Chapter 04 – Davos

“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.

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.