Chapter 14 Xenophon (II)

 The crowd couldn't help but shout, "This is amazing! Xenophon came to Persia at the behest of Hades! And Davos you have never seen Xenophon, yet you know of him through the oracle! This is Hades blessing us!!!" The crowd reverently began to silently recite Hades' chant.

 Although Davos was surprised, he thought it was just a coincidence. He pretended to follow the group through the chant and then said, "Even with the blessing of the King of the Underworld, it will take our own efforts to pass the test and return safely to Greece."

 "Davos isn't very confident that he'll make it home?" Xenophon gazed at Davos. Xenophon believed in divine prophecies, dream omens, and prophecies, and it was because he had heard that Davos was a Divine Favorite of Hades that he came over to find out what was going on, and because of Hades, he believed that there must be some kind of mysterious connection between him and Davos.

 "I'm just an ordinary infantryman, like a frog in a well, who doesn't understand what's going on at the top. So it is inevitable that I am confused." Davos said calmly, "You are a close friend of Proxenus and Socrates' most brilliant student. I hope to be able to tell us exactly what kind of situation we are facing now, so as to relieve us of our confusion."

 Oliveros tried to say something and was stopped by Davos with a look.

 Xenophon said when it was time, "I think our return to Greece should go better this time! Why?" Xenophon had a sense of responsibility because he had come to Persia under the guidance of the 'gods and goddesses'. While everyone was panicking in the face of this possible disaster, he thought that this was exactly why the gods had sent him. So for the past few days he had been in the barracks, going back and forth, helping Proxenus to stabilize the army.

 At this point he looked at the crowd and said patiently, "First, our Greek heavy infantry is strong while the Persian army is weak. In the decades since the battle of Hot Springs Pass, we Greeks have always had the upper hand in our battles with the Persians. The previous battle with the Persian king was even more telling, as our valiant onslaught led directly to their collapse. You can see that the Persians' fear of Greek heavy infantry is deep in their blood. Although their cavalry is better than ours, what good is that? The cavalry can only scout and harass, but they don't dare to fight head on, and it doesn't help their fighting strength."

 "That's right, the cavalry are cowards!" Martonius yelled with great approval, and a few moments of embarrassment popped up on Xenophon's face.

 "But the javelins and bows of the Persian cavalry are causing us quite a bit of trouble." Xellos warned.

 "But the cavalry, like their infantry, lacks the skill and guts to confront us head on, it's unlikely that bows and arrows alone will shake our courage, and as long as we decide to retreat, there's no way they'll be able to stop us from leaving." Based on his knowledge of the cavalry, Xenophon said with confidence.

 "Secondly, I have heard the Persians say that their new king, Artaxerxes, was brought up to be a gentle and timid man, and that this was the reason why Cyrus the Younger dared to rise in revolt. I have heard that in the regions of Susa and Persepolis some of Cyrus the Younger's friends have risen up in response, and although Artaxerxes was fortunate enough to slay Cyrus the Younger, he would never dare to risk fighting to the death against the mighty us, while his rear has not yet been pacified.

 Thirdly, our commander Clearchus was a very capable man. Although I am an Athenian and he is a Spartan, I cannot help but recognize that he caused Athens a lot of trouble during the war between Athens and Sparta, and after that he defeated the Thracians many times at Chersones. And Proxenus, Menon, and several other chiefs were also experienced commanders in battle, and they knew the Persians very well having dealt with them all the time. In contrast, the commander-in-chief of the Persians was Artaxerxes, the great king of Persia, who had just become king and had never commanded an army before, and the general he relied on, Tissaphernes, had even been easily defeated by us, and they were not at all a match for the several chieftains! ..."

 Davos listened attentively to Xenophon. Through Xenophon, he learned quite a bit that he didn't know before. This time he sincerely applauded, "A very wonderful speech! Worthy of being an outstanding disciple of Socrates!"

 "Yeah! Worthy of being the one instructed by Hades! Your words give us all confidence!" Xilos said sincerely.

 In the face of the crowd's praise, Xenophon looked calm, convincing ordinary soldiers was a common thing for him, his eyes fell on Davos, as if he wanted to see what was different about the rumored "God's Family" of Hades.

