When the soldiers guarding the gate saw that it was Davos and Antonios, they immediately let them through and stopped Hielos and the others behind them. Davos didn't have time to pay attention to their shouts and just ran north with Antonios. After running for a while, he saw a group of people in front.
At this moment, Clearchus was walking and talking with Sist, the younger brother of the Persian queen who had come to meet him, when he suddenly heard a shout from behind, "Stop! Stop! This is a conspiracy! A conspiracy of the Persians!!…"
The five leaders, more than a dozen captains, and 200 soldiers who were escorting them and preparing to go to the market, were all shocked and immediately stopped and looked back.
Davos arrived in front of them, and faced with many strange gazes, he said loudly while panting, "This is a conspiracy!… Tissaphernes is ready… ready to wipe you all out! In this way, without a leader, we will fall into chaos and the whole army will be destroyed!"
Several leaders subconsciously looked at the Persian envoy, Sist.
Sist pointed at Davos angrily and shouted, "Who is he?! How dare he say such a thing! You are the one who asked for the meeting, and Tissaphernes responded to the request of Clearchus and warmly treated him. Is this how you repay the Persian commander, Tissaphernes?! This is not only an insult to him! It is also an insult to our king!! Go back! I will report this to Tissaphernes and suggest that he report it to His Majesty and suggest that His Majesty cancel the agreement with you Greeks!"
Several leaders hurriedly stopped his horse and apologized.
Davos didn't expect that this meeting was the request of Clearchus, so he couldn't care much and said eagerly, "Even if there is a meeting, all the leaders and captains should not go to the Persian camp! Haven't we always been on guard against the Persians! Who knows that Tissaphernes has been friendly to us for more than ten days, and not to numb us?! Have you forgotten his betrayal?!"
As soon as Davos finished speaking, Meno jumped out and scolded him, venting his anger over the past ten days, "Bold madman! Shameless liar! Not only did you deceive the soldiers in the camp and incite them to oppose me! Now you want to destroy the peace between us and the Persians! Do you want to harm everyone so that they can't go home!! Someone, capture him!!"
However, none of the soldiers listened to his orders. Firstly, he only brought two captains and no other followers. Secondly, some of the soldiers recognized Davos as the "God's Favored" in Menon's camp, and were whispering.
At first, several leaders listened to the words of Davos and hesitated. However, Meno's scolding immediately made them hate Davos. Although Meno has a bad character, after all, they have been together for a long time, and the leaders know that he is not weak. For an ordinary soldier to dare to rebel against the commander, this is undoubtedly a taboo for the leaders.
Clearchus had a different idea. He found it strange that Meno had found a soldier to act here and wanted to destroy the meeting. Because there is another purpose in this meeting, and Tissaphernes promised him that he would be willing to point out in public who had colluded with the Persian army and created rumors among the mercenaries.
Clearchus had always guessed that it was Meno. Because from the beginning of his march into Persia, Meno had openly competed with him for the command of the Greek mercenaries, and now, he has been staying with Ariaeus, who was already close to Tissaphernes, and had made contact with Socrates and Achilles many times in private to oppose him. This time, he must expose his villainous face in public and consolidate his command. Because he firmly believed that only he could bring the army back to Greece intact. This is also the reason why he endured humiliation and negotiated peace with Persia, even though he hated the Persians. He hated anyone who broke the unity of the troops.
Therefore, he immediately took advantage of the situation and said, "Since Meno has said so, then we will capture this clown-like man and send him back to the camp to be imprisoned. We will interrogate him after we return!"
He looked around and said firmly, "Now, I am going to negotiate with Tissaphernes! Those who believe in me will go with me, and those who don't can go back!" With that, several soldiers went to press Davos down, and Antonios stepped forward to stop them and was also taken down.
Clearchus strode north, and Proxenus and the others hesitated for a moment and followed him. Meno spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on Davos' face and said proudly, "When I come back, you are dead!!" With that, he laughed and went forward. Most of the soldiers followed their leader, and only a few soldiers who had heard of Davos'" miracle" stayed where they were.
Davos didn't have the heart to care about Meno at this moment. He was pressed down on the ground and ate a mouthful of soil. He struggled and shouted in the direction where the leaders had gone, "Clearchus, you fool! Your stubbornness will not only harm yourself, but also the whole army! You will regret it! By the way, you won't have time to regret it!…"
However, his scolding did not call back Clearchus, and the figures of the leaders became more distant and blurred. In the end, Davos calmed down and sat down on the ground. Before, he thought that Clearchus was a "famous general" and should have a clear mind, but he didn't expect him to be so stubborn and couldn't listen to any opinions. In fact, Davos didn't know that most of the Spartan men are conservative and stubborn, and when they make up their mind, they often don't look back unless they hit a wall. The most famous one was the Praetia before the battle of Hippopotamus. The commander-in-chief of the Greek alliance ordered the troops to retreat, but one of the Spartan generals thought that retreating in front of the enemy was against the Spartan tradition, and after many persuasions, they still refused to retreat, which made the Spartan army to drag the troops behind them and almost caused them to lose the battle.
The marching troops continued to move forward, and the soldiers escorting Davos pushed him back. The soldiers who stayed came forward to introduce themselves and comfort Davos.
At this time, Antonios had the time to ask, "Davos, will the leader and the others really be in danger?"
"What good results will there be if the sheep go to negotiate with the wolves?!" Davos sighed. There are countless such scams in the history of both ancient and modern times. The reason why Tissaphernes'scheme succeeded was mainly because Clearchus and the others had fantasies about the peace talks, and the trust of others to Clearchus surpassed their concern for their own safety. Or was it because their influence was not enough!
"What should we do?" Antonios panicked.
What to do? Save yourself, of course!! Davos suddenly thought of Xenophon. Why did he boast in his book that he had led this retreat? So it was because of this – more than 20 mercenary leaders and captains were slaughtered, and the whole Greek mercenary leadership is facing a reshuffle!!
Thinking of this, he threw away his frustration and regained his spirit, "Hurry! Let's go back!"
…
Along the way, Meno embellished the story of Davos' "misdeed" to Proxenus and the others, which successfully aroused their anger, and they secretly rejoiced in their heart, 'This time, I can finally get rid of this big trouble!'
Before arriving at the Persian camp, most of the soldiers who were going to the market to pick and sell bid farewell to their leaders.
After entering the Persian camp, what Clearchus saw was no different from what he saw when he left yesterday. There were even some casual Persian soldiers who curiously looked at them and talked about things like "Why are so many Greek barbarians coming to our camp", which made Clearchus and the others relieved.
When they arrived at the tent of Tissaphernes, Sist went in and reported, then came out and said, "Five leaders, please come in. The others will wait outside the tent for the time being!"
Clearchus was the first to go in, and the light in the tent was dim. He narrowed his eyes and found that there were a lot of people in the tent. He was surprised and before he could react, he heard a shout, "Capture them!!"