Xenophon (II)

Everyone couldn't help but cry out, "This is amazing! Xenophon came to Persia under the instructions of Hades! And Davos, you have never seen Xenophon, but you know him through the oracle! This is Hades blessing us!!" Everyone began to chant the hymn of Hades devoutly.

Although Davos was surprised, he thought that it was just a coincidence. He pretended to follow everyone to finish the hymn and then said, "Even with the blessing of Hades, we still need to work hard to pass the test and return to Greece safely."

"Davos doesn't have much confidence in being able to go home smoothly?" Xenophon looked at Davos. Xenophon believed in the prophecy of God, the omen of dreams, and the prophecy. It was because he heard that Davos was the favored of Hades that he came to find out the truth. Because of Hades, he believed that there must be some mysterious connection between him and Davos.

"I am just an ordinary infantryman, like a frog in a well, and I don't understand the situation at the top, so I will inevitably be confused." Davos said calmly, "You are a close friend of Proxenus and the most outstanding student of Socrates. I hope that you can tell us what kind of situation we are currently facing to solve our confusion."

Olivos wanted to say something, but was stopped byDavos.

Xenophon said, "I think that our return to Greece should be smooth this time! Why?" Xenophon had a sense of responsibility because he was guided by the 'gods Persia. In the face of this possible disaster, when everyone was panicking, he thought that this was the reason why the gods had let him come. Therefore, these days, he had been running back and forth in the camp to help Proxenus stabilize the morale of the army.

At this time, he looked at everyone and patiently said, "First of all, our Greek hoplites are strong and the Persian army is weak. For decades since the battle at the hot spring, we Greeks have always held the upper hand in the battle with the Persians. The previous battle with the Persian king has made it even more clear that our fierce impact had directly caused them to collapse. It can be seen that the Persians' fear of the Greek hoplites has penetrated deep their blood. Although their cavalry is stronger than us, what's the use? The cavalry can only scout and harass, but they don't dare to fight head-on, which will not help their combat strength increase."

"That's right, the cavalry are all cowards!" Matonis shouted in approval, and Xenophon suddenly looked a bit embarrassed.

"But the javelins and arrows of the Persian cavalry have caused us a lot of trouble." reminded Hielos.

"But the cavalry, like their infantry, lacks the skill and courage to confront us head-on, and it is impossible to shake our courage with just bows and arrows. As long as we decide to retreat, they will not be able to stop us from leaving." Xenophon said with confidence based on his understanding of the cavalry.

"Secondly, I heard from the Persians that their new king, Artaxerxes, has been a gentle and timid man since childhood. This is also the reason why Cyrus the Younger dared to rebel. I heard that in the region of Susa and Persepolis, a friend of Cyrus the Younger had launched an attack. Although Artaxerxes was lucky enough to kill Cyrus the Younger, he would never dare to take the risk of fighting to the death with us, who are strong, even if the rear is not yet pacified.

Third, our commander, Clearchus, is a very capable man. Although I am an Athenian and he is a Spartan, I can't deny that during the war between Athens and Sparta, he caused a lot of trouble for Athens, and then he defeated the Thracians many times in Kersonis. As for Proxenus, Meno, and several other leaders, they are also experienced have experiencedy have dealt with the Persians all year round, so they know the Persians very well. However, the Persian's commander is Artaxerxes, the Persian king who has just become king and has never commanded an army. The strategos that he relied on, Tissaphernes, was even easily defeated by us, and they are no match for several leaders!…"

Davos listened carefully to the narration of Xenophon. Through Xenophon, he learned a lot of things that he didn't know before. This time, he sincerely applauded, "A very wonderful speech! As expected of the outstanding disciple of Socrates!"

"Yes! You are worthy of being the one that Hades had instructed! Your words have given us confidence!" Hielos said sincerely.

In the face of everyone's praise, Xenophon's expression was calm. It was very common for him to persuade ordinary soldiers. His gaze fell on Davos as if he wanted to see what was different about the "God's Favored" of Hades.

