Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 1307

[Chapter 256: Crossing the River]

And Davos once had a concern about how to get the army to cross the wide Euphrates smoothly under the heavy defense of the Persians, but because of the retreat of the Persian army, this concern no longer exists.

In the past few days, the engineering battalion has built three wooden bridges on the Orontis River in front of the camp, and 150,000 soldiers crossed the Orontis River in Syria in an orderly manner. going straight east.

Six days later, the vanguard had approached Taposakus.

The Euphrates River rushing out from the mountains in eastern Asia Minor flows from north to south at the westernmost end of the Mesopotamian Plain, and joins many rivers one after another, forming a series of wide lakes, reaching Taposaku When it was near Sri Lanka, it turned eastward, causing its river surface to narrow abruptly, making it the best river crossing in the upper reaches of the Euphrates. The royal road connecting the Persian royal court to Asia Minor passed through here, and it also led to Taposaku. the prosperity of the city.

When the Dionysian vanguard arrived on the west bank of the Euphrates, they were pleasantly surprised to find that the Persian army did not burn down the pontoon bridge on the river when they retreated, and the pontoon bridge was very spacious and could accommodate 10 soldiers to walk side by side, eliminating the need for an engineering battalion. More hard work on the pontoon.

The next day Davos followed the central army and came to the west bank of the Euphrates.

He stopped by the pontoon bridge and watched the soldiers in single clothes and wrapped in weapons and armor. With some kind of longing on their faces, they stepped on the pontoon bridge with determination, crossed the wide Euphrates River, and stepped onto the The unfamiliar Mesopotamian plain…

Davos, who was riding on a horse, regardless of fatigue, straightened his upper body, pressed his right fist to his left chest, and looked solemn.

The palace guards who followed him also saluted the soldiers.

When the soldiers passing by the bridge saw this scene, they were first surprised and then excited, but the long dragon rolling forward did not allow anyone to stop advancing, and the heavy package on their shoulders prevented them from freeing their hands, so most of them were there. The young soldiers who were born in Dionia and grew up under the influence of countless victories and honors looked at the kingdom’s founder and the supreme military commander of the kingdom who created many military miracles with incomparable reverence, and shouted excitedly: ” Your Majesty Wansheng!”

“Your Majesty’s Wansheng!… Your Majesty’s Wansheng!!… Your Majesty’s Wansheng!!!…” The various shouts at the beginning quickly converged into one voice, echoing on the bridge, and quickly directed towards the team The soldiers who learned the news seemed to be on stimulants, forgetting the exhaustion of the long journey, and speeding up the pace of progress…

Watching this exciting scene, Epithenes couldn’t help but sigh: “30 We were here a few years ago, and like these little fellows, we stepped on this pontoon with hope and entered the fertile Mesopotamian plain…”

“Don’t forget, at that time Menon led us as the entire army. Pioneer, but the first to enter the Mesopotamian plain!” Amyntas, who was half lying on the carriage, took the conversation and

said quite proudly.

He was paralyzed in his lower limbs and could not walk. Originally, his servants used a wooden sedan to carry him to march, but his speed was slow and he could not keep up with the large army. Therefore, Davos allowed him to ride a small open-top carriage.

Since the army landed in Egypt, he had been in poor physical condition due to the unacceptable soil and water, but when the army resumed the route of the little Cyrus’ march to Babylon, his spirit became better.

“Amintas, you are too embarrassed to say this!” Agarcia, who once belonged to another mercenary team, said disdainfully: “Menon was rushing to be a pioneer, saying that he wanted to explore the way for the army, but Everyone understood that he just wanted to be the first to rush to the Mesopotamian plain to plunder, so Cyrus the Younger agreed to his request, and then issued an order to the entire army to forbid plundering on the Mesopotamian plain. , were you disappointed at the time?”

“What’s so disappointing about me—” Amyntas was about to retort when he suddenly thought of something, and deliberately said loudly: “Heronimus, what you said just now is ‘ We’? Don’t you forget that His Majesty was also a member of us back then!” He also pointed to Davos standing in front of him.

Hearing this, Agarcia, who has always been unremarkable among these veterans, was a little panicked at this moment, and eagerly defended: “Don’t talk nonsense, I…I-”

“Actually, the reason why we joined the mercenary army and served the little Cyrus was to survive.” Hieronymus, who used to be the leader of another mercenary army, spoke in time to resolve Agarcia’s embarrassment. “Actually, even Cyrus the Younger allowed us to plunder Asia Minor many times in order to solve the tension of military expenditures. The reason why we were not allowed to plunder Mesopotamia may be that he thought that after he took the throne, Mesopotamia was not allowed to be plundered. Potamia will be the core area under his rule, so the people here cannot be allowed to hold grudges against him.”

