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Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: The Chess Player

 After a moment's silence in the tent, Oliverus was heard to say, "It is a pity that young Cyrus should die in battle! Though he was a prince of Persia, he was polite and helpful to people, and he was so handsome and popular with women that even the queen of Cilicia became his mistress. If he hadn't died, he would have made a good king!"

 A good-looking man who can pick up women is a good king? What kind of bullshit logic is that! Davos secretly slurred.

 "Yes! Little Cyrus doesn't look down on us like the other Persians do, he's genuinely good to us Greeks! If he becomes king, we Greeks will definitely have better relations with the Persians!" Giorgis said.

 "And he's a warrior, not weak like the other Persians!" Martonius echoed.

 "The most important thing is that he's very generous! Gave us a lot of gold coins!" Oliverus emphasized again, drawing a chorus of yeses from the crowd.

 Was this a memorial service for little Cyrus? Davos felt amused, and based on the remaining memories of this body, he couldn't help but say, "Is little Cyrus generous? I don't think so! You see, first of all, he owed us more than three months' pay, and never paid it until the King of Silesia reviewed the troops later, and only then was he paid for four months."

 "It was only when we suspected that Cyrus the Younger was preparing for war with the king of Persia and refused to go forward that he agreed to increase our pay from one dalic gold coin to one and a half in order to convince us. Was he the one who paid for the two months after that? Don't forget that he had ordered us to threaten the king of Cilicia, and that cowardly king gave him a large sum of money. By the time we learned of Cyrus the Younger's plans and made a fuss in the assembly, Cyrus the Younger promised to give us each five minas in silver coins after the capture of Babylon. But did he give it?"

 Half-heartedly, Oliverus replied bitterly, "He's dead!"

 "You see, without spending a single silver coin of his own, young Cyrus has brought us here some three thousand miles from Greece - in a land full of dangerous enemies. If, at the outset, he had told us that we were going to war with the king of Persia, would we have agreed?"

 The three men shook their heads puppet-like.

 "He hides the truth. Giving a little favor at a time is like luring the flock forward with grass, and at the end of the day it's impossible to disagree." Davos said with a sigh, "Little Cyrus is a masterful liar! At no cost whatsoever, he made over ten thousand of us Greeks go and fight to the death for his plot, awesome!"

 Once again there was silence in the tent, and soon Oliverus could be heard beginning to curse bitterly, "Damned little Cyrus! Damn the Persians! And that fool Menon! Every time, he actively makes us the vanguard, saying that Little Cyrus will be grateful and be able to give us more in return. Menon, that fool, not only has a rotten mouth, but also a rotten head, sooner or later we will be killed by him! ... Ouch ... my stomach ... I'm starving to death!"

 Davos saw Oliverus making a scene there, and was amused in his heart. Not to say that the previous government in the government is used to seeing the hook and corner thing, the TV this Kangxi Emperor, that Qianlong dynasty ... is endless, even if you have not eaten pork, you have seen the pig running ah!

 Born in the palace, the great seat of human intrigue, it was not so simple for Cyrus the Younger to reach the position of military commander of western Persia. Just by looking at the way he fooled the Greeks around, you can see the power of his sleight of hand. As for Menon, I'm afraid he's not stupid; as a mercenary chief, he probably already knew about Cyrus Jr.'s machinations, and pushing his countrymen into the fire was nothing more than a matter of lust for profit.

 "Davos, you couldn't have said anything like that before. Are you really ... really ..." asked Martonius cautiously.

 Davos knew that Matonis and "himself" used to have a good relationship because of their similar personalities. So, he said: "Matonis, no matter what happened. I am still me, I have always been your good brother! All along, I'm thankful to you for taking care of me! I hope you can continue to help me!" Repeatedly being implicitly mentioned about the "God's favor", Davos now also thought about it, the social experience of thirty years in his previous life to play a nineteen-year-old simple-minded Greek, he did not want to disguise, and can not disguise, it is better to let other people think so, it should be ... . advantageous. Hence his vague reply, which he neither denied nor admitted.

 Unexpectedly, it actually lifted Matonis' spirits, "Don't worry! With me around, no one will dare bully you!"

 "Davos, can we go home?" Giorgis's voice was filled with worry.

 Apparently, Davos' revelations about Cyrus Jr. caused them to begin to doubt their own abilities.

 Davos smiled bitterly. Although he didn't know much about how this historical event unfolded, Chinese history told him that there was nothing a feudal emperor hated more than plotting against him. It was thought that the West should be the same. Besides, they were still foreigners, invaders. Unless the Persian king was sick in the head, he would definitely eliminate them completely to deter all those who harbored dissenting thoughts!

 As for attacking the Persian army and taking Babylon. Divers was not optimistic, otherwise the event would have been called the "Great March of the Greeks" instead of the "Great Retreat". But he said, "Don't worry! We'll get home all right."

 He turned his head sideways, looked at the other people's look obviously much more relaxed, and sighed in his heart: these simple-minded guys are good. They don't even think about how dangerous the current situation is, and it's a kind of happiness to put their lives on my "oracle".

 Davos is thinking, a movement in the heart, suddenly remembered a movie I saw in my previous life "2012": when the extinction of the disaster comes, those powerful rich and powerful can easily sit on the seven Noah's Ark, while ordinary civilians have to depend on luck ... Yes, when the pawns can only be at the mercy of others; to be a chess player, to be able to take the destiny in their own hands! But how to become a chess player?

 ...............

 By mid-afternoon, the Hieros squad had been given half a bag of wheat flour and a dozen dates.

 Everyone struggled to get up and started making bread. Davos actively helped, asking questions as he did so, as he was empty of theories from memory.

 Ancient Greek bread was actually similar to Chinese pasta, the most important thing being the leaven. Bread was the staple food of the Greeks, marching and fighting, and yeast was carried with them and well preserved.

 After the flour was kneaded, it was placed on an iron plate and baked with gathered firewood. It was only in the evening that everyone ate the humble bread. After filling their stomachs, they hurried to sleep again.

 In the early hours of the next morning, Hieros woke everyone up and told them, "A messenger from Arrizos has come with word that 'he is ready to return to his homeland of Asia with his troops.' The chieftains, unwilling to go back empty-handed in this way, promised him that 'if Arrizos would join them in continuing the advance against Babylon. They were willing to make him king of Persia, and sent Chrysippus and Menon with a messenger to persuade Arius."

 "Why send Menon?" Matonis asked in disbelief.

 "Don't you know that Menon is close to Arielus?" Oliverus smiled ambiguously.

 "Can they convince Arielus?" Giorgis said worriedly.

 Everyone turned their eyes to Davos, who had become their spiritual backbone after one night. Davos felt quite a lot of pressure, but he didn't run away, contemplated for a while, and then shook his head: Arrizos is a Persian nobleman, and in the past, it could be said that he was forced to participate in the conspiracy against the Greeks as an adjutant of Cyrus the Younger. Now if he were to rebel with the Greeks again, once he failed, not only would he himself be finished, I'm afraid his family would also be implicated. If he was really ambitious, he should have immediately taken over everything of Cyrus Jr. the first time he learned of his death and promptly joined forces with the Greek mercenaries. It was only until today that he said he wanted to go home, and it was obvious that he had made a decision after much consideration.

 A look of disappointment crossed everyone's faces when they got a negative answer.

 "Brothers, these should be the chiefs' concerns. Let's do what we need to do." Xellos was busy saying, "Menon told us to slaughter all the extra livestock in the supply train and prepare more food."

 Finally, we can have enough to eat! This news has temporarily dispelled the gloom in everyone's heart.