The soldiers guarding the camp gate took one look at Davos and Antonios and let them through. They stopped Xilos and the others behind them. Davos didn't have time to pay attention to their shouts, and followed Antonios to just run north. After running for a while, they saw a line of people in front of them.
Clilicus was at the moment walking and talking with Cistercus, the brother of the Persian queen, who had come to meet him, when he suddenly heard shouts from behind, "Halt! Halt! It is a plot! A Persian plot! ..."
The five chiefs, more than a dozen squadron commanders, plus two hundred soldiers who were escorting them and incidentally preparing to go to the market to make purchases were startled and immediately stopped to look back.
Davos rushed to them and, faced with a multitude of strange eyes, exclaimed under his breath, "It's a conspiracy! ... Tissafonis is ready ... to prepare to wipe you all out in one fell swoop! So that without our leader, we will be thrown into chaos and lead to total annihilation!"
Several of the chiefs subconsciously looked at the Persian emissary, Sistar.
Sistar pointed at Davos in great anger and roared! How dare he say such a thing! You were the ones who asked for talks, Tissaphernes responded to Krilcus' request and offered him hospitality, and now this is how you repay Tissaphernes, the Commander-in-Chief of Persia? This is not only an insult to him! It insults our great king even more! Go home! I will report this matter to Tissaphernes and advise him to report it to his Majesty and suggest that he cancel the agreement with you Greeks!"
Several chiefs panicked and stopped his horse, apologizing.
Davos didn't expect this meeting to be a request from Clilicus, and without much care, he said eagerly, "Even if we were to meet, we shouldn't have all the chiefs and captains in the Persian barracks! Haven't we always been on guard against the Persians! Who knows that Tissaphernes hasn't been friendly to us for the past ten days, not to paralyze us? Have you forgotten his previous treachery?!"
As soon as Davos' words left his mouth, Menon jumped out and cursed, giving vent to the indignation he had been feeling for the past ten days or so, "Bold rabble-rouser! Shameless liar! Not only did you deceive the soldiers in the barracks and incite them to come against me! And now you want to come and destroy the peace between us and the Persians! Do you want to cause everyone to be unable to return home! Men, arrest him for me!!!"
However, none of the soldiers listened to his orders. For one thing, he had only brought two squadron leaders with him and no other attendants; for another, some of the soldiers recognized Davos as the "God's Favourite" who had been rumoured to be in Menon's camp for a long time, and they were muttering in whispers.
At first, a few chiefs had some hesitation in their hearts when they heard Dyvers' words, who knew that Menon's scolding immediately made them disgusted with Dyvers. Although Menon had a bad character, after all, they had been together for a long time, and the several chiefs knew that his ability was not weak. An ordinary soldier actually dared to revolt against the commander, this was undoubtedly a big taboo for the chiefs.
Krilkus thought differently again. He went so far as to think strangely that Menon had gotten a soldier to act here, trying to sabotage the talk. For this meeting had another purpose: Tissaphernes promised him that he would be willing to point out in public who was fornicating with the Persian army and creating rumors among the mercenaries.
Clearchus had always guessed that it was Menon. For from the very beginning of his march into Persia, Menon had openly contended with him for the command of the Greek mercenaries, and now he had been staying with Arius, who was already close to Tissaphernes, and had privately contacted Socrates and Achilles many times in secret talks, surely to oppose him. This time he must expose his villainous face in public and thus consolidate his own command. For he was convinced that he alone was capable of bringing the army back to Greece in one piece. This is also why he endured the humiliation of making peace with Persia even though he hated the Persians, and he hated any villain who would disrupt the unity of the ranks.
So, he immediately went along with it and said, "Since Menon has said so, let's take this clown-like person down and send him back to the camp to be imprisoned and interrogated when we return!"
He looked around and said decisively, "Now I'm going to negotiate with Tissafonis! Those who believe in me go with me, those who don't can go back!" With that said, several soldiers went over and pinned Davos down, and Antonius went up to stop him and was taken down as well.
Clilicus strides northward, and Proxenus and the others, after a slight hesitation, follow suit. Menon spat a mouthful of spit in Davos' face and cursed triumphantly, "When I come back, you're dead!!!" , finished and laughed as he marched forward. Most of the soldiers followed their leader, only a few who had heard of Davos' "miracles" stayed where they were.
Davos didn't care to count Menon at the moment, he was pinned to the ground and eating dirt. He struggled and cursed in the direction the chieftains had left, "Krilkus, you fool! Your stubbornness will not only harm yourself, but also the entire army! You will regret this! By the way, you definitely won't have time to regret it when the time comes! ..."
His curses didn't bring back Krilkus, however, and the chieftains' silhouettes grew farther and farther away, becoming more and more of a blur. Finally, Davos fell silent and sat down on the ground. Previously, he thought that Krilkus was a "famous general", his mind should be very clear, but he did not realize that he was so stubborn, and could not listen to the slightest opinion. In fact, Davos did not know, most Spartan men are conservative and stubborn, and when they make up their mind, they will not turn back until they hit the wall. The most famous is no more than the Greek-Polish War before the Battle of Plataea, the Greek allied commander ordered the troops to retreat, but a Spartan general thought that retreating in front of the enemy was a violation of Spartan traditions, and many times to persuade still refused to retreat, so that the Spartan army dragged behind the team, almost leading to the failure of the battle.
The forward march continued as the soldiers escorting Davos pushed him back. Those soldiers who remained behind instead came forward to introduce themselves and comfort Davos.
It was then that Antonius had a moment to spare and asked, "Davos, is it true that the chief and the others will be in danger?"
"What good will come of a sheep going to negotiate with a wolf!" Davos sighed. Such deceptions were countless in ancient and modern history. The main reason why Tissafonis's ploy had succeeded was because Krilkus and the others had illusions about peace talks, and the others' trust in Krilkus outweighed their worries about their own well-being. It was still his own lack of influence!
"What do we do?" Antonius panicked a little.
What to do? Save yourself, of course! Davos snapped to Xenophon. Why did he boast in his book that he led the retreat? It turned out to be because of this - more than two dozen mercenary leaders and captains had been massacred, and the entire Greek mercenary leadership was facing a reshuffle!
Thinking about it, he threw off his frustration and reenergized, "Come on! Let's go back!"
...............
Along the way, Menon told Proxenus and the others about Davos's "bad deeds", and succeeded in arousing their anger, and secretly rejoiced in his heart: this time, he could completely clean up this big trouble!
Before arriving at the Persian barracks, most of the soldiers who were going to the market to pick and sell bid farewell to the chiefs.
Entering the Persian barracks, Clilicus saw a scene not different from what he saw yesterday when he left the place, and even some casual Persian soldiers looked at them curiously, and talked to each other about "why are there so many Greek barbarians coming to our barracks" and so on, instead of letting Clilicus and his men put their hearts at ease.
When they arrived at Tissaphernes' tent, Cist went in to inform them and came out saying, "Come in, five chiefs, while the others wait outside the tent for now!"
Clilicus was the first to enter, the light inside the tent was dim, he squinted slightly and realized that there were a surprising number of people inside the tent, he was shocked and before he had time to react, he heard a shout, "TAKE IT DOWN!!!"
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