Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 14: Xenophon (2)

lnmao.org, the fastest update to the latest chapter of the Mediterranean Overlord of Ancient Greece!

Everyone couldn't help crying: "This is really amazing! Xenophon came to Persia under Hades's instructions! And Daves, you have never seen Xenophon, but you know about him through the oracle! This It is Hades who is blessing us!!" Everyone began to recite the hymns of Hades in silence sincerely.

Davos was surprised, but thought it was just a coincidence. He pretended to follow everyone after chanting the carol, and then said: "Even with the blessing of Pluto, we still need our own efforts to pass the test and return to Greece safely."

"Daves is not very confident about whether he can go home smoothly?" Xenophon looked at Daves. Xenophon believes in gods, dream omens, and prophecies. It is precisely because he heard that Davos is Hades’s favor, he will come to find out, because of Hades, he believes that he and Davos There must be some mysterious connection between.

"I'm just an ordinary infantryman, like a frog in a well. I don't understand the top situation. So I will inevitably feel confused." Daves calmly said, "You are a close friend of Proxinus. He is the most outstanding student of Socrates again. I hope to tell us what kind of situation we are facing now, so as to relieve our confusion."

Olivers wanted to say something, but Daves stopped him with his eyes.

Xenophon said unwillingly: "I think we should return to Greece smoothly this time! Why?" Xenophon has a sense of responsibility, because he came to Persia under the guidance of the ‘god’. Faced with this possible disaster, when everyone was panicking, he thought that this was the reason why the gods asked him to come. So he was in the barracks these days, running back and forth to help Proxinus stabilize his army.

At this time, he looked at everyone and said patiently: "First, our Greek heavy infantry is strong and the Persian army is weak. Since the battle at Wenquan Pass, the battle between our Greeks and Persians has always been stable. Get the upper hand. The previous battle with the Persian kings is more illustrative. Our valiant impact directly caused them to collapse. It can be seen that the Persians’ fear of the Greek heavy infantry has penetrated into the blood. Although their cavalry is stronger than us, what is the use? The cavalry can only detect and harass, but they dare not fight head-on, which does not help them improve their combat effectiveness."

"Yes, the cavalry are all cowards!" Matonis exclaimed loudly in favor, and Xenophon's face suddenly became embarrassing.

"However, the javelins and bows of the Persian cavalry caused us a lot of trouble." Hiros reminded.

"But the cavalry, like their infantry, lacks the skills and courage to confront us directly. Bows and arrows alone cannot shake our courage. As long as we decide to retreat, they will never be able to stop us from leaving." Based on the cavalry. Understand, Xenophon said confidently.

"Secondly, I heard from the Persians that their new king, Artaxerxes, was a gentle and weak person since he was a child. This is why the little Cyrus dared to rise up in resistance. I heard that in Susa and Persepolis In the area, a friend of Cyrus’s small army responded. Although Artaxerxes was lucky to kill Cyrus, he never dared to fight the mighty us with the danger that the rear had not yet been settled.

Third, our commander, Klarkus, is a very capable man. Although I am an Athenian and he is a Spartan, I can’t help but admit that he caused a lot of trouble to Athens during the war between Athens and Sparta, and then he defeated Thrace many times in Kersones. people. The leaders of Proxinus and Menon are also commanders with rich combat experience. They know the Persians very well when dealing with the Persians all the year round. The commander of the Persians is the Persian king Artaxerxes who has just become the king and has never commanded the army. The general that he relied on was even easily defeated by us. They are not the opponents of the leaders at all! ……"

Daves listened carefully to what Color Profen said. Through Xenophon, he learned a lot of things he didn't know before. This time he applauded sincerely: "A very wonderful speech! Worthy of being an outstanding disciple of Socrates!"

"Yes! As expected of the person Hades instructed! Your words give us confidence!" Silos said sincerely.

Faced with the compliments from everyone, Xenophon looked calm. It was a common thing for him to persuade ordinary soldiers. His gaze fell on Davers, as if he wanted to see Hades in the rumors. What is the difference between the "favored ones".

