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Chapter 25 - Chapter 25 - Breakdown of Negotiations

 When he came to the Persian cavalry, Felicius told Davos that the Persians in the front were Arrius, Artaozus, and Mithradates, three of Cyrus the Younger's most trusted subordinates. The other Persian in the center, whom Davos recognized, was Cistercian, the previous Persian emissary.

 The teamsters walked until they were about twenty meters from the Persian cavalry and stopped in their tracks.

 "Please come closer!" Arielus pointed to the front of his horse.

 The team officers didn't move.

 Cistus couldn't help but say sarcastically, "Are all Greeks such cowards?"

 "Because the Persians have broken their promises over and over again, so that we no longer dare to trust the Persians!" Xenophon sneered back.

 "Yes, the Persians are all shameless villains who can deceive even the gods!" Criano cursed angrily, and his words resonated with the other team officers, so the curses rose.

 "Please remain quiet! Listen carefully to the orders of the Great King!!!" Arielus shouted.

 "That's your maharajah, not ours, if you want to talk, talk, if not we'll go back!" Davos shouted back.

 "We Greeks are free, unlike the Persians who are all slaves to your king!" Timasone roared, half proudly, half mockingly.

 Arius, whose nose was crooked with anger, twisted his head to look at Sixt, who nodded at him, and only then, helplessly unfolding the papyrus in his hand, read aloud, "I, Artaxerxes, I, Artaxerxes, Lord of the Persians, King of the Nations, declare that Clilicus has violated the oath of alliance, and has broken the truce, and that the gods have sent down their punishments with him. Proxenus, Menon, Achilles, and Socrates, the four chiefs, are being treated with high honor by my governor Tissaphernes for having denounced his conspiracy! In order to prevent any further such terrible treachery on the road, and for the sake of safety-" Arius raised his voice and said solemnly, "demand that all the Greek soldiers surrender your arms, for the money for their purchase came from the traitorous Cyrus the Younger, and his money all came from the Persian treasury and should have belonged to me originally! Surrender your weapons, and I swear by Mazda, the Most High God, that you will reach Ionia without incident!"

 "Hahaha! ..." Davos vocalized and laughed, "The wolf tricked the deer into being friends and then ate them. Having tasted the benefits, the wolf tried to trick all the deer into breaking their horns themselves, so that the wolf could enjoy their meat with confidence! Hahahaha ... How stupid does one have to be to fall for such a trick again, or is your king out of his mind?!!!"

 "Daring!!!" Arielus pointed angrily at Davos, "Insult the Great King and be punished by fire!"

 "Enough, Arius, you shameless villain! And you few of the closest comrades of little Cyrus, are you not ashamed in the presence of the gods!" Criano pointed at the three of them, Arrizos, Artaozus, and Mithradates, and angrily rebuked, "You had sworn an oath of alliance with us to the gods together against the king of Persia, and now you have betrayed us and collaborated with that inhuman scoundrel, Tissaphernes, who has not only deceived Clilicus and the others, but also attempted to betray those of us who are left! Little Cyrus will surely curse you even in hell, knowing what you have done!"

 Arius shrank unnaturally, and subconsciously glanced at Cistercus beside him, who looked as if he had nothing to do with me, so that he was obliged to add: "The Great King is sincere in his desire to send you safely home, for the rebel, little Cyrus, has been most justly punished, and you have only been have been deceived by him! The Great King is merciful and does not want to subject the land of Persia to any more needless wars! But, after Proxenus and the others reported that Krilcus had begun plotting against Lord Tissaphernes and the Persian army a dozen days ago, and was spreading rumors around in an attempt to divide the Greeks from the Persians, we had to take action against him!"

 "Since you say that Proxinus and the others have been rewarded by you for exposing Clilicus, please let them come here, so that naturally the suspicion between us can be dissolved, and as chiefs they can also make better suggestions for the reconciliation of our two sides!" Xenophon was still making efforts to free Proxenus.