Alexis sighed: “Asia Minor is part of the Persian land, but whether it is Cyrus the Younger, or the Artaxerxes did not cherish that vast land. Instead, he regarded the people there as aliens and asked for anything. How could the people of Asia Minor not rebel! How could the people in other parts of Persia be truly loyal to Persia!”

“We should be grateful The Persians do this because they do not regard other races as their own, so we have the opportunity to invade this vast country and finally defeat this powerful enemy!” Matonis pointed to the soldiers of the First Legion who were crossing the river, Proudly said: “These little guys are luckier than us, we were just tools in the hands of the Persians, and died in this strange land in a senseless fight for the Persian royal family, and although they repeated our march in the past They are fighting for themselves and the kingdom, and they will create a great victory that has never been seen before!”

“That’s great, Matonis.” Amyntas leaned back against the couch of the carriage, with a slight sarcasm in his emotion. He said: “Although you were not in the team I commanded back then, I had heard of you at that time, a strong and brave recruit with a rude temper that made the team officers a headache… No one would have thought of decades. In the past, you actually became a general commanding tens of thousands of soldiers, and your speech was so methodical…”

“Lord Amintas, I also heard of you back then.” Matonis retorted unceremoniously: ” Do you know why I didn’t want to go to the centurion you commanded back then? Because everyone calls you a mad dog under Menon. Although you often lead the team to rush to the front, you don’t have any tactics to speak of. Small… But I’m afraid the mercenaries who followed you and died here would never have imagined that in a few decades, you would become an important minister of a powerful kingdom and a famous general praised by the people.”

Matonis’s harsh words touched the heartstrings of Amintas, he did not refute, but was silent for a moment with a painful expression, and then said in a deep voice: “This time we come to Persia, not only to avenge the king of Persia, to wash away the past. Shame, and more importantly, to find the horrible bones of the comrades back then and bring them home…”

As soon as these words came out, everyone fell into silence, and the atmosphere became a little dignified.

Henipolis, who has been listening to the records and collecting materials for the biography to be written in the future, couldn’t help but asked in a low voice, “My lords, you have said so much just now, can you… simply talk about your majesty back then? ? He should have been a young recruit at that time, right?”

Alexis, Philisius, Thormid and the others seemed to have not heard Henepolis speak, and began to talk to each other as if no one else was there.

Even Amyntas and Epithenes, who usually speak freely, are afraid of being entangled by the annoying Henepolis, so they simply close their eyes and pretend to sleep.

Matonis, who was in the same team as Davos and was very familiar with him back then, even pulled Geogris and left the crowd on the grounds of “urging the soldiers to speed up their march”.

It’s not because of the age that they can’t remember King Davos’s performance here, but they clearly remember: when the mercenaries came to this Euphrates River, the young Davos was caught by this unusually wide river. I was shocked. When I stepped on the pontoon bridge, my legs became weak. Almost the whole process was supported by Matonis to the other side…

If they truthfully told these embarrassing things about Davos back then, it would cause harm to the people of the kingdom today. How big is the impact?

!

What’s more, today, 30 years later, they revisited the old places, looking back on the past, and feeling even more in their hearts: How lucky they are compared to those who died in battle here!

Not only did he escape Shengtian under the siege and interception of the Persian army, but he could also fight back in his lifetime, trampling the once invincible enemy under his feet, UU reading www.sonicmtl.com to wash away the shame!

All of this is because of the person standing in front of him, it is under his leadership that the impossible becomes possible, creating an unprecedented miracle!

At this moment, they were full of gratitude and admiration for Davos.

I don’t know how long it took, Davos turned around and said in high spirits: “Brothers, it’s time for us to cross the river!”

Everyone responded loudly in unison: “Yes, Your Majesty!”

…………………… ……………………………………

Davos crossed the Euphrates River and found that the situation was just as the scout said: the original golden fields were burned to black, and there were ruined villages everywhere. , One of the biggest ruins is the city of Tabosacus, not only the houses in the city were burnt down, but even the city walls were destroyed, which made the legionnaires who wanted to save the hard work of building the camp, infuriated, and they all scolded the Persians for their cowardice. Like a mouse.

Although the surrounding environment has become a bit harsh, Davos still issued an order: the entire army will build a camp near the city of Taposacus.

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