"But you forgot to say one thing." Of course, Davos can't let the opponent underestimate himself, especially in front of his teammates: "Although Persia has a vast territory and a large population, it cannot be effectively governed. Most areas are still autonomous. They have their own culture and religion. They only need to do two things to obey Persian rule-paying taxes and performing military service. The Persians only believe in themselves, so there are few foreign officials in their army and court. . Foreigners cannot integrate into Persia, so naturally they will not work for him. I think this is also one of the reasons why the Persian army collapsed as soon as we met us."

Xenophon savored what Davers said, and recalled what he saw along the way. It was a very good match. He was stunned: He who has received a strict education is not as profound as a 19-year-old young man who does not know a word. This is not what a "favored person" is! Xenophon can only comfort himself like this: "You are right! This is the shortcoming of the king's dictatorship! On the contrary, it is the advantage of the Greek democratic system. We are fighting for ourselves!"

The advantages of a democratic system? Daves seemed to see the face of the country that claimed to be the "World Police" in his previous life. He twitched his mouth contemptuously, but was seen by the careful Xenophon: "Davers thinks what I said is wrong?"

"Xenophon, what do you think is the most stable and prosperous period in Athens in a century?" Daves decided to use his knowledge of previous lives to frighten the historical celebrity in front of him and impress him so as to pass He allowed his name to be passed on to the top of the mercenary.

"Pericles in power." Xenophon answered without hesitation.

"You forgot to talk about the reign of Pisitratu." Daves reminded: "It was under his rule that Athens fully owned the Attica region and prospered the port of Piraeus. , Which made Athens become another powerful city-state on the mainland of Greece besides Sparta!"

"But..." Xenophon did not expect Daves to mention Pisitellatus. The Athenians are proud of living in the most democratic Greek city-state, and almost no one wants to talk about that dictator. He wanted to refute, but he didn't know what to say for a while. After all, Xenophon, who is highly educated and knowledgeable, knows that Davers is telling the truth.

Davers seized the opportunity and went on to say: "You want to say,'But Athens was stronger during Pericles' reign,' right? But there is a problem with this sentence during Pericles' reign. Bury How many years has Klee served as a general? Thirty years! In thirty years, he has never lost the election, and has been elected as the chief general many times! All the internal and external important laws and decisions of Athens were proposed and formulated by him, and this was created. The golden age of Athens! Isn’t this irony to the Athenian democracy, which is elected once a year, invented the pottery exile law, and prevents dictatorship? Is Pisitratu a dictatorship? Pericles is democracy?! Pericles is just better than Pixitratu’s political methods are more concealed and gentler.

And what do you think is a superior democracy without Pericles? Athens, which has stronger financial resources than Sparta, a stronger navy, and more allied states, is in conflict and fighting with each other internally. The people of Athens are often unable to tell the truth from the truth and are easily instigated by politicians. That’s why at the most critical moment of the expedition to Sicily, you forced away your most talented general in Athens, Asibide; you just won a crucial naval battle on Agnosei, but failed to rescue the drowning soldiers in time because of the strong wind. The generals are easily judged by the people and even executed... These stupid actions by Athens are not uncommon in this long war with Sparta! This is what the Athenians thought of as a perfect democracy? ! It has consumed the power accumulated over the past century in constant internal friction! "

The democratic system of ancient Athens was one of the key points that Daves studied in the party school in the previous life. Because it was the origin of the modern Western political system, Daves still remembers it fresh.

Note 1: The evaluation of Xenophon in the Western historians is not high, thinking that he is only a taste of history and philosophy, and the depth of research and understanding of history is not as good as Thucydides and Herodotus. In terms of his attainments, he couldn't keep up with his classmate Plato even though he was able to shoot a horse. Moreover, he believes in gods, dream omens and prophecies in his works, and often selects historical materials and judges historical facts based on personal political likes and dislikes, and he is very exaggerated. When I read his works, I also experienced it. However, in any case, he left a lot of precious first-hand information, so that we modern people can understand that era more clearly, otherwise there would be no such novel that I wrote today.

Note 2: This is interesting: after the Battle of Agnosei, among the generals who were tried by the people of Athens was the character I wrote in my last novel-Little Pericles, Pericles’s only remaining son In the end, he was also executed.