Chapter 28 - First Time in Power

"In order to re-unite our brothers in the barracks, first we need to understand the current situation in the barracks. So, please introduce the men and supplies under your jurisdiction to everyone here." Davos said as he looked around the crowd.

 There was a little silence in the tent, and Antonius was the first to speak, then Capus, then Alexis ... The situation in the supply camp was the most complicated, and Melchis was the most verbose in his speech, and Davos had to remind him to be as brief as possible.

 Davos listened and took notes. After listening carefully to everyone's presentations, he had a general idea of the overall situation of the Menon Barracks, and after a little bit of organizing, he said, "According to everyone's reports, our barracks has ten squadrons of heavy infantry, totaling one thousand and ninety-four. Four light infantry squadrons, totaling four hundred and eighty-seven. The total is one thousand five hundred and eighty-one soldiers, fully armed and armored, in good physical condition, and without injuries or illnesses.

 The medical battalion had three doctors, six female slaves, and two camelids, but with the exception of Helps, who was well versed in trauma care, the other two doctors were not yet able to treat wounded soldiers on their own.

 The supply wagon battalion now has fifty guards and two hundred and seventy-three slaves, of whom one hundred and ninety-eight are female slaves and seventy-five are male slaves. It has twenty-nine pack horses, eighteen pack oxen, fifty-six sheep, thirty-seven chickens and ducks, and five hundred and eighty sacks of wheat flour. There is still money left for the purchase of provisions in the form of one Taranto silver, thirty minnas, and five drachmas, and that is all we have." Davos put down the roll of papyrus in which he had been taking notes and said to the crowd, "Let's see if we've missed anything."

 The officers were all a bit surprised. It was important to know that most of the mercenaries, including these team officers, were uneducated, not to mention doing number crunching and summarizing on their own.

 MELSIS "Snap! Snap! Pop!" Clapping his hands together, "Davos, you're amazing! Such quick math skills! Much better than me!"

 Next to him, Antonius remembers that Davos is illiterate, and quietly looks at the roll of papyrus, and is appalled to find that it is full of strange symbols and fonts.

 The team officers looked at each other, adding a little more recognition in their minds of Davos' abilities.

 "Since there are no objections. Then wait for a while, Felicius and I are going to attend the mercenary leader's military meeting, all squadron commanders please go back and inform your soldiers to check their weapons and equipment and prepare for battle. In the afternoon, leave the 10th Heavy Infantry Squadron to guard the barracks, and the other squadrons will form up in order and enter the field where the all-military meeting will be held. Because of the large number of people, you must maintain order and prevent any disturbances." After Davos finished speaking, he looked at Helps again and asked, "What's the situation with the medical battalion? With the war coming up soon, the number of wounded soldiers is bound to increase, so you need to have a plan. Clean linen bandages have to be prepared more often, and the auxiliary manpower has to be at least double what it is now to be enough ..."

 From time to time, Helps approached Devers for medical advice, such as: why use fire to grill knives for clearing wounds? Why should a piece of cloth dipped in cool water be placed on the forehead of a feverish patient? ... Dyvers' answers were always both peculiar and thought-provoking, so Helps regarded Dyvers as his teacher, and his attitude was always respectful: "Please don't worry, I'll do my best to prepare myself when I go back, and if there are any difficulties, I'll definitely come to you for help!"

 "You're our Asclepius (the god of medicine and son of Apollo in ancient Greek mythology), of course we're going to do our best to help! If there's a medical problem, I can discuss it with you; if there's a lack of labor, the captains can provide it; if there's a lack of things, you can just ask Melsius." Davos laughed.

 The crowd also offered to help the medical camp.

 Melsius took the initiative to report to Davos, "Chieftain, this morning I've already had the slaves slaughter some sheep and make a lot of bacon sausages. When I go back in a while, I'll slaughter the remaining sheep and chickens and ducks, as well as the extra cows, and make meat sausages to stock up on food for future marches, what do you think?"

 "Melsis, you're our big steward! We're all relieved to have you in charge of this part of the food, don't you think so?!" Davos said half-jokingly, half-seriously.

