Chapter 23: Shock

More than twenty strong men rushed out on both sides, and Clearchus and the four mercenary leaders fell to the ground and were immediately tied with ropes.

The captains and the soldiers waiting outside the entrance were also surrounded by heavily armed Persians, who cut down the unarmed Greeks with sharp blades, spears, and large shields.

“Satrap, congratulations, your plan was successful!” There was a wild laughter inside the tent.

The candle was lit and the light was restored.

Clearchus saw three people in the center of the tent, Tissaphernes, Orontes, and Ostanes laughing proudly and he screamed in anger, “Tissaphernes, you mean and shameless villain! You deceive us with lies, slaughtered my soldiers, and you broke your oath to your supreme god, Ahura Mazda, when you signed the contract! Are you not afraid of the wrath of your gods?! Are you not afraid that your king will suffer from tens of thousands of people cursing?! Are you not afraid of the disaster that will come to your family?!!…”

“Hehehe…” With a smile on his face, Tissaphernes took a glass of wine from his attendant, he carefully tasted it and walked up to the mercenary leader, before he slowly said, “Clearchus, let me tell you something. Our great king had already returned to Persepolis the day after the death of Cyrus the Younger. Of course, he has never given any instructions about ‘peace talks with you’ which I just made up to deceive you… As for whether the gods will punish me, you don’t have to worry, since they wouldn’t!” He said it in an aggravated tone, “Mazda, will reward me for capturing and killing a group of savages who invaded Persian territory and massacred Persian people!…Oh, I will also tell you one more thing, those rumors were ordered by me!”

Seeing the horror on Clearchus’ look, he was in a happy mood and drank all the wine in his glass.

Proxenus spit at him, but he dodge it.

“Liar! Coward…” Proxenus shouted.

Tissaphernes was not angry, and proudly said, “Liar?! Lying?! No, no, no! I would rather call it wisdom! Unlike you Greek savages who only knows how to fight, we Persians prefer to use our brains to find ways that will cost us less in exchange for greater victory! Just like how I made you less alert by negotiating a truce. Of course I know that you will still be vigilant, but once you get used to this kind of peace and stability, you don’t want to go back to the tense and hostilities of the past, and so you want to work hard to maintain peace. Therefore, I deliberately sent soldiers to clash with your mercenaries, swearing, fighting… and then spreading rumors so that you won’t doubt me, then who will you doubt?”

Tissaphernes’ eyes swept over the captured leaders and ridiculed them, “I guess it was Menon, isn’t that right?! You see, I know all the dirty things inside your camp! And I also know that you are a very responsible leader, Clearchus. The more conflict between the two armies, the more worried you will be, and on the contrary, you will come to my place to negotiate on your own initiative! Oh look, you did not only came to my place on your own initiative, but also sent me a big gift!…”

“Stop talking nonsense and kill us if you want!” Clearchus shouted while his face turned red.

“Lord Tissaphernes, forgive me! Please spare my life!!……” Menon struggled and pleaded, “Even if you let me become your slave, as long as you forgive me! I’ll go and persuade those foolish mercenaries and let them surrender to you! I can also subjugate Asia Minor for you! I am willing to do anything for you, I am just asking for you to spare my life!!…”

“Anything?” Tissaphernes blinked, as if he was interested, “Go bark like a dog first.”

“Woof woof woof!…” Menon actually barked.

“Oh, this is the Greek savages!” The Persians in the tent were all happy.

“Menon, you shut up!…” Clearchus, was ashamed and scolded Menon.

Menon turned a deaf ear, he simply knelt down and looked at Tissaphernes with pleasure.

“Very good! Very good!!…” Tissaphernes smiled, clapped his hands and walked toward Meron.

Menon curled both his hands, sat on the ground, spitting out his tongue, and barking happily.

Tissaphernes came up to him and gave him a sly smile, he then quickly pulled out his sword and slashed down Menon’s neck.

In the shouts of everyone, blood gushed out and the head of Menon rolled to the ground , with his face solidified a shock look.

“Idiot! You thought that I didn’t know that you were desperately swearing at me in front of Cyrus the Younger and took the initiative to attack my house!” Tissaphernes stepped on Menon’s head with his left foot and his face got splashed with blood and was cold as ice.

The four leaders were sullen as they looked at the headless body on the ground. Even Clearchus, who always held a grudge against Menon, had grief on his face. They felt sad for the death of their own comrade.

“Place this man’s head on a jar with saltpeter, and immediately escort it to Persepolis along with the four criminals, so that his Majesty can personally judge them!” Tissaphernes ordered.

After the four mercenary leaders were taken out, Socrates mournfully regretted, “I wish I had listened to that young man!…”

Clearchus was expressionless and said nothing.

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

“Ariaeus asks to see you my lord!”

“Let him come in.”

Ariaeus walked inside the tent and saw a shocking pool of blood on the ground. As soon as he slowed down, he heard Tissaphernes say, “That is the blood of Menon, I just cut off his head with a sword!”

“Rashnu knows (the god of judgment of good and evil in Persian mythology), that this is the punishment he deserves!” Ariaeus hurriedly said, looking at Tissaphernes who had a playful smile, and immediately said, “Lord Satrap, I have sent the cavalry to kill all the Greeks who are wandering outside their camp, as you have ordered.”

“Very well, I will report your merits to his majesty!” Tissaphernes understood that for the troops of Cyrus the Younger, he had to deter them as well as get close with them. After all, they are nearly 10,000 troops, and when he returns to Asia Minor, he had to rely on these local Persian nobles.

“Now that the main leaders of the Greek mercenaries have been taken down, those foolish Greeks are probably in a panic and don’t know what to do. You and Ostanes go to the Greek camps and try to get the Greeks to surrender…”

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

Antonios hoped that the soldiers would escort Davos to Menon’s camp, because no one in there dared to do anything to Davos.

Davos refused and obeyed the soldiers’ request and went to Clearchus camp. Because it is the vanguard troops, the camp were also located in the northernmost part and close to the Persians so that he could easily get information immediately. He asked Hielos to call Xenophon and let Antonios return to Menon’s camp to prepare himself, then he thought of something and pulled over Matonis and whispered to him, Matonis then looked at him with amazement and finally nodded.

As they watched Hielos leave, Davos suppressed the tension in his heart as they headed for Clearchus camp. The soldiers who escorted him could not help but ask, “Is Clearchus really in danger?”

Davos asked, “Who is in charge of your camp in the absence of Clearchus?”

“The captain of the first unit, Timasion.”

“Then you’d better go and tell him to be ready for defense.” While Davos was talking, the guard of the camp screamed in shocked and pointed at the front, “Look, the Persian cavalry!!”

Davos and the soldiers looked back together and saw countless Persian cavalry galloping back and forth hundreds of meters in front of the camp, stirring up the dust all over the sky, and shouting from time to time in the dusty fog.

“This…” The soldiers looked nervously at Davos.

Despite the fact that his guess came true, Davos didn’t have a trace of joy, ‘The war is finally coming!’ and he was also nervous.

“Fast! Get back to the camp!” He called the soldiers accompanying him to quickly enter the camp and close the gate.

At this time, a soldier came out of the dust fog ahead, running while covering his bleeding abdomen with one hand and stumbled.

The guards and Davos immediately rushed forward and returned to the camp with him.

“I…we are on our way to the market…the Persian cavalry…then suddenly rushed toward us…many of our brothers died…Agias…Go and inform Agias…he is in danger…” The wounded soldier weakly said.

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