Chereads / Mediterranean hegemon / Chapter 24 - Chapter 24 - Emergence

Chapter 24 - Chapter 24 - Emergence

Seeing the huge wound in his abdomen, and even seeing the intestines inside, Davos knew that there was little chance of life, but could not bear to give up, and said to the soldier beside him, "Send him quickly to the medical camp at Menon's barracks, and say that Davos had asked for him to be sent there."

 "A medical battalion?"

 "Oh, I know!" Someone replied, so the soldiers carried the wounded soldier and prepared to walk through the Krilkus barracks, heading south. The others looked at Davos at a loss for words.

 Davos said to them anxiously, "Go and inform the officers of the garrisons of the barracks, and say that the Persians have broken their word and massacred the Greek soldiers, and that it is feared that the chiefs who went to the talks have been captured by the Persians, and that they should assemble their soldiers and prepare for battle!"

 The soldiers immediately ran towards their respective barracks.

 "What happened to Davos?!" At that moment, Xenophon arrived at the camp entrance.

 Davos quickly gave him a brief rundown of what had happened.

 Xenophon look gloomy, eyes full of remorse: "Before I also persuaded Proxenus, but he did not listen to persuasion, I also did not insist on ... hey, so, Proxenus he is afraid ... "Xenophon trembling voice some choking.

 Davos nodded silently.

 Xenophon looked at the Persian cavalry galloping across the front and said loudly, "We should gather the entire army at once! Attack the Persian camp and rescue Proxenus and the others!"

 "This is not a good idea!" Accompanying the voice of the speaker, a strong middle-aged man came over, "Although the soldiers have fought with the Persians many times before, we've been living peacefully with them all this time. Now that you're suddenly going to war with the Persians, it's going to be hard for the soldiers to accept for a while, not to mention besieging the Persian military camp."

 "We should at least drive off the Persian cavalry in front of us, and maybe save some of the soldiers who are out!" Davos reminded.

 The man glanced at him and asked, "Who are you?" .

 "Soldier Davos of the Menon Barracks."

 "What to do is a matter for the team officers, not for a soldier to instruct!" The man chided angrily.

 Davos knew better than to say anything.

 "Xenophon, go back to your barracks at once and inform Agathia to bring her troops here immediately." He ordered Xenophon again.

 Xenophon answered and turned to walk back, and Davos immediately followed him, and when he asked Xenophon he realized that the man was Timasone, the adjutant of Clilicus.

 The Krilkus barracks were slow to assemble, the soldiers came out of their tents one by one slowly, putting on their armor while still chatting with each other, obviously unaware of the danger they were facing, Timasone was so anxious that he went up to them and beat and scolded them, and managed to gather about five hundred soldiers.

 And before Davos and Xenophon had gone out of the barracks of Clilicus, the squad officers of the other barracks arrived with a handful of soldiers: they were Criano of the barracks of Archias, Zentiparis of the barracks of Socrates, and Agathia of Procrusteanus.... The Menonian barracks were the most numerous in coming, and the adjutant, Felicius, the lieutenant, Antonius S., Capus, and others, and among the soldiers, of course, was the squad of Hieros. Their arrival gave Davos a boost.

 After everyone had rejoined, some of the squadron officers still didn't know exactly what had happened, and several squadron commanders from Menon's barracks, led by Antonios, demanded in unison that Davos be allowed to recount the situation, on the grounds that it was because he'd seen the whole thing happen with his own eyes.

 Some of the officers, led by Timazon, were surprised: Davos was just an ordinary young soldier, so why did every officer in the Meron barracks show respect for him?

 Others looked at Davos with curiosity, for some of the soldiers who had gone back to deliver the message were proclaiming that Davos, the god-favored man of the camp of Memnon, had prevented Clilicus and the others from going to the camp of Persia for a meeting, and that the chiefs, disobeying the "oracles," had suffered as a result of the disaster. Soon everyone knew about it.

 So Davos, facing the complex gaze of the crowd, took it in stride and gave a brief account of what had happened.

 The officers of the team quickly agreed: immediately drive away the Persian cavalry in front of the barracks, so that the soldiers who went out could return without any problems.

