Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Yes, your highness!” Tissaphernes couldn’t help but look at Masabadi and thought: No wonder this guy looks ugly, if the queen mother Parysatis1 knew that her most beloved son was beheaded and his hands got cut off, then she asolutely won’t give up.

“Tissaphernes, do you think the Greeks will surrender?”

“Your highness!…With my knowledge of the Greek mercenary’s main leaders, I’m afraid…it would be hard. However, there may be a small number of people that is willing to obey your majesty’s will!” Tissaphernes said cautiously.

“It’s also good to cause internal strife among them.” Artaxerxes rubbed his finger across his jaw. Yesterday, the rapid impact of the Greek Hoplite, caused him to have a lingering fear: “…If they do not want to surrender, then they must be… expelled. This rebellion has already killed too many Persians! Don’t let these rude and savage Greeks to continue plundering our property on my land! and killing my people!” Artaxerxes sighed. He is gentle in nature and does not like to argue with others. Otherwise, he would not tolerate Cyrus the Younger until now, which led to this great chaos. Even when Cyrus the Younger had started his army, he still hesitated and wanted to retreat eastward. If it had not been for the vigorous dissuasion and full support of the ministers, I am afraid that yesterday’s battle would not even have happened.

“Your highness, you love the empire’s people like your own children! It is a great joy for the empire to have such a kind monarch as you!” Tissaphernes words came from his heart. In fact, it was this character of Artaxerxes that have won the support of the vast majority of ministers and nobles, which made Cyrus the Younger’s rebellion to have no major turmoil in the core area of the empire.

“Your highness, this one has an idea!… It’s better to drive the Greeks to the north…” Tissaphernes said.

Artaxerxes pondered about it, he knew that Tisaphenes did not want the Greeks to once more trample on his jurisdiction – Asia Minor.

“Northward…” His eyes lit up and he thought of the unyielding and unruly mountain tribes, such as the Carducians.

Let them fight with those barbarian! He thought, with a smile on his lips.

“You are entirely responsible for this matter! I await for your good news in Persepolis!” Having said that, he can’t wait to go home due to the news yesterday: another riot occurred in eastern Persepolis. He must return to the capital city as soon as possible. Moreover, he also began to miss his queen Stateira.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early in the morning, mist filled the Cunaxa area and the entire Greek military camp was quiet, and most of the people were still asleep.

Davos stepped out of the tent and looked curiously at the strange place.

Yes, he is no longer Davos himself, his soul is from 21st century China. As a government civil servant, he suffered for more than ten years before he was promoted to be the director of the city’s high-tech development zone. His friends arrange a feast to celebrate, he was very drunk and when he woke up, he found himself in a strange place and became someone else.

He had pinched his thighs several times, just to prove that he was dreaming, and to this day his thighs still hurts.

After a long night of adaptation, he no longer wondered why he was here. His adaptability is strong: Initially, he entered the government office as the first place in the civil service examination in the whole city, but he was sent to a remote and impoverished mountain area as a village official and stayed there for several years. He not only persevered, but have also won the favor of the county leaders with excellent performance, and he was recalled to take an important task.

…just that his own parents and his girlfriend who he is about to marry…now they are separated by time and space, and they won’t meet again…he took a long breath and tried to dispel away his sadness.

He slowly walk a short distance, his mood was slightly calmed. He wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and warned himself: Now that he have arrived at a new world, let’s live here tenaciously.

According to the memory of this body, he knew that “he” was a Thessalian. Two years ago, because of livelihood, at the age of 17, he went out to work as a mercenary with his village friends to earn money. A year ago, Macedonia clashed with Thessaly, the Macedonian cavalry attacked his hometown and his parents were killed and his relatives were captured, now he’s alone. This time, he followed the mercenary leader Meno to fight for Prince Cyrus the Younger of Persia.

Last night his companions thought he was asleep, but in fact he had been listening to their conversation. Through the conversations of his companions, he had learned more. As a good young man of the 21st century, he barely counts as an indignant youth. When he was a village official, he spent most of his time surfing the net in order to survive the long lonely night. He vented it on some military forums and it had almost became his sideline. So he knew a lot about history and military knowledge and he knows that he may have been in a period after the Peloponnesian War.