"But you forgot to mention something." Of course, Davos couldn't let the other side look down on him, especially in front of his teammates, "Although the territory of Persia is vast and the population is large, it can't be effectively governed. Most of the areas are autonomous, they have their own culture and religion, and they only need to do two things to obey the rule of Persia – paying taxes and serving in the military. The Persians only believe in themselves, so there are very few foreign officials in their army and court. The foreigners can't integrate into Persia, so naturally, they won't work for them. I think this is one of the reasons why the Persian army collapsed as soon as they met us."

Xenophon carefully savored the words of Davos and recalled what he had seen along the way, and it was very similar. He was stunned, 'He who is strictly educated doesn't have a deeper understanding of Persia than a 19-year-old who doesn't know a word. If this isn't 'God's Favored', then what is!' Xenophon could only comfort himself like this, "You are right! This is the drawback of the king's dictatorship! On the contrary, it is the advantage of Greek democracy, we are fighting for ourselves!"

The advantage of democracy? Davos seemed to see the face of the country in his previous life that boasted of being a "world police". He curled his lips in disdain, but was seen by Xenophon, who was attentive, "Davos thinks that I am wrong?"

"Xenophon, when do you think the most stable and prosperous period of Athens in a hundred years?" Davos decided to use the knowledge of his previous life to intimidate the historical person in front of him and leave a deep impression on him so that his name could be passed to the top of the mercenaries through him.

"During the reign of Pericles," Xenophon answered without hesitation.

"You forgot to mention the period of the reign of Pesitratus." Davos reminded him, "It was under his rule that Athens completely owned the Attica region and prospered in the port of Piraeus, which made Athens a powerful city-state besides Sparta!"

"But…" Xenophon didn't expect that Davos would mention Pythratus. The Athenians were proud that they lived in the most democratic Greek city-state, and almost no one wanted to talk about the dictator. He wanted to refute it, but he didn't know how to say it. After all, Xenophon, who was highly educated and had rich knowledge, knew that what Davos said was the truth.

Davos, however, seized the opportunity and continued, "You want to say, 'But Athens was stronger during the reign of Pericles,' right? However, there is a problem with the sentence during the reign of Pericles. How many years has Pericles been a general? Thirty years! He has never failed to be elected for thirty years, and has been elected as the chief general many times! All the internal and external important laws and decisions in Athens were proposed and formulated by him, which created the golden age of Athens! Isn't this ironic for the Athenian democracy that was elected once a year and invented the banishment law to prevent dictatorship? Is Pericles the dictatorship? Is Pericles the democracy?! Pericles is just more subtle and gentle than the political methods of Pericles.

And what do you think of the superior democratic system after the absence of Pericles? Athens, which has more wealth than Sparta, a stronger navy, and more allies, has internal strife, and the people of Athens are often unable to distinguish the truth of the matter and are easily incited by the politicians. Therefore, at the most critical moment of the expedition to Sicily, they forced the most talented strategos of Athens, Asid, away. The strategos who had just won a critical sea battle on the island of Agnosi, but failed to rescue the soldiers who had fallen in the wind, were easily judged by the people and even executed… these foolish actions of Athens are not uncommon in this long war with Sparta! Is this the democracy that the Athenians think is perfect?! It has accumulated a great power for hundreds of years in the constant internal friction!"

The democratic system of Athens in ancient times was one of the main focuses of Davos'studies in the party school in his previous life because it was the origin of the modern Western political system, and Davos still remembers it vividly.

Note 1: The evaluation of Xenophon in Western history is not high, and thinks that he is only a superficial taste in history and philosophy. The depth of his research and understanding of history is not as deep as Thucydides and Herodotus, and his attainments in philosophy can't even catch up with his classmate Plato. Moreover, in his works, he believes in prophecy, dream omen, and prophecy, and often choose historical facts and judgments with his political evil, which is very exaggerated. When I look at his works, I have also experienced it. However, in any case, he left behind a lot of precious first-hand information that allows us modern people to understand that era more clearly. Otherwise, there wouldn't be this novel that I wrote today.

Note 2: This is interesting: After the naval battle on the island of Agnos, the officers who were judged by the Athenians had the characters I wrote in my last novel – Beric the Younger, the only son of Beric, who was also executed.