 "But you forgot to mention one more thing." Davos certainly couldn't let his opponent underestimate him, especially in front of his teammates, "Persia, though vast and populous, cannot be governed effectively. Most of the region is still autonomous, they have their own culture and religion, and obeying Persian rule only requires two things - paying taxes and military service. The Persians trusted only themselves, so they had few foreign officers in their army and court. A foreigner could not integrate into Persia and naturally would not work for him. I think this is one of the reasons why the Persian army collapsed as soon as it met us."

 Xenophon savored the words of Davos and recalled what he had seen along the way, and it was a perfect match. He froze: the rigorously educated him is not as deep as a wordless nineteen-year-old youth to know Persia, this is not "God's favorites" what! Xenophon could only console himself with this: "You are right! This is the disadvantage of a king's dictatorship! On the contrary, it is the strength of Greek democracy. We are fighting for ourselves!"

 The advantages of democracy? Davos saw the face of the self-proclaimed "world's policeman" in his previous life. He turned his mouth away in contempt, but the attentive Xenophon saw it: "Does Davos think I'm wrong?"

 "Xenophon, when do you think Athens was at its most stable and prosperous for a hundred years?" Davos decided to use his knowledge of his former life to shock and impress the historical figure in front of him, so that through him he could get his name in to the mercenary hierarchy.

 "The period of Pericles' reign." Xenophon answered without hesitation.

 "You forgot to mention the reign of Pisistratus." Davos reminded, "It was under his rule that Athens fully owned the region of Attica, prospered the port of Piraeus, and was what made Athens the other powerful city-state on the Greek mainland, besides Sparta!"

 "But ..." Xenophon hadn't expected Davos to bring up Pisistratus; the Athenians were proud of the fact that they lived in the most democratic of Greek city-states, and almost no one wanted to talk about that dictator. He wanted to retort, but for a moment he didn't know what to say. After all, Xenophon, who was highly educated and possessed a wealth of knowledge, knew that Davos was telling the truth.

 Davos, however, seized the opportunity and continued, "You want to say, 'But Athens was stronger during the reign of Pericles,' right? But the very phrase under Pericles' reign is problematic. How many years was Pericles a general? Thirty years! For thirty years he never lost an election and was elected chief general many times! He proposed and made all the important laws and decisions, both internal and external, that created the Golden Age of Athens! Isn't this ironic for the Athenian democracy that had one election a year and invented the pottery banishment law to prevent dictatorship? Was Pisistratus a dictatorship? Is Pericles a democracy? Pericles was just more subtle and moderate in his political maneuvers than Pisistratus.

 And what was your idea of a superior democracy without Pericles? Athens, which had more financial resources, a stronger navy, and more allies than Sparta, internally imploded and fought with each other, and the Athenian populace was often unable to distinguish between what was true and what was false, and was easily incited by politicians. That's why you forced out your most talented Athenian general, Arsipides, at the most crucial moment of the expedition to Sicily; the generals who had just won a crucial naval battle on the island of Agnose, but failed to rescue their soldiers from the water in time because of the high winds, were easily judged by the people and even executed.... These foolish actions done by Athens were not the same in this long war with Sparta was not uncommon! This was the democracy that the Athenians thought was perfect? It wore out the might it had built up over the centuries in constant internal conflict!"

 The democracy of ancient Athens was a key focus of Davos' studies at the Party School in his previous life, as it was the origin of the modern Western political system, which Davos still remembers vividly.

 Note 1: Western historians do not think highly of Xenophon, believing that he was shallow in the fields of history and philosophy, and that he was not as good as Thucydides and Herodotus in the depth of his research and understanding of history, and he was even worse than his classmate Plato in his philosophical attainments. Moreover, in his writings, he believed in divine prophecies, omens and prophecies, and he often chose historical materials and judged historical facts based on his personal political favoritism, which was very pompous. I have also experienced this when reading his writings. However, no matter what, he left behind a lot of precious first-hand information, which enables us modern people to have a clearer understanding of that era, otherwise there would not be this novel I am writing today.

 Note 2: This is interesting: among the generals put on trial by the Athenian populace after the Battle of Agnose Island was the character I wrote about in my last novel, Pericles the Younger, the only remaining son of Pericles, who ended up being executed as well.

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