Chương 30: General Assembly
Although Davos was new to the military, he could see that this formation was mainly to prevent the Persians from raiding and to protect the supplies. With such a wide frontal march, their speed will not be fast, and under the pressure of the Persians, this is also a helpless move.
Several people gathered around to look at the simple sketch on the ground.
Timasion pointed to the two squares at the front and said, "Cheirisophus is a Spartan, and the soldiers under him are all the dreamers of Lacedonian, rich in combat experience. With them as the vanguard, I think everyone will be at ease."
No one had any objection to this proposal.
"Secondly…" Timasion pondered which position his camp should be responsible for.
"Secondly, I am the youngest and I am willing to be the rearguard of the whole army!" Davos said excitedly.
Philesius quivered and thought, 'Oh no, Davos forgot what we discussed in advance and even took the initiative to ask to be the rearguard. He is still young and inexperienced!'
Under the gaze of everyone, Philesius did not dare to make a big move, so he could only look at Davos.
However, Timasion said in surprise, "You… you want to be the rearguard?! No! No!" He shook his head repeatedly, "The rearguard is of utmost importance and must be experienced to face all kinds of complex situations. If you don't handle it well, you will drag down the whole army. I think… our camp should be the rearguard."
As soon as Timasion finished speaking, Davos added, "Isn't there another rearguard? I am willing to serve with you!"
"No!!" Timasion refused without thinking, "Cleanor, you will be the rearguard with me!" He directly appointed his comrades who had fought alongside him.
Cleanor had a good relationship with Timasion, so he could only nod.
The candidate for the rearguard has been decided so quickly. Philesius still doesn't understand that Davos had deliberately set a trap to lure Timasion to take the bait, so he is not fit to be an adjutant.
The furrow between Cheirisophus' eyebrows deepened. He didn't appreciate the little tricks that Davos played, and instead, he hated them. However, he knew that Timasion's choice was right, so he simply said to Davos, "Your camp is responsible for protecting the left wing." Since the mercenaries are marching north along the Tigris river, the left-wing should encounter the least danger most of the time.
Davos saw the undisguised contempt in Cheirisophus' eyes, he secretly clenched his fist and nodded.
Then Cheirisophus proposed to let Xanticles be the vanguard with him.
It was Hieronymus who was also unwilling. Cheirisophus and the others had also considered that the former adjutant of the camp of Proxenus was Agasias, and now, the leader that was elected has been replaced by the squadron leader, Hieronymus. However, he was the last one to arrive, which shows that there is a lot of controversy about who the soldiers of this camp should be the leader, and to be safe, they should still let their camp be the right wing.
After the leaders finished their military agreement, it was time for the general assembly.
This is not only a public meeting of the new leader but also a good opportunity to unify the thoughts of the soldiers, so Cheirisophus reminded everyone to speak more encouraging words.
When he requested the leaders, his gaze stopped more on Davos. He was not at ease with this overly young leader. It must be known that it is a gathering of tens of thousands of people, and most of them will be so nervous that they won't even be able to speak in such a big situation. If Davos messes up, then this carefully arranged rally will become a farce!
Therefore, he proposed to Davos that his adjutant, Philesius, could speak on stage for him.
But Davos insisted on doing it himself.
Cheirisophus didn't look good, but he couldn't stop Davos from attending, because he was the new leader that was unanimously elected by Menon's camp, with 1,400 soldiers under his jurisdiction, which accounted for about one-ninety percent of the whole army. Therefore, he arranged for Davos to be the second one to go on stage, and if Davos perform badly, then the leaders behind him will make up for it.
…
It was the end of August, late summer, and the afternoon was no longer as hot.
In the middle of the camp of Timasion (formerly the camp of Clearchus), a wooden platform was erected, and the surrounding tents had been cleared, leaving a large open space, which was occupied by the soldiers from the various mercenary camps, who were either standing or sitting, chatting and complaining to each other…
The whole venue was crowded and noisy…
Cheirisophus and his party squeezed out a passage from the dense crowd under the protection of the armed soldiers and came to the wooden platform.
Cheirisophus was the first to go on stage.
There was a commotion among the soldiers.
Because Cheirisophus had deliberately kept a low profile, most of the ordinary soldiers did not know who he was. They were surprised to see a stranger and asked each other his name.
More than a dozen loud soldiers are standing around the wooden stage. They are responsible for repeating the words of the speaker so that the thousands of soldiers below the stage can hear them.
Cheirisophus then said, "Brothers from all over Greece, I am Cheirisophus, the inspector of Sparta!"
After the retelling of the soldiers on the wooden stage, the soldiers under the stage were in an uproar. They were even more shocked than when Davos first heard the news: The Spartan warriors had fought one battle after another for hundreds of years, which had made the Greeks of other city-states afraid of their bravery and strength. Now, Sparta has become the overlord of the Greek world and dominates the Mediterranean. How could they not be excited when the inspector of Sparta was among them, ordinary freemen? The soldiers who were originally frightened and uneasy because of the death of their leader suddenly felt that they had someone to rely on, and their panicked faces began to turn red, and some of them were curious about what was happening outside of their survival. Why did the high-ranking Spartan inspector appear here?
So when Cheirisophus asked them to keep quiet, the soldiers stopped making noise.
"Brothers, we are in a very bad situation now! Not only have we lost our leaders, captains, and soldiers who have been with you for a long time, but also our former allies, Ariaeus, and his men, have betrayed us! However, in such a critical situation, the more we need to pull ourselves together as soon as possible and face the Persians who want to wipe us out bravely, we must never give in and use our bravery of us Greeks to defeat the enemy and kill a way back to Greece for ourselves! Zeus will go with the brave!!" The Spartans like to keep their words simple and shocking. Cheirisophus had just reminded everyone to say more encouraging words, but he had just made the soldiers excited and quickly ended his speech.
When Cheirisophus stepped down and passed by Davos, he saw Davos smiling at him and thought, 'Not bad, this young leader doesn't look nervous, but why did he bring a herald to the stage and let him carry more than a dozen thin sticks?'
Asistes also didn't understand the purpose of Davos asking him to follow him on the stage with a wooden stick, but as soon as he stood on the wooden stage, he couldn't think about it anymore, because there were people all around the stage, densely extending to the distance… and at this moment, the noise in his ears was much noisier than when he was below the stage as if the sea was stirring up strong wind and huge waves, while he and Davos were just a small boat floating alone in the depths of the sea, in danger of capsizing at any time.
Asistes couldn't stop his legs from trembling, and he even felt that he might collapse together with the wooden platform under his feet at any time…
"Oh! Oh! Look! Who is this?!"
"A little guy who hasn't even grown his hair yet! This is not a place for you! Get down and go home to drink mommy's milk! Hahaha…"
"Could this be the new leader elected by some camp?! Are they crazy?!"
…
Mocking and questioning came from all directions.
Asistes was shocked and took a few steps back, almost to the edge of the wooden platform. What impressed him was that Davos still stood firmly in the center of the wooden platform…
The leaders on the stage also felt a bit reluctant. They were no longer dissatisfied with Davos, but at this moment, they were one against thousands of soldiers.
Timasion complained, "If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have let him go up. This is hell!"
The others agreed.
Xenophon hurriedly said, "Let the next leader go up and replace him."
Cheirisophus had already regretted his previous decision and nodded in agreement.
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