"What's the matter?" Davos felt the strangeness on her expression.
"...back to Greece...what do you want to do?" Kristoia asked softly.
"Oh... I haven't thought about this question..." Davos said, in fact, he had been thinking about it but just didn't think about it: "But one thing is certain, no matter where I go, I will take you with me!"
Cristoia put her face on Davos' broad shoulders, rubbed his rough skin, and said firmly, "I'll follow you wherever you go!" After that, she remembered something and emphasized : "It's just that you better not go back to Asia Minor!"
"Why?" Davers was a little surprised.
"Because there may be a battlefield there." Cristoia's words surprised Davos: "I heard little Cyrus say-"
Cristoia glanced at Davos subconsciously and saw that his expression was normal, so she added: "The contradiction between the Spartans and Thesafonis is very deep, and the Spartans are also very different. Was involved in this Persian rebellion. Now, Tisafonis has returned to Asia Minor, and will not miss this opportunity to remediate Sparta. Because Sparta is now the ally of the Greek city-states, he must Instead of Athens, he became the protector of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor. However, in order to gain the support of the Persians, Sparta reached an agreement, among which Sparta agreed to hand over the Greek city-states of Asia Minor to Persian jurisdiction. The war with Athens ended. , Sparta has been procrastinating against this agreement, and... Cyrus the Younger did not urge the Spartans for some reason. So... "
"So, now that the new king is on the throne, Tisafonis will return to Asia Minor, and he will definitely urge Sparta to fulfill the original agreement on behalf of the king of Persia!" Davos did not expect that there was such a secret between Sparta and Persia. Although Sparta's rogue behavior surprised him, it was understandable: if Sparta agreed, the dignified Greek overlord would actually hand over his countrymen's land to the Greek enemy, which would be simply betrayal and "treason of the country"! Undoubtedly, it will greatly damage the prestige built up after its victory in the Peloponnesian War, and even some city-states will rise up against its hegemony because of dissatisfaction. If they do not agree, it is a breach of the agreement, and war may break out.
Davers clutched his chin and fell into deep thought: Did Kerethorpes take the initiative to talk to me in order to win me over? He thought about it, and suddenly remembered something: "Cristoia, I won't go to Asia Minor, will you go back to Miletus?"
"Didn't I say that I would always follow you!" Kristoya said, her expression slightly gloomy: "Besides, if I go back now, I will bring disaster to the family."
Davos immediately understood what she meant: as the young Cyrus' concubine, she was an important family member of the rebels, and her return would undoubtedly attract the attention of the Persian authorities to her family in Miletus.
Thinking of this, Davos comforted her and said, "Don't worry, one day, I will let you go home beautifully!"
Cristoia stared at Davos with a very serious expression, the haze on her face gradually disappeared: "I believe you!"
She criticized Shima Chun on her head and said, "Since you let me manage the medical camp, then I will start exercising my rights. I will give freedom to those female slaves, so that they will work harder to take care of the wounded."
"It's your right. But I have to tell Mersis first."
… … … … …
Three days later, they pulled out the camp and marched.
In the afternoon, Tisafonis came with his army.
After the leaders got the news from the scout, they quickly led the team to the nearest village and started to set up camp. Because there were many soldiers in the mercenary army at this time who could not fight: one was the wounded, the other was the soldiers who carried the wounded, and the third was the soldiers who helped carry the wounded and carry the weapons of the wounded soldiers. The massive reduction in combat soldiers makes it impossible for mercenaries to march and fight as they used to.
When the army of Tisafonis rushed to the village, the mercenaries found that there were no flags representing Ojuntas and Sikosti. The generals speculated: The previous Tisafonis did not appear, did they go to the two royal nobles? Sent off. At the same time, they also began to worry about their future trips. The brother of the Persian king did not need to worry, but Ojuntas was the governor of Armenia, and he was likely to intercept the mercenaries on the way to Armenia.
The Persian army faced the attack of the mercenary slingers, and felt that in front of the mercenary camp, arrows also began to be fired. It's just that in this attack mode, the Persian army was at a disadvantage. Now that the mercenaries have the protection of the camp, the advantages are even more obvious.
The battle lasted only ten minutes, and Tisafonis retreated with his army. Because there are many cavalry in the Persian army, they are afraid of being attacked at night and cause chaos. The camp of the Persian army is ten miles away from the mercenary camp.
After deliberation, the leaders decided: let the soldiers rest at dusk, march before dawn, and camp if the Persian army catches up. This not only ensures the safety of the troops, but also does not delay the march.
In fact, the arrangement of the leaders seemed to be superfluous. For three consecutive days, the Persian army did not appear until the morning of the fourth day. Discover the traces of the Persians. The previous lessons have made the leaders extremely cautious about this.
"It's still the same as before. I led a troop around the right side of the mountain and drove them away." Xenophon said, his face full of confidence due to his previous success.
At this moment, the scout cavalry from the rear came to report: Found the large force of Tisafonis!
The news immediately made the leaders nervous. Because the combat effectiveness of the mercenaries is not as good as before, there are too many wounded, so that the mercenaries dare not fight with all their strength, and at this time the entire army is located in a hilly area, the terrain is narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of the troops, and the personnel are too dense, and casualties under long-range attacks will be reduced. will increase. Apparently, Tisafonis had carefully planned this time to deal a big blow to the mercenaries.
Urgent situation! Kerisopes had no time to discuss with the other leaders, and said to Xenophon with a serious look: "You must drive away the Persians occupying the mountains as quickly as possible to ensure our smooth passage. As long as you take down the mountains, If we can hold the mountain pass, Tisafonis will not dare to pursue us any more."
"I need some light infantry!" Xenophon immediately made his request.
"Archers and slingers can't be given to you, only they can fight Tisafonis," Kerethorpes announced in advance.
"I have 500 light shield soldiers that I can send to you." Davos said first, he couldn't preserve his strength at this time, and he had to work together to get through the difficulties.
Xenophon was very grateful to Davos, because Davos supported him in public many times.
"I'll give you eight hundred Thracian light shield soldiers!" Tima Song said loudly after glancing at him. Because the former leader of Timasson, Clearcus, used the money given to him by Cyrus to recruit mercenaries in Kersonis and attacked the Thracian forces near Hellespont for more than a year, so he collected a lot of money. A Thracian, he had the largest barracks of light shields among the Greek mercenaries.
After Xenophon expressed his thanks again, he took another 200 infantry, a total of 1,500 men, and set off quickly.
The leaders also ordered the entire army to speed up the march and move closer to the mountain road while raising the alert.
When Xenophon led his army to the foot of the mountain, he found that the Persians had occupied a mountain. He was about to order an attack. At this time, Epithenes, the captain of the 1st Light Shield Squadron under Davos, put forward his opinion. , he pointed to the mountain and said: "Look at Xenophon, the mountain next to the Persians. If we attack the Persians directly, they may retreat to the higher mountain again... This will not only delay time, but also make Our attack is more difficult, we might as well go directly to occupy the higher mountain top, and then throw javelins and stones at the Persians from above, and we can easily repel them."
The captains of the Light Shields all said that Epithenis's method was good, and Xenophon was good at it, so they ordered: Let the troops quickly occupy the mountain!