"Go! Go!!" Hielos pulled him back, and with his lead, the soldiers immediately retreated.
The Persian cavalry raised their bows and rushed over again. Several of them raised the body of Mithridates, while the rest chased after the Greek soldiers. This time, they learned their lesson and split into two sides to circle around Davos.
"Watch out for the arrows!" Hielos shouted and waved his hand to signal the soldiers to disperse.
Davos, who lacked experience in the center of the team, hesitated for a moment and was pushed down from behind, and then there was a painful groan.
"Olivos!" Davos recognized him from his distorted face due to pain, but there was no time for him to think too much. Matonis and Giorgris, who were next to him, quickly pulled them and ran around the curve.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!…" More than ten arrows flew again, and two screams rang out.
At this time, the reinforcement team had arrived, and the light infantry unit running in front threw javelins at the Persian cavalry, then raised their leather shields and continued to charge forward. The hoplites that came later raised their shields and formed a shield wall to block the arrows.
The Persian cavalry, with only 20 men, did not dare to continue fighting and quickly fled with the body of Mithridates.
Davos then had the opportunity to check on Olivos' injury.
Olivos saw Davos arrive and broke free from the support of Giorgris.
"Leader… I… I –" Before he could finish, Davos gave him a strong hug, "Good brother, thank you!!"
Hearing this, Olivos' gloomy face broke into a smile, and his whole body relaxed, and then he felt pain, "Ouch!"
Davos thought that he had touched his wound and hurriedly let go.
"Hey, Olivos, it's a good thing that you got an arrow in your butt. If you had been shot in front of you, I don't know how you would have screamed!" Matonis mocked.
"Damn it, Matonis, you are brave, try getting an arrow next time!" Olivos touched the arrow on his butt and retorted.
The noise returned to Hielos'squad.
In addition to Olivos, another soldier was shot in the thigh, while another was shot in the back, but due to his thick chest armor, he only suffered a flesh wound.
"Giorgris, send Olivos and the others to Herpus and ask him to treat them well!" After saying that, Davos patted Olivos on the shoulder, "Treat them well and come back to fight with us as soon as possible!"
"Yes, leader!" Olivos answered loudly.
"An excellent surprise attack! I didn't expect that you would really succeed. We were worried about you just now!"
"Yes, you killed Mithridates, which is also a part of the revenge for Meno. The whole mercenary should thank you!"
"The premise is that Ma Song and the others say that we are crazy and randomly choose a leader. Let's see what they say this time?"
Philesius, Antonios, Kapus and the other captains came together to congratulate Davos, while Amintas saluted him.
The clever Asistes brought the horse and let Davos mount it.
The soldiers consciously made way for him, shouting victory and welcoming him back to their formation…
…
"What did you say?! Davos killed Mithridates?!" After hearing the herald's words, Timasion had a look of disbelief, "It is now a time of war, and you will be punished for spreading information!"
…
"Davos killed Mithridates!" Xenophon exclaimed, "He came up with a bold plan and succeeded!"
"Great!" Hieronymus breathed a sigh of relief and said hatefully, "This time, let's see who else wants to escape! If the Persians die, Mithridates will surely vent their anger on those deserters!"
…
Cheirisophus listened carefully to the narration of Tolmides. Although he didn't like the young man, he had to admit that he had done a good job this time, and it could even be said that he had saved the whole army. Because he knew very well that the mercenaries, who have slack military discipline and lax management, are not afraid of the enemy's attack, and the fiercer the enemy's attack, the more united the mercenaries will be. Instead, it is the way of Mithridates that will break down the morale of the soldiers and make the whole team collapse.
Thinking of this, he smiled and said loudly to Tolmides, "Please tell Leader Davos on my behalf to thank him for his efforts for the whole army! And remind him that the enemy's attack will soon come."
…
"What?! Mithridates is dead?!" Ariaeus couldn't believe his ears.
"Yes, General, his body is outside the tent!" said the guard.
Ariaeus hurried out of the tent, followed by a trusted aide sent by Artaozus and Tissaphernes.
The body of Mithridates has been simply treated, but it is still a terrible sight. There are four or five wounds on his body, and there is a fist-sized bloody hole on his neck that is still bleeding.
Ariaeus bent down and was about to take a closer look, when Artaozus couldn't help but shout at the Persian cavalry that had fled back, "Who did it?! Who did it?!"
"It's… Meno's soldiers, they…" The Persian cavalry stammered as they described the whole process.
"A group of idiots! You were actually defeated by the useless subordinate of Meno! You didn't manage to protect Mithridates well, and each of you was punished with 30 whips and then punished as a servant of the supply camp." Artaozus roared angrily.
"General, spare us! General, spare us!!" The Persian cavalry kowtowed and begged for mercy.
Although Ariaeus felt that it was a pity for these cavalry who were proficient in Greek, he had no intention of stopping Artaozus. He then ordered the guards to escort the cavalry down and said, "Bring a few Greeks who have escaped, I want to ask them in detail."
"What are you asking! Kill them all! Then lead the army to attack the Greek barbarians!" Artaozus shouted impatiently.
"After Clearchus and the others were captured by us, the mercenaries must have elected a new leader. We must first know who they are before we can take the next step." Ariaeus patiently persuaded.
"If you want to ask, I will go and avenge Mithridates first!" Artaozus left angrily.
Ariaeus pretended to shrug helplessly at Tissaphernes' confidant. Nominally, he is the commander of this army after the death of Cyrus the Younger, but in fact, Mithridates and Artaozus each control an army, and they are good friends, so they fought against Ariaeus in the open and in the dark, which made Ariaeus often be constrained. Now that Mithridates has died, Ariaeus is actually secretly happy. Compared with the smooth Mithridates, the impulsive Artaozus is much easier to deal with…
…
Although Artaozus was impulsive, he was not stupid in war. He knew that the Persian infantry could not fight against the Greek hoplites, so he only chose 200 cavalry and 200 archers and hurriedly led them to chase the Greek army.
The troops of Artaozus were either light cavalry or archers, and were very mobile. In the afternoon, the huge formation of the Greeks entered his sight.
"Order the troops to spread out in the shape of a goose and quickly press forward!" Artaozus' eyes flashed with bloodthirst as he excitedly gave the order.
The Persian troops were facing the rearguard of Cleanor, who had expected the Persians to come again. Seeing that there were not many enemies, they thought that they were ready to shout like last time, so although they were on guard, they did not take it to heart.
However, the Persians quickly spread out and closed in, and in the blink of an eye, they were less than 100 meters away.
Cleanor felt that something was wrong and shouted, "Prepare to defend!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the arrows of the Persians came, and most of them hit the round shields of the soldiers like raindrops. Because the Greek soldiers were in a tight formation and the light infantry were close together, some of them were immediately injured, mainly the light infantry.
"Spread out and the hoplites will charge!" Cleanor anxiously conveyed the order.
The arrows came again, and some people screamed and fell. At this time, the troops were in a mess, especially the supply unit behind him. The guards and servants hurriedly pulled the neighing horses and ran to the north, away from the rearguard to avoid getting involved.
With their round shields, the three hoplites rushed forward against the rain of arrows.
The Persians immediately retreated.