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Chapter 48 - Chapter 48: Race Against Time (above)

 "What's wrong?" Davos sensed the difference in her demeanor.

 "What do you want to do ... back in Greece ...?" Kristoia asked softly.

 "Oh ... that's a question I hadn't thought about ..." Davos said, in fact he had been thinking about it just not well, "but one thing's for sure. Wherever I go, I'm taking you with me!"

 Christoya pressed her face against Davos' broad shoulders, rubbing his rough skin, and said in a firm tone, "I'll follow you wherever you go!" After saying that, she remembered something and emphasized, "It's just that you'd better not go back to Asia Minor!"

 "Why?" Davos was a little surprised.

 "Because it could be a battlefield." Kristoia's words startled Davos, "I heard little Cyrus say that-"

 Christoya subconsciously swept another glance at Davos, and seeing that his expression was nothing unusual, she added, "The conflict between the Spartans and Tissaphernes is deep, and the Spartans have been caught up in this Persian rebellion again. Now that Tissaphernes has returned to Asia Minor, he will certainly not let go of this opportunity to fix Sparta. Because Sparta was now the ally of the Greek city-states, he was bound to replace Athens as the protector of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor. But in the beginning, Sparta, in order to gain the support of the Persians, made an agreement which included the clause that Sparta agreed to hand over the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to Persian jurisdiction. At the end of the war with Athens, Sparta had been dragging its feet in not honoring this agreement, and ... Cyrus the Younger had not bothered to press the Spartans for some reason. So ..."

 "So, now that the new king is on the throne, Tissaphernes is back in Asia Minor, and will definitely urge Sparta to fulfill the original agreement on behalf of the King of Persia!" Davos did not realize that there was such a secret between Sparta and Persia, although he was surprised by Sparta's rascality, but it is understandable: if Sparta agrees, the hegemony of the Greeks will actually give up the land of their compatriots to the enemies of the Greeks, which is nothing but betrayal and "selling out"! It would undoubtedly undermine the prestige it had built up after its victory in the Peloponnesian War, and some city-states might even rise up against its hegemony out of resentment. If it did not agree, it would be a violation of the agreement, and war was feared to break out.

 Davos covered his chin and fell into contemplation: could it be that Kerisopus took the initiative to speak to me in order to enlist me? As he thought about it, he suddenly remembered something: "Kristoia, if I don't go to Asia Minor, will you still go back to Miletus?"

 "Didn't I say I would always follow you!" Kristoia said, looking slightly glum, "Besides, I'd be inviting trouble for the family if I went back now."

 Davos immediately understood what she meant by that: as a concubine of Cyrus the Younger, she could be considered an important rebel family member, and her return would undoubtedly draw the eyes of the Persian powers-that-be to her family in Miletus.

 Thinking of this, Davos reassured her, "Don't worry, one day I'll get you home in style!"

 Kristoia gazed at Davos, who looked incredibly serious, and the gloom on her face faded away, "I believe you!"

 She batched Hima Pure on her head and added, "Since you've asked me to run the medical camp, I'm going to start exercising my rights. I'm going to give those slave girls their freedom so they'll work harder to take care of the wounded."

 "That's your right. I'll have to give Melsius a heads up first, though."

 ............... ...

 Three days later, the camp was drawn up and marched.

 By the afternoon, Tissaphernes arrived with his army.

 When the chiefs got the news from the scouts, they quickly led their teams to the nearest village and began to set up camp. Because at this time, there were many soldiers in the mercenary army who could not fight: the first was the wounded, the second was the soldiers who carried the wounded, and the third was the soldiers who helped to carry the weapons of the wounded and the soldiers who carried the wounded. The massive reduction of soldiers in combat made it impossible for the mercenaries to march and fight at the same time as before.

 When Tissaphernes' army arrived at the village, the mercenaries realized that there were no more flags representing Ojontas and Sikosti, and the generals speculated that the previous Tissaphernes had not appeared, and whether he had gone to see off the two royal nobles. At the same time, they began to worry about the future of the trip, the Persian king's brothers do not need to worry, but Ojontas is the governor of Armenia, he is likely to be on the road to Amelia, the mercenaries to intercept.

