had recruited many Thracians. Among the Greek mercenaries, his camp's light shield soldiers were the largest.

After Xenophon expressed his gratitude again, he took another 200 heavy infantry soldiers, totaling 1,500 men, and quickly set off.

The leaders also ordered the entire army to be on high alert, and to speed up the march towards the mountain road.

When Xenophon led his army to the foot of the mountain, he found that the Persia had occupied a mountain. He was about to give the order to attack when the Devers' first light shield soldier, Epthenis, gave his opinion. He pointed to the mountain and said, "Look, Xenophon, the mountain next to the Persia. If we attack the Persia directly, they may retreat to the higher mountain … This will not only delay us, but it will also make it more difficult for us to attack. It is better to occupy the higher mountain first, and then throw javelins and stones at the Persia from above. We can easily repel them. "