"Go! Move!!!" Xellos pulled him back, and as soon as he took the lead, the soldiers immediately retreated as well.
The Persian cavalry, with their riding bows raised, rushed forward again, a few of them lifting the body of Mithradates, the rest coming after them towards the Greek soldiers. This time they learned their lesson and split into two groups, meandering to either side of Davos and the others.
"Watch out for bows and arrows!" Xellos shouted, waving his hand for the soldiers to spread out.
After a slight hesitation from the inexperienced Davos in the center of the group, he was tackled from behind and a grunt of pain came.
"Oliverus!" Davos recognized him from his face, distorted by pain, but there was no time for him to think about it, as next to him, Martonius, and Giorgis quickly yanked them both around the curve and barreled forward.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! ... "More than ten arrows flew rapidly again, and two miserable screams rang out one after another.
By this time the receiving column had arrived, and the column of light infantry running ahead hurled javelins at the Persian cavalry, then, with their leather shields raised, continued their charge forward. The heavy infantry that came afterward put up their shields and formed a shield wall to block the incoming arrows.
The Persian cavalry of only twenty men did not dare to fight, and fled quickly with the body of Mithradates.
That's when Davos had a chance to check on Oliveros' injury.
Oliveros sees Davos arrive and breaks away from Giorgis' hold.
"Chief ... I ... I-" before he could finish, Davos gave him a strong hug: "Good brother, thanks!!!"
Upon hearing this, a smile broke out on Olivus' face, which had been somber lately, and his whole body went slack, then pain hit him, "Ouch!" He yelped.
Davos thought he had touched his wound and scrambled to scatter.
"Hey Olivers, it's a good thing you got hit in the ass, I don't know what you'd be screaming about if you got hit in the front!" Matonis taunted.
"Damn you Martonius, you're the brave one, try taking an arrow next time!" Oliverus sneered back, rubbing the arrow on his ass with one hand.
The noise returned to the Hieros squad.
This time out in addition to Oliverus, one soldier was shot in the thigh and another in the back, but suffered only a flesh wound due to his thick breastplate.
"Giorgis, you send Oliverus and the others to Helps, and ask him to make sure they are treated properly!" Dyvers finished and patted Oliverus on the shoulder, "Get treated well and come back to fight with us soon!"
"Yes, Chief!" Oliverus replied loudly.
"A very excellent raid! I didn't think you'd actually succeed, we were all worried for you just now!"
"Yeah, you killed Mithradates, which is a partial revenge for Menon and the others, and the whole mercenary army should be grateful to you!"
"They said before Ma Song that we were crazy for choosing a leader indiscriminately, let's see what they say this time."
Felicius, as well as Antonius and Capus, the squadron leaders, came together and congratulated Davos, while Amyntas gave him a direct military salute.
The resourceful Acistus brought the horses and told Davos to mount them.
The soldiers consciously gave way, shouting victory and welcoming him back to the home front ...
...............
"What did you say? Davos killed Mithradates?!" After hearing the messenger's words, Timasong looked incredulous, "This is a time of war, messing with the news is punishable!"
...............
"Davos killed Mithradates!" Xenophon exclaimed, "He came up with a daring plan that actually worked!"
"Great!" Hieronymus let out a long breath and said in a hateful voice, "I'll see who else tries to escape this time! The Persians will surely take it out on those deserters after the death of Mithradates!"
...............
Grissops listened carefully to Tormid's narration, although he didn't like that young man too much, he had to admit that he had done quite a good job this time, and could even be said to have saved the whole army. Because he knew very well that a mercenary army with lax military discipline and loose management was not afraid of enemy attacks, and the fiercer the enemy attack, the more united the mercenary army would be. On the contrary, the way that Mithradates did it, over time, it would disintegrate the fighting spirit of the soldiers and make the entire team collapse.
A smile appeared on his face at the thought, and he said aloud to Tormid, "Please speak to Chief Davos on my behalf, thanking him for his efforts on behalf of the entire army! And remind him of the enemy's attack, which I fear is coming soon."
...............
"What? Mithradates are dead?!" Arielus couldn't believe his ears.
"Yes, General, his body is outside the tent!" The guard said.
Arrius hurried out of the tent, followed by Artaozus and a crony sent by Tissaphernes.
Mitradat's body had been briefly treated, but it was still gruesome, with four or five wounds on his body and a fist-sized bloody hole in his neck that continued to ooze blood outward.
Arielus bent down and was about to take a closer look when Artaozus could no longer resist yelling at the Persian cavalrymen fleeing back, "Who did this? Who did this?!"
"It's ... Menon's soldiers, they ..." stammered the Persian cavalryman, describing the whole thing.
"Bunch of idiots! I can't believe I was defeated by that punk Menon's men! You failed to protect Mithradates, each of you will receive thirty lashes of military justice, and then be punished as servants of the supply camp." Artaozus roared angrily.
"General spare my life! General spare my life!!!" The Persian cavalrymen each kowtowed and begged for mercy.
Arius, while pitying these cavalrymen who were proficient in Greek, had no intention of changing to stop Artaozus. He instructed the guards to escort the horsemen, and then said, "Bring me a few of the Greeks who have escaped; I want to question them in detail."
"Don't ask! Kill them all! Then lead your army to attack the Greek barbarians!" Artaozus shouted impatiently.
"The mercenaries must have elected new leaders after Krilkus and the others were captured by us, and we must find out who they are before we can take the next step." Arielus persuaded patiently.
"Ask if you want, I'll go avenge Mithradates first!" Artaozus huffed and walked away.
Arizos shrugged his shoulders at Tissaphernes' crony with feigned helplessness. Nominally, he is the commander of this army after the death of Cyrus, in fact, Mithradates, Altauszus each holds an army, and the two are close friends, openly and secretly against Arius, so that Arius is often constrained. Now, Mithradates dead, Arizos actually heart secretly happy, compared to the smooth Mithradates, do things impulsive Altaus Zusus on the good deal more ...
...............
Although Artaozus acted impulsively, he was not confused in fighting. He knew well that Persian infantry could not fight against Greek heavy infantry, so he selected only two hundred bow cavalry and two hundred archers, and hastily led them, pursuing them in the direction of the Greek army's march.
Since Artaozus' army was either light cavalry or bowmen, it was highly mobile. By mid-afternoon, the huge column of Greeks came into his view.
"Order the troops to spread out in a goose shape and quickly force their way up!" Artaozus' eyes glowed with a bloodthirsty cold light as he excitedly gave the order.
The Persian army was facing Criano's rearguard, who had expected the Persians to come again, and seeing that not many enemies had come, thought that they were again preparing to shout as on the last occasion, and therefore, though on their guard, did not take it too much to heart.
However, they saw the Persians rapidly unfolding while rapidly approaching, and in the blink of an eye, they were less than a hundred meters away.
Crianodon felt bad and shouted sharply, "Prepare for defense!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, the Persian arrows had already struck, most of them hitting the soldiers' round shields like raindrops. Since the Greek soldiers were in close formation and the light and heavy infantry were next to each other, at once some of them were wounded, mainly the light infantry.
"Spread out in formation and charge the heavy infantry!" Criano anxiously finished conveying the order.
The arrows struck again, and another person screamed and fell. At this point, there was some confusion in the ranks, especially in the supply wagon battalion behind him, and the guards and servants panicked, pulling the neighing oxen and horses to the north side, away from the rear guard troops, to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Three squadrons of heavy infantry held round shields and charged through the rain of arrows.
The Persians immediately retreated.