 The Persian army withstood the attack of the mercenary stone throwers, felt in front of the mercenary camp, also began to fire arrows, both sides began to play again every day to each other long-distance attack drama. Only in this mode of attack, the Persian army was already at a disadvantage, and now that the mercenaries had the protection of the camp, the advantage was even more obvious, and the chieftains couldn't understand why as shrewd as Tissafonis had to be so adventurous.

 The battle lasted only ten minutes, and Tissaphernes led his army in retreat. Because of the large number of cavalry in the Persian army and the fear of an attack at night that would lead to pandemonium, the Boers' camp was ten miles away from the mercenary camp.

 The chiefs, after deliberation, decided: let the soldiers rest at dusk, march before dawn, and camp if the Persian army catches up with them. This ensured the safety of the troops without delaying the march.

 As a matter of fact, the arrangements of the chiefs seemed to be somewhat superfluous, and for three successive days the Persian army did not appear, until on the morning of the fourth day, when the cavalrymen who had been scouting ahead reported that the road ahead was narrow, and that there were several peaks on the side of the road, on the shorter of which the Persians had been detected. The previous lesson had made the chiefs unusually cautious about this.

 "It's still the same as before, with me leading a unit around the right side of the peak to drive them away." Xenophon said, his face full of confidence due to his previous success.

 Just then, the scouting cavalry from the rear arrived to report back: a large force of Tissaphernes had been spotted!

 This news immediately made the chiefs nervous. Because now the mercenary army's fighting strength is not as good as before, there are too many wounded, making the mercenary army not dare to fight with all their strength, and at this time, the whole army is located in the hilly area, the terrain is narrow, which is not conducive for the troops to unfold, coupled with the fact that the personnel is too densely populated, and the casualties will be greatly increased under the long-distance attack. Obviously, Tissafonis this time is after careful planning, ready to give the mercenaries a big blow.

 The situation was urgent! Grissops, no longer caring to confer with the other chieftains, said to Xenophon with a serious look, "You must drive out the Persians occupying the mountain ridge as fast as you can, in order to ensure that we pass through without any difficulty. As soon as you have taken the mountain range, you will be able to hold the mountain passes, and Tissaphernes will not dare to pursue us any further."

 "I need some light infantry!" Xenophon immediately made his request.

 "You can't have the archers or the stone throwers, they're the only ones who can stand up to Tissaphernes." Kerisopus declared in advance.

 "I have five hundred light shield soldiers under me that I can dispatch to you." Davos said first, this was not a time to save your strength, you had to work together to get through this.

 Xenophon was grateful to Davos because Davos had repeatedly shown him support in public.

 "I'll give you eight hundred Thracian light shields!" Timasone exclaimed with a loud look. Because Timasone's former chief Clearchus had once used the money given to him by Cyrus the Younger to recruit mercenaries in Chersones to attack the Thracian forces near Hellespont for more than a year, and thus collected quite a number of Thracians, his barracks of light shields among the Greek mercenaries were the most numerous.

 Xenophon, after renewing his thanks, took two hundred more heavy infantry, fifteen hundred in all, and set off rapidly.

 The chiefs also ordered the entire army to speed up their march and close in on the mountain passes while increasing their alertness.

 When Xenophon led his army to the foot of the mountain, he really found that the Persians occupied a mountain ridge, he was about to order an attack, at this time, the first light shield troop squadron commander Epitheonis under Davos put forward his own opinion, he pointed his finger to the mountain ridge, and said, "Xenophon you see, that mountain peak next to the Persians. If we attack the Persians directly, they may retreat again to that higher peak ... This will not only delay the time, but also make our attack more difficult, it is better to go directly to occupy the top of that higher mountain first, and then stand on the high ground to throw javelins and stones at the Persians, you can easily repel them. "

 The captains of the light shields said that Epithenes' solution was a good one, and Xenophon, heeding good advice, gave the order: let the troops go quickly to take the top of the mountain!

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