 "That's right, get our chief here and we'll believe you!!!" The team officers clamored loudly.

 "Uh ... Proxenus and the others have accepted a banquet from Lord Tissaphernes ... and have gotten drunk ... so ... "Arrizos spoke expectantly, and Cistercus, already a little impatient, exclaimed, "The king has ordered that you surrender your weapons at once in order to guarantee your safe return home, or we will no longer be of any assistance to you! "

 "By Ares, a Greek warrior will never throw away his weapon and be slaughtered!!!" Timasone roared as he struck his bronze shield with his bayonet.

 "We'll fight anyone who tries to take our weapons!" Criano shouted angrily.

 "Proxenus and the others couldn't come, not drunk, but already murdered by you, right?!" Xenophon also said sadly, he had made the result so serious to force Arius and the others to tell the truth, but he did not expect to provoke the anger of the team officers.

 "The Persians want to kill us all!"

 "Avenge the chiefs!"

 ...

 The enraged officers surrounded Arius and his men, and Sixt, seeing that the situation was not good, turned his horse and ran away, and then Arius and his men followed him back. After running for a while, Sist turned back and saw that he had already distanced himself from the Greeks, remembering that he was a Persian nobleman and royal relative, but he was scared away by a group of Greek barbarians, he was ashamed and furious, so he cried out sternly, "Greeks, you missed the best opportunity, soon you will regret it!!!"

 "We don't know who will regret it when the time comes!" Xenophon replied forcefully.

 Watching the Persian cavalry leave, everyone was worried, it was certain that several mercenary leaders would not end up too well, and the Persians had already torn their faces off, so now what should they do?

 Surrender to the Persians? Even the Persian king's own brother, Cyrus the Younger, had his head brutally cut off and his hands chopped off, and most of the squad officers didn't think they would fare any better after surrendering! Either they would be killed or possibly become slaves. For this option, the teamsters could not accept it, nor could they.

 Beyond that, they were left with the option of going to war with the Persians again in this strange land! Now they were walking under the leadership of the Persians on a route they had never traveled before, ten thousand miles away from their home, without the help of the Persians, they could only grope their way forward, and did not know how many hostile races and villages and towns they would have to face, and also had to defend themselves against the attacks of the Persian army. The most agonizing thing was that the Persians could not defeat them in a frontal battle, but they could not catch up with the Persians either, and in case of failure, the whole army might be wiped out. Because of these difficulties, everyone was frustrated and did not know what to do. When they left the camp, the soldiers were still in good spirits, but when they returned to the camp, they all sighed and looked sad.

 Back at the barracks, when the teamsters in charge of each battalion reconvened, Davos naturally tagged along beside Felicius and took part in the deliberations. Of course as a newcomer, he rarely spoke, but was more observing the cohort officers, who were more likely to reveal their personalities in heated arguments: the short-tempered Timasone, the shrewd Criano, the cautious-talking Zantiparis, Agathia, who was on good terms with all the other cohort officers ...

 Xenophon was much more active, and not only did he argue vigorously with the others many times, but he also exclaimed excitedly, "Gentlemen, Clilicus and the others have been captured by the Persians, and we must at once elect new chiefs of the battalions in their stead, and then call a general meeting of the whole army, to re-establish in the soldiers the determination to fight against the Persians, as well as the confidence that we must rely on ourselves to get home, or else we will be ruined. Otherwise, if we allow this chaos to continue, we will all be finished without waiting for the Persians to attack!"

 Davos thought Xenophon was right, although he was still just getting started in the military, but in his previous life he had been a village official, a supervisor of a high-tech development zone, and had managed far more people than these 10,000 soldiers, so he knew the importance of unifying thoughts and inspiring confidence in a group.

 Timazon seemed a bit disgusted by Xenophon's over-exuberance and didn't look at Xenophon at all, turning to the others, he said, "Don't be in a hurry, Kerisops will be back in a minute!"

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