Chapter 25: Negotiation Breakdown

As he approached the Persian cavalry, Philesius told Davos that the Persians in front of him were Ariaeus, Artaozus and Mithridates, the three of them were the most trusted subordinates of Cyrus the Younger. Another Persian that Davos knew, was the former Persian envoy, Ostanes.

The officers stopped about 20 meters from the Persian cavalry.

“Please come closer!” Ariaeus pointed at his horse.

The officers did not move.

Ostanes couldn’t help but sarcastically said, “Are the Greeks so timid?”

“Because the Persians have repeatedly violated their oath, therefore we can no longer trust the Persians anymore!” Xenophon retorted.

“Yes, the Persians are shameless villains, they can even deceive their God!” Cleanor scolded angrility, his words resonated with the other officers.

“Please keep quiet! Listen carefully to the decree of the king!!” Ariaeus shouted.

“That is your king, not ours. If you still want to read it, then we will go back!” Davos also shouted.

“We Greeks are free, unlike you Persians who are slaves to your king!” Timasion said it sarcastically and pridefully.

Ariaeus was so angry that his nose got crooked, he then turned to look at Ostanes and Ostanes nodded at him, he helplessly unfolded the papyrus in his hand and loudly read it, “All of you Greeks, I, Artaxerxes, the Persian king, the king of all races, declared that Clearchus had violated the oath of alliance and destroyed the truce, therefore the gods had punished him. Proxenus, Menon, Agias, Socrates the other four leaders had accused him of conspiracy and are now being treated with great courtesy by my Satrap, Tissaphernes! In order to prevent such terrible betrayal from happening again on your way home, and also for the sake of safety—” Ariaeus increased his voice and solemnly said, “I ask that all the Greek soldiers to hand over your weapons, because the money for these weapons came from Cyrus the Younger who had rebelled and his money came from the Persian treasury, which belonged to me! Surrender your weapons and I swear to the supreme god, Mazda, that I will ensure your smooth arrival in Ionia!”

“HA HA HA!!…” Davos laughed loudly, “The wolves trying to scam a deer to be their friend in order to eat them. The wolves who have tasted the benefit also wants to trick all the other deers into breaking their horns so that the wolves can safely and daringly enjoy their meat! Hahaha… How foolish a man must be to fall into such a trap once more, or do you mean to say that your king have a problem with his head?!!”

“Audacious!!” Ariaeus pointed angrily at Davos, “You’ll be burned by insulting the king!”

“Enough, Ariaeus, you shameless vile man! And some of you were the few of the closest comrades of Cyrus the Younger, are you not ashamed in front of the gods!” Cleanor pointed to Ariaeus, Artaozus and Mithridates, and shouted angrily, “You have sworn to the gods that we would be allies against the Persian king, but now you have betrayed us and even cooperated with the inhumane vile man, Tissaphernes, and not only did you deceive Clearchus, but you also tried to sell out the rest of us! Knowing what you had done, Cyrus the Younger will curse you, even in hell!”

Ariaeus unnaturally shrank his neck, and subconsciously glanced at Ostanes who was next to him, who acted like he had nothing to do with him, which force him to say it again, “His highness really wants to send you back home safely, because the rebel, Cyrus the Younger, has already received the most fair punishment, and you were all just deceived by him! The mercy of the king doesn’t want to let the Persian land to suffer another senseless war! However, after the report of Proxenus and the rest, Clearchus began to conspire against lord Tissaphernes and the Persian army more than a dozen days ago and spread rumors in an attempt to alienate the Greeks from the Persians, we have taken actions against him!”

“Since you said that Proxenus has exposed Clearchus and received your reward, then let them come here, which will naturally resolve our suspicions and as the leaders, they can also make better suggestions for the reconciliation between us!” Xenophon was still trying to save Proxenus.

“That’s right, let our leaders come here and we will then trust you!!” The officers loudly shouted.

“Uhm…Proxenus, they accepted the feast that lord Tissaphernes prepared…and are already drunk…so…” Ariaeus stutteringly said, Ostanes got slightly impatient and said, “His highness has ordered that you hand over your weapons immediately, in order to ensure your safe return, otherwise we will not provide you anymore help!”

“Ares, us Greek warriors will never abandon our weapons and be slaughtered by others!!” Timasion hit his bronze shield with his spear and screamed.

“Whoever wants to take our weapons, will need to fight us for it!” Cleanor yelled.

“Proxenus and the rest couldn’t come, is not because they were drunk, but because they have been killed by you, right?!” Xenophon sadly said, and wanted to force Ariaeus to tell the truth by seriously saying the result, but he didn’t expect that he would arouse the anger of the officers.

“The Persians want to kill all of us!”

“Revenge for our leaders!”

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

The enraged officers surrounded Ariaeus and when Ostanes noticed that the situation was turning bad, he turned his horse around and fled, Ariaeus then followed them back. After running for a while, Ostanes looked back and saw that he was far away from the Greeks, he remembered how he got frightened away by a group of barbarians and was ashamed and angry, so he shouted, “Greeks, you have missed your best chance, and soon you will regret it!!”

“I don’t know who will be the one regreting it!” Xenophon unyieldingly answered.

Watching the Persian cavalry leave, everyone was worried and it was certain that the mercenary leaders won’t have a good end, the Persians had torn their faces, what should they do now?

Surrender to the Persians? Even the Persian king’s brother, Cyrus the Younger, got his head and hands brutally cut off and most of the officers did not think that their fate would be a lot better after surrendering! Either they are killed or become a slave. For this choice, it was unacceptable for the officers, nor can they accept it.

Otherwise, they had to fight the Persians again in this strange land! Now they were led by the Persians on a route that they have never traveled before, thousands of miles away from their home, they can only feel their way forward without the help of the Persians, and they do not know how many hostile tribes and villages they have to face, but they also have to be prepared for the attack of the Persian army. The most distressing thing was that the Persian can’t fight against them head-on, but they also can’t catch up with the Persians, and once they fail, the entire mercenary troops might get destroyed. It was because of these difficulties that everyone was depressed and didn’t know what to do. When they left the camp, the soldiers still had some spirit, but when they returned to their camp, they sighed and looked worried.

Returning to the camp, when the officers in charge of the units gathered again, Davos naturally followed Philesius and participated in the discussion. Of course, as a newcomer, he seldom talk and was mostly observing these officers. In a heated debate, they are more likely to expose their personality, the grumpy Timasion, the shrewd Cleanor, the Prudent Xanthicles, and Agacia who has a good relationship with the other officers…

Xenophon was much more active, he not only had many heated arguments with the others, but also agitatedly said, “Everyone, Clearchus and the rest have been captured by the Persians, we must immediately elect new leaders to replace them, then convened a general assembly for the whole mercenary troops in order to renew the determination of the soldiers to fight the Persians and their confidence that we can return home on our own. Otherwise, leaving the chaos to go on like this, will result in our demise before the Persians even attack!”

Davos thought that Xenophon was right, although he had just started his military carrer, he had been a village official in his previous life, and he was also the leader of a high-tech development zone and had managed more than 10,000 men. Therefore, he knew the importance of uniting their thoughts and inspiring confidence in a group.

Timasion seemed to resent Xenophon’s excessive display, he did not look at Xenophon at all and turned to face the others and said, “Don’t worry, Cheirisophus^[1] will be back soon!”