Chapter 16: Conflict

When Davos and Herpus were discussing how to treat the wounded more efficiently, a guard of Meno called him over.

As soon as he entered, Meno shouted angrily: “I said, ‘If you have a new ideas, let me know first’! and you agreed. But now, you deceived me! You broke your promise!”

“What did I do wrong?” Davos was puzzled.

“You are able to save those comatose soldiers and did it secretly without telling me in advance!”

After Davos heard what he said, he was amused: “Respected leader Meno, the situation was urgent and saving people is important, if I have reported it to you first and then organize people to treat them, Asistes would’ve died!”

Davos added sarcastically: “Besides, this isn’t a new idea, it was a medical skill passed down from my ancestor. I came to be a mercenary and not to be a slave that needs to get your permission to treat people!”

Meno was unable to respond. Just now the soldiers were shouting the name of “Davos”, which made him confused by jealousy, and without thinking, angrily called Davos, which resulted in his embarrassment.

He simply said: “I am still lacking a guard here. From now on, you will be responsible for guarding my safety and you can’t leave without my orders!” He had a hunch that Davos had to be separated from the soldiers to avoid further influencing them and thus weaken his control over the mercenary.

“I’m sorry, leader Meno. I am better suited to be an ordinary soldier than a guard. Besides, my squad leader won’t agree!” Davos guessed Meno’s intentions and he certainly would not agree.

Meno laughed with anger due to the unexpected direct refusal: “I am your leader! Who dares to disagree with my orders!”

“I disagree!” With a shout, Antonios entered the living room.

“I also don’t agree!” Following him was Kapus, then was followed by several squadron leaders.

Davos was relieved to see Antonios nodding to himself, he is now safe. Of course, he didn’t know that when the guard called him threateningly, Hielos felt something wrong and immediately ran to inform Antonios, this is why Antonios and the rest appeared here so soon.

“Who let you in?! Where is my guard?!” Meno was anxious and angry. He felt uneasy with how several of his main squadron leaders came unannounced.

“Leader, the wounded in the camp are still waiting for Davos to treat them and we can’t delay!” Antonios listened calmly to the words filled with hidden threat that made Meno heart tremble in fear and the cold gaze of the crowd made Meno feel even more hesitant.

He end up yielding and stutteringly said: “Well…I…am very pleased that Davos used his great medical skill to save the wounded and unconscious soldier. So I called him to come…uhm…I want to appoint him as the camp’s physician in order to treat more soldiers.”

“I am very willing to heal our wounded brothers! But whether if it is a physician or a guard that you previously mentioned, I won’t accept! I just want to be a soldier under Hielos.” Davos straightforwardly answered. Although he would be safe being the camp physician, but it doesn’t comply to his plan. Moreover, he was unwilling to accept Meno’s compromise now that they have torn each other face, and it is hard for him to change his initial understanding of Meno.

Meno was very embarrassed getting rejected by a low-ranking ordinary soldier in front of everyone and he immediately shouted: “DAVOS!”

Just as his words left his mouth, there was a sudden noise outside: “Return Davos to us and give the soldiers a way to live!!”

“Meno, if you don’t let Davos come out, we will rush in!!”

It was the yelling of countless soldiers, making Meno tremble with fear.

“Davos, you go back first.” Antonios said.

Davos nodded and said loudly: “Everyone, thank you for your help!”

Meno immediately turned his resentful gaze to the squadron leaders after hearing it.

After Davos left, he immediately said:  “Antonios, Kapus… are you also starting to go against me?”

“Meno, you are our leader and of course we have to listen to your command. But Davos is favored by Hades and the soldiers have witnessed the many miracles he had created! The gods are watching us in heaven and blessed us so that we can smoothly go home from foreign land, and the least bit of blasphemy isn’t allowed.” Antonios answered evasively.

Meno certainly heard his implication: ‘We all know what you did to Davos. We can follow your command, but when it comes to Davos, we will defend him.’ He also wanted to refute in order to preserve his dignity as the leader, but Amintas, who dislike him the most among his officers, shouted: “Listen Meno! Once our mission ends, we don’t mind re-electing a new leader if you mess up again! I believe the soldiers won’t choose you anymore!”

Amintas’ words manage to hit the crucial point of Meno’s worries. Mercenaries are a loose military organization. Meno became the leader due to his wide range of connections and being able to receive missions, get money and pay the soldiers. Now the situation is that, after the death of Cyrus the Younger, Meno lost his employer and could no longer get money, nor could he pay the soldiers. The reason why the soldiers still believed in him: Firstly, it’s due to their common goal of returning home safely, and they must be united, since a scattered soldiers can’t survive on Persian land. The command system of the mercenaries is readily available and effective, and the soldiers were used to it. Secondly, the long years of living as a mercenary, these experienced officers are rarely replaced and most of them had a good relations with Meno, they help him control the whole troops. But now, for the sake of Davos, the officers and soldiers have joined forces against him, indicating that his control of the troops is at stake.

He knew that he has a bad reputation in the hearts of the soldiers. In the past, he didn’t care because as long as he have money, he could replace a group of soldiers any time, due to most of the land in Greece are barren and the previous Peloponnesian War causing the livelihood of the people to decline, more young people go out to seek for survival. But it now has become his biggest worry.

After he calmly sent away Antonios and Kapus, he returned to the living room to scream and vent out his depression: “I’M GOING TO KILL THAT KID!!” As soon as he spoke, he realized that something was off and hurriedly went to the entrance, he did not know when the guard at the entrance who had followed him for more than a year had already disappeared.

He was frightened and restless in the living room. He looked at the room which had become a mess due to his anger, he hesitated for a while and finally decided to go to Ariaeus. He heard that many relatives of Ariaeus came to him these two days and with their help, the mercenaries might not have to go back so laboriously…

Meno had an idea after he thought about it. He tidied up his makeup and went to the yard to pull a horse, after clamping hard on the horse belly, he then galloped northward.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

After testing his influence in Meno’s camp through this incident, Davos returned to his residence and actively recruited Herpus to discuss the treatment of the wounded.

Although Davos wasn’t a doctor in his previous life, but he has the accumulation of more than 2,000 years of knowledge than the people of this era, which is enough for him to make a more better medical plan than that of this time. Firstly, setting up a medical team with Herpus as the lead, then from the camp, find one or two soldiers who are interested in medicine and serve as a physician. They then need several female slaves from the supply unit to train them as a nurse while they do treatment, he believe that they can adapt fast to their new roles. Secondly, they should open up an area to serve as a wartime hospital, so that they can concentrate on the treatment of the wounded and improve efficiency. Thirdly, the most common thing in the army is getting wounded, by establishing a practical medical system and training the doctors and nurses the concept of sterile hygiene, as long as the infection can be prevented, by virtue of the strong physical condition of the soldiers, most of the mild and moderate injuries can get better. Finally, gathering some of the local remedies from Persians along the way, Mesopotamian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations on earth. For thousands of years, people who live in this land have their own unique means and methods to cope with diseases. After studying it, they will then use modern analytical methods to remove the bad part and it will naturally expand the scope of treatment of Davos’ medical team.

Davos intends to develop this medical team into a permanent and essential organization in the camp for the future.

To master the health of the soldiers is to master the mind of the army.

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