At this time, a thunderous shout rang out, "Davos! Davos! Davos!" The shout was so neat and loud that it overwhelmed all the noise and made several leaders' expressions change.
"Those are the mercenaries of Menon!" Timasion tiptoed and looked in the direction of the voice.
"They should be called the mercenaries of Davos now!" said Hieronymus, enviously.
On the stage, Davos smiled and said, "Warriors of Greece, I am Davos of Cesare, and I will replace Meno and become the new leader!"
When the soldiers on the stage finished their speech, the soldiers of Davos' camp immediately stood up and applauded him, which made the other soldiers look at each other and ask, "Are these guys crazy?"
Some people who knew the inside story began to spread the news in front of their companions: "I heard that this young man is favored by Hades, and the "oracle" that he gets every time is extremely accurate!"
"I heard that he even magically saved the dying soldiers." "Yes! The one standing behind him!"
"He also invented some things that are very useful to us!" "For example, the one on my leg... uhm, leg binding."
The soldiers spread it by word of mouth. In the blink of an eye, everyone looked at him with less contempt and more curiosity.
Davos' words once again reached their ears: "Just now, Cheirisophus' words were very exciting, but they were too short! "Just like when a man and a woman do that, when a woman starts to get excited, the man ends it. How uncomfortable would the woman be?"
The soldiers under the stage didn't expect that such vulgar words would come out of the mouth of this young man, who was still a bit childish. They were stunned for a moment before bursting out laughing, "Hahaha..."
Many people even took the opportunity to make obscene boos.
"This young man is very interesting!" Many soldiers nodded with a smile.
"Nonsense! "This is too reckless!" Timasion looked at the visitor, Risophus, and scolded him.
Xenophon was also surprised. The Davos he knew was a young man with unique experience and a polite way of speaking, so he shouldn't be so rude.
Cheirisophus didn't speak. Although Davos was using him to ridicule him, he wasn't angry. Cheirisophus, who had been living in the camp before the age of 30, knew what the soldiers were thinking. He didn't know whether Davos had done it by accident or on purpose, but in short, this dirty joke had made the soldiers feel close to this young leader. It also made Cheirisophus look forward to the next speech.
"When I came up just now, I saw that you were all dejected, and some of you even have tears in your eyes." You are afraid! Are you afraid that you won't be able to return to Greece? You are afraid! Are you afraid that the Persians will destroy you? — But think about it carefully: when we were in the hinterlands of Persia and our employer, Cyrus the Younger, was killed and we didn't know what to do, the Persians, who have more soldiers than most of us, did not immediately attack us and annihilate us! "What did they do?" Davos slowly aroused the interest of the soldiers with his questions.
"Everyone here knows very well that the Persians have spent so much time, money, and energy to negotiate with us and provide us with rich food to accompany us on such a long journey... They have spent so much time, money, and energy to deceive our leader and kill him!" said Davos slowly, then he paused for a moment and asked loudly, "Soldiers, tell me! Who is the one who is afraid?! It's the Persians! They are more afraid than us! They are afraid of our bravery! They don't dare fight us head-on! They are cowardly and only dare to quietly use these schemes! They are afraid of us more than they are afraid of their gods, so much so that they went against their oath in front of the gods!
Now that they have killed our leader, they don't dare attack us immediately when we are in chaos, and they even want us to surrender! In the face of such a timid Persian, what is there to be afraid of? You should know that we Greeks are a race that is not afraid of any threat! - Decades ago, Darius, the king of Persia, led his army and conquered all the races on this land. "When he pointed his next conquest at the Greek city-states on the other side of the strait, soldiers, please tell me, has Greece surrendered?!" Davos leaned forward, stretched out his right hand, and asked the soldiers in the audience.
"No." People answered one after another.
"It's too soft; I can't hear it!" "Please tell me that Greece has surrendered!?" asked Davos in a louder voice.
"No!" This time, the answer was very neat.
Davos was still not satisfied: "You sound like a timid Persian!" Say it again: "Did Greece surrender?!"
"No!!!" The soldiers roared, and their emotions began to stir.
"Yes! We Greeks did not give in! In Marathon, the Athenians beat the Persian army with numbers, and Darius rolled back to his nest and died of illness in a few years. To take revenge, his son, Xerxes, gathered an unprecedentedly large army and invaded Greece again. However, we Greeks will never yield to power!
"Soldiers, tell me, where did we hit the Persians?!"
This time, without the need for Davos to guide them, the soldiers enthusiastically said, "Salamis!"
"Pratias!"
"And the hot spring!"
…
Davos took over the conversation, saying, "Yes, the Greeks united and defeated the Persians again, which made Greece a free fertile land with peace and prosperity for decades to come. "Soldiers, can any of you tell me the names of the strategos and soldiers who participated in the battle against Persia?!"
"Mithyad!"
"Escuros!"
"Philipides!"
"Leonidas!"
"Demistocrie!"
"Aristide!"
"Pausania!"
…
One by one, the soldiers rushed to shout out their names. At first, it was the names of the officers, but later, it was the names of the soldiers who had participated in the war. It has only been about 80 years since the Hippo War, and it has almost affected the whole Greek world. The mercenaries still remember it vividly, and many of the soldiers present were even descendants of the participants. They couldn't wait to proudly publicize the names of their ancestors. Even the leaders, such as Xanticles, Cleanor, and Hieronymus, couldn't help but participate. The atmosphere of the whole venue began to boil...
Timasion couldn't help but widen his eyes, realizing that he had underestimated this young man.
After a long time, the shouting from all directions weakened.
Davos continued to say with excitement, "These names that you are talking about have been written into history and your memories by Herodotus! They have become the heroes of Greece! Their spirit is as immortal as the gods! We grew up listening to their stories, and when we grew up, we used them as our role models, and we longed to achieve earth-shattering achievements like theirs! "Now, soldiers, you have a chance, a superb opportunity, to become a Greek hero and write into history like them." Speaking of this, Davos paused again.
The eager soldiers stood up and eagerly asked, "Tell us!" What opportunity?!"
"Didn't you notice?" Davos said loudly, "Although our ancestors defeated the Persians, they were either in Greece or at sea, and no Greek army has ever been able to invade the Persian Empire." And we have already gone deep into the heartland of Persia. As long as we work together to defeat the Persians, overcome all the difficulties, and finally return to Greece, then we will have made history! Our deeds will be written into books, compiled into songs, and sung all over Greece. Beautiful girls and cute children will pester us and let us tell our story! Our children will be proud of us as we are today! And more importantly:
Davos took a deep breath and said excitedly, "Our deeds will inspire the Greeks in the future!" Let them know that the Persians look strong but are weak internally; they are just a giant made of mud. The country is just like humans; there are times when they are strong, and there are also times when they age. When the day comes when Persia and Greece go to war again, the Greeks will use us as an example to attack Persia along the route that we have taken. "When they win and come to the battlefield where we once spilled our blood and worship us, what will they say?
The soldiers listened attentively.