As for the Greek mercenaries who helped the persian prince to usurp the throne, which part of the Western history is involved? As a non-history profession, the requirements are too high and he really can’t think of it. It was not until someone said the phrase “We are the ten thousands greek infantry” that had evoke his memory that was hidden.

It was once advocated in the forum that some books must be read in order to understand the ancient history of the West, one of the books listed in the list is 《Anabasis2》, it aroused his curiosity: Did the ancient West also have a long march? Because the author happens to be a famous historical person he knew, so he conveniently search the net, Only then did he know that it originated from the famous ancient western historical event “Retreat of the Tens Thousand Greeks3”.

As Davos vaguely remembered that the rebellious prince died in the incident due to his rashness, in a moment of urgency, ends up blurting it out. But he did not think that the other’s heart, had more or less hoping for Cyrus the Younger to be victorious and everyone’s desire to make a fortune together, so they completely could not accept his guess.

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

Faced with the questioning one after another, he did not want to have a conflict with his companions after he first arrived and perhaps he also had a slight fantasy in his heart: ‘maybe this isn’t that historical event.’ So he kept quiet.

As a result, everyone left unhappy. He didn’t sleep well that night. The strange environment and the fear of the future made him toss and turn, and had a hard time falling asleep.

Early the next morning, he walked out of the tent and faced this strange new world for the first time. He saw tents one after another, which seemed to be endless at a glance.

Breathing the damp and fresh air, he summoned up the courage to move forward. Occasionally someone came out of the tent and when he saw that they would greet him, he responded with a smile. Even the warrior who knows he is wounded will ask him about his injury with concern, he will stop to express his gratitude and take the opportunity to chat a few words to get some information from the others. Obviously, it is not because he is an important person that people will treat him kindly, but the mercenaries under Meno, some of whom are Thessalians and many of them even fought side by side with him for more than two years, and they are familiar with each other. As he walked, the strangeness that he felt gradually dissipated.

Not far came the neighs of the horses and the sheep’s baa, attracting him to go forward. In the memory of Davos, this vast area enclosed by wooden fences and located in the center of their military camp, was the mercenary camp led by Meno. There were not only many packed horses and mules, but also some cattle and sheep that was looted along the way, as well as a batch of food distributed to Meno by Cyrus the Younger. In addition, there are merchants stationed in it and when passing through the big cities, there will even be nearby people coming here to make money.

When he came to the entrance, a guard with spears stopped him.

“No one is allowed to enter without Meno’s orders!” A fatty angrily shouted behind the guard.

Davos looked at him and turned around, he didn’t want to get into trouble. Behind him, the fatty reprimanded the guards: “The next time someone comes, you have to be more fierce. Otherwise, the thieves could not be suppressed! From last night till now, five sheep have been lost. Before Meno punished me, I will punish you first!”

It seems that the mercenary have a serious shortage of food! He doesn’t know how much food the Persian troops looted yesterday. As he walked, he thought about it. Before he knew it, a simple wall with branches and sticks loosely inserted in the soil blocked his progress. Although there were still dense tents ahead, he realize that they were the camps of the other mercenary troops.

By this time, the sun had risen to a high altitude, the dense fog was gradually dispersed, and he can see far away. The sky is high and vast, the wind is refreshing and he indulged in it for a while…listening to his companions saying that the city ahead is Babylon and not far away is the Euphrates River: one is the capital of one of the four ancient civilizations, the legendary Hanging Garden4that makes one yearn; and the other is the popular mother river of Mesopotamia. But he doesn’t know if he will have the chance to see it.

However, the sudden seething camp alarmed him. A feeling of uneasiness surged into his mind and he returned quickly.

At this time, the soldiers rushed out of the tent one after another, they talked with each other with a nervous and uneasy look. The words that came into his ears were converted into 4 words: Cyrus the Younger died!

His heart sank: This is really the great Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks! Next, they were going to spend the next few days running!

1. Parysatis – the mother of the Persian king Artaxerxes II, Cyrus the Younger, Ostanes and Oxathres.
2. Anabasis – the book Xenophon wrote about their journey through Persia and it is also known as The March of the Ten Thousand.
3. The Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks – the event after Cyrus the Younger died and the Greeks have to retreat back to Greece.
4. Hanging Garden – one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World as listed by Hellenic culture, described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines, resembling a large green mountain constructed of mud bricks, and said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon.