Mariji

"There is another problem." Davos withdrew his gaze and asked seriously, "On this road, where can we get out of the jurisdiction of the Persian royal family?"

Mariji, who was eager to please Davos, thought about it seriously and drew a circle on the sketch, "Here! After Messpila!"

"Merspila?" Davos looked at the pattern on the ground carefully.

"Merspila is the former capital of Assyria, Nineveh! After that, it will be Duchya." Mariji emphasized.

Davos nodded, "Are you familiar with Duchya?"

"I don't know them very well, I just did business with them and exchanged food for their mountain goods!" Mariji said with an angry expression on his face, "But they are untrustworthy barbarians, and often don't pay, and even hurt people and take things by force!"

After listening carefully, Davos turned to Matonis and said, "Take his family to the supply camp and let Mersis take good care of them, but you must tell Mersis not to abuse him and his wife and daughter, nor to order them around like slaves!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Mariji fell to his knees, "Please! I beg you! Let me go! And my wife and daughter! I have said everything! Please let us go…"

"It seems that you can understand Greek, and pretended not to understand it before." said Davos.

Mariji did not defend himself at this time, and just kept on crying.

"In fact, I didn't let you and your family go for your own good. Do you know that your lord – the king's brother, Cyrus the Younger has died in battle!"

Mariji suddenly stopped crying, and the hand that was holding Davos' legs lost its strength, and asked weakly, "Is Her Highness Cyrus really dead?"

"In fact, you have already guessed it, haven't you? Otherwise, why would Tissaphernes bring us here, and he was the one who allowed us to plunder your village, because this is the punishment for the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger! I believe that this punishment will not only be this once! I'm afraid that all those who are close to him will not be able to escape, right?"

Mariji was already slumped on the ground and was in a trance.

Matonis grabbed him and dragged him out.

"This man doesn't look like an ordinary merchant." Hielos said to Davos as he watched Marigi being dragged out of the tent.

"You are right!" Davos nodded. The family lived in a dilapidated house, but they hid a lot of gold and silver and gorgeous clothes. Just by looking at the temperament of him and his wife, they don't look like an ordinary Persian merchant, and they are also proficient in Greek and know so much. Maybe he is a relative of Cyrus the Younger, or his supervisor, or his royal merchant, and after knowing that Cyrus the Younger was a rebel, he hid in a remote village in his territory to avoid disaster. If it wasn't for the village chief's snitch, he would have missed a big fish.

Davos was glad that he had selectively forgotten how he tortured the village chief and his family. He said to Hielos, "Captain, I will have to trouble you to emphasize to Mersis that no one is allowed to harass his family. He is very useful to us! Since Cyrus the Younger is dead, I want him to join us sincerely!"

A soldier gave his captain an order, and everyone present didn't find it strange that Davos had established his leadership in the squad.

"Okay." Hielos stepped out of the tent without hesitation.

"Pikors, thank you very much! You have helped me a lot today!" Davos turned around and said to a warrior.

"It is my honor to be able to help you!" said Pickles with a slightly respectful tone.

Davos took out two drachmas and stuffed them into his hand.

"This… this…" Pickles pretended to decline.

Davos said, "Please accept it! I really have to thank you for today, and I hope that you can keep it a secret and not let Meno know!"

When Pikors heard this, he no longer refused and stuffed the silver coins into his arms, and said, "Don't worry, I don't like that guy either! Promise Hades that I won't leak a word!" Pikors made a gesture to shut his mouth, and then excitedly said, "Next time you have such a job, just call me!"

"Of course you will!" Davos laughed.

After Pikors left the tent, Gilgris immediately asked with concern, "Pikors is a Persian translator of Menon, is he reliable?"

"I heard that Meno can speak Persian, and Pyxous has nothing to do at all. Instead, he is often ordered around by Meno as a laborer, and he will be stupid enough to offend us, not to mention that he can earn money." Olivos interjected. After he woke up, he knew that he had almost gone to hell, so he immediately thanked Davos. However, Davos responded coldly to him, and he realized something, so he has been quiet until now.

But once he spoke, the tent fell into a brief silence.

"Davos, how did you know that the Persian merchant buried his money in the yard?" Giorgris suddenly asked.

Davos understood that Giorgris wanted to liven up the atmosphere, so he said, "It's very simple. When we captured Mariji, I found that he was not only worried about his wife and daughter being bullied by us—" Davos then glanced at Olivos, "He also secretly glanced at the old tree in the yard from time to time. I walked over and took a closer look, there is a place under the tree that has a different color, it's a new soil. Of course, I became suspicious, but I didn't scare him much. This guy is timid and took the initiative to confess."

Several people loudly praised Davos for his thoughtfulness, especially Olivos who spoke the loudest.

Davos said to Giorgris, "This money is very useful to us. Go to the supply camp every day to check it, and don't let the fatty take advantage of it."

"Okay."

…

After the Greek mercenaries plundered many times, the marching column became larger and bloated.

In the next few days, as Marigi had said, the army marched along the right bank of the Tigris river, then crossed the river and arrived at the city – Caenia. Here, they once again got sufficient supplies. However, the suspicion of the Greek mercenaries on the Persians became more serious, and new rumors kept spreading in the army, which led to more conflict between the soldiers of the two armies after they camped.

Finally, when they arrived at the river Zapatas, there was a large-scale armed struggle between the soldiers of the two armies. More than a hundred people on both sides held weapons and fought, and more than ten people died. If it wasn't for the leaders of both sides arriving in time and sending their troops to separate the two sides, the result would have been unimaginable.

This made the march on the next day to be cancelled, and the soldiers of each camp were restricted from leaving the camp. They marched every day, and Davos and the others were both physically and mentally exhausted. It was rare for them to have a free day, and so they all slept.

Mersis of the supply camp seized the time to slaughter some of the animals that they had looted and made them into sausages.

Just as Davos woke up, Antonios went into the tent and said anxiously, "Davos, Meno, Clearchus, Proxenus and several other leaders are going to the Persian camp to negotiate!"

"What!!!" Davos was so shocked that he sat up.

"I heard that after what happened last night, Clearchus immediately went to negotiate with Tissaphernes, hoping to eliminate the mutual distrust between the two sides and prevent such hostile behavior from happening again. Perhaps the two sides had a good talk, so Clearchus stayed in the Persian camp directly. This morning, he returned safely, and then sent someone to inform the leaders of the various camps to go to the Persian camp with him and have a further meeting with Tissaphernes. It is said that there are many soldiers and officers in the other camps who opposed them going, but in the end, the leaders still reached an agreement and they are about to leave." Antonios quickly finished the story.

"Why wasn't anyone in our camp informed about this?" Hielos asked in surprise.

"Meno didn't discuss it with the others, he only quietly brought two captains, Kappes and Mirstik." Antonios said with embarrassment. He knew that because of the last collective" forced" incident.

Most of the officers and soldiers were no longer willing to obey Meno's orders, and after Meno's prestige was lost, he no longer wanted to discuss it with them, so he directly found two captains who were still willing to listen to him.

Antonios didn't explain it in detail and said, "I only found out about it after hearing the noise of the soldiers in the neighboring camp of Socrates."

"Who are they going to?" Davos stood up and asked seriously while quickly dressing.

Antonios' heart skipped a beat, and the expression of Davos confirmed the uneasiness in his heart, "Clearchus, Proxenus, Meno, Socrates, Archias, and more than a dozen captains."

"Let's go! Let's go! Take me to them, it will be over if we are late!!!" Davos put on a linen waistcoat and anxiously pulled Antonios out, followed by Hielos.