 "Right! Melsius runs the supply battalion well!" Antonius echoed.

 "It's **just** expensive!" Epithenes exclaimed snidely.

 "Even if you were given one for free, you wouldn't be able to use it in a dry hurry! You're only interested in boys!" Melsius shot back immediately.

 "Hahaha ..." The crowd laughed, and the atmosphere in the tent was much lighter.

 "Felicius, do you have anything to add?" Davos finally asked his adjutant.

 Still a bit unnatural in the face of a chieftain much younger than himself, Felicius coughed dryly before saying, "I have two questions that I wish to draw the chieftain's attention to. One is, since we are about to go to war with Persia, will the next route of march change? If it changes, how should we go? The second is that ... well ... before, our battalion has always acted as the rear guard for the entire army, and now that we are going to war, if we act as the rear guard again, our battalion will be at too much of a disadvantage!"

 "Felicius is right, we can't be defenders anymore!"

 "Please be assured that I will bring this up at the military meeting of the chiefs and will argue for it! As for the issue of the marching route, I think it will be finalized soon at the chiefs' meeting, as this is the most pressing issue!" Davos' confident words made the team officers doubtful.

 ............... ...

 The meeting was over, and just after leaving the tent, Epithenes, the first squadron leader of the light shields, couldn't help but marvel, "I can't believe this young man is a first-time chief!"

 "Don't look at his young age, not only is he very meticulous in arranging things, but he's also very organized, and he's actually very dignified, and none of us, who are also experienced veterans, have even risen up to contradict or refute him!" Another Light Shield Soldier Squadron Leader, Zspit, said in admiration.

 "I think the young man is good! At least the meetings have a good atmosphere, unlike Mellon, that's a viper, what meeting doesn't give everyone a lecture!" Heavy Infantry Captain Lacey Marcus said with a smirk.

 "If this little guy performs so wonderfully on the battlefield, he'll only be qualified as a chief!" Another heavy infantry squadron leader, Amintas, reminded the group.

 "Don't worry, this new chieftain is young but a smart man, and with Felicius at his side to assist him, there won't be any major problems." Heavy Infantry Squadron Leader Alexis comforted.

 "What's there to be afraid of when we're fighting a war! Davos just needs to play the role of his God's Favorite, and we'll be able to reduce casualties and return home safely!" Tzipit exclaimed, and the crowd chorused in agreement.

 Capps, who was following, said to Antonius in relief, "It seems that Davos is primed to win over the crowd."

 Still reeling from what he saw at the meeting, Antonius murmured, "He still needs to prove himself in battle, but I have faith in him! He'll make an amazing mercenary leader!"

 ............... ...

 Davos stood in the doorway and calmly watched the crowd leave. At the moment, he wasn't thinking about how well his debut as chief had worked out, but rather about the management of the army.

 The Greek mercenary military system is roughly the same as the Greek city-state military system: the lowest ranked officer is the junior captain, with ten men under his command; upwards is the lieutenant captain, with one hundred to one hundred and twenty men under his command; sometimes there will be a sub-lieutenant, with fifty men under his command; upwards is the captain, with one thousand men under his command; and upwards is the general, with the number of soldiers under his command determined by the number of men that his city-state is capable of contributing to the battlefield. According to reason, Davos' rank at this time should be considered a captain, but mercenaries can have thousands of soldiers, even if it is a large mercenary group, with its ability to independently undertake combat tasks, so it is barely considered a general.

 Davos graduated from the University of Political Science and Law in his previous life, but he had studied management, and he knew that the most effective number of people for a leader to directly manage was seven people, and now a military meeting was attended by fourteen squadron commanders, and when it was really in a big battle, wouldn t it be a great delay for a messenger to convey a directive, and would the action be delayed? If these squadrons can be reintegrated ... Davos knows that he can only think about it now, after all, he has only just become the chief, and he is afraid that if he goes to reform the military system rashly, he will cause the team officers to resent it. He suppressed this thought and turned to Melsius, who remained in the tent, and said, "They've all left, so if there's anything you'd like to talk about, why don't you just say it?"

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