 The soldiers began to form up and Davos returned to the Hieros squad. At that moment, Antonius, who was at the front of the formation, shouted, "Davos, come to the front!"

 Davos froze.

 Then Capps started shouting too.

 "Go on." Xellos nudged him encouragingly, and his teammates looked at him excitedly.

 Davos understood. His heart raced, but he didn't push back, laboriously pushing forward as the soldiers voluntarily made a path for him.

 "Your place is here." Antonius pulled him to the left of Felicius-which was at the forefront of Menon's army-and said to him seriously, "There may be negotiations with the Persians in a few moments, and we need your guidance!"

 Antonius added to Felicius, "Feli, take care of him for us!"

 Without hesitation, Felicius replied, "Leave it to me with confidence!"

 Excited and a little unnatural to be standing in the position of square commander for the first time, Davos craned his head to look at Felicius, who also happened to be looking at him and offered him a gentle smile.

 Previously, Davos had several contacts with Felicius, and learned some things about him through Antonios and others, Davos had an initial impression of Felicius: this forty-five year old Thessalian was a good old man who was well versed in military affairs, and who did not like to compete for fame and fortune. If you think about it, you can understand that the controlling Menon certainly would not pick an equally ambitious person to be his adjutant, knowing that he often goes out, making friends with Persian dignitaries and accepting some mercenary tasks, and that there must be someone to preside over and deal with the affairs in the barracks, and that there is a danger of the soldiers recognizing the adjutant only, but not him, so the good-tempered Felicius is the adjutant that he carefully picked out. And at the present moment it was undoubtedly cheaper for Davos, for Felicius had no objection to the younger man standing in the place of commander, and was friendly in his manner.

 The Greek mercenaries arrayed in front of the barracks numbered about seven hundred heavy infantry and two hundred light infantry, with the heavy infantry at the front and the light infantry at the rear, and with the blowing of the bugle the squares began to advance slowly. The Persian cavalry did not push up, but instead retreated backward, the sound of fighting gradually diminished, and the dust and fog in front of them gradually dissipated. From time to time, there were Greek soldiers covered in dust running back to the barracks in a sorry state, but more often there were comrades and corpses groaning on the ground, and the soldiers' sadness and fear were increasing.

 "The enemy is coming." Felicius whispered.

 Only to see a Persian procession appear ahead of them, walking slowly towards them. Davos was nervous and excited at the same time: could it be that his initial formation was about to begin?

 When the two armies were about two hundred meters apart, a group of cavalrymen from the opposite side rushed out, came to the front of the Greek army, and shouted in Greek, "Listen Greeks on the opposite side, let your generals and captains come forward and hear me read the king's will!"

 There was a commotion in the Greek square, the squad officers whispering to each other, but none of them stepped forward, too impressed by the misery of the attacked soldiers just now, and wary of Persia's previous breach of promise.

 The Persians repeated the cry, and the Greek line remained calm.

 Just then, a man stepped out of the military formation, holding a bronze shield and a bayonet, and walked unhurriedly toward the front.

 "Who's that? The nerve!!!"

 "That's Davos from our barracks! Hades' godly favorites!"

 "Is it true?"

 "Oh, he's so young!!!"

 ...

 The soldiers of the battalions murmured with curiosity, and while the captains were still hesitating, Felicius went after them, but he had promised Antonius and the others that he would keep Davos safe. Then Xenophon also stepped out of the military formation, the young Davos dared to go forward, how could he lag behind.

 "What a mess!" Timasone cursed to cover his embarrassment, and strutted forward as well. Then, Zantiparis, Criano, Agathia, and a dozen other team officers, walked up.

 Davos did this not because he wasn't afraid of an attack by Persian cavalry, but because he knew that when mercenaries are facing a big disaster and the soldiers are panicking, only the one who dares to take risks and take responsibility can be embraced by the soldiers, even forgetting about his youth and inexperience.

 He didn't walk fast, always watching the sides with his afterglow, and was only slightly relieved to see that the other squad officers were catching up, when he realized that his hands were sweaty from gripping his weapon.

------------