The Eastern Kingdom in My Dreams?

After several days of marching, Davos saw ahead of him a towering city wall more than twenty meters high, stretching endlessly to the southeast…

"Oh! The Medes Wall!! No matter how many times I see it, it still awes me!" Xenophon exclaimed loudly. During these days of marching, he always ran over to Menon's mercenary column to walk alongside Davos. In his words, "Talking with Davos helps stimulate my thinking about knowledge." Davos, on the other hand, figured Xenophon was bored marching in Proxenus's column, since besides Proxenus himself, he had little common ground with anyone else, so he came over to show off his learning to Davos.

"It's said this Medes Wall is over a hundred miles long, built by the former Babylonian kingdom to defend against the Medes of the north. But the Babylonian kingdom was still destroyed by the Medes…" Xenophon gazed up at the high wall and sighed. "The Medes were later wiped out by the Persians. Herodotus gives a brilliant account of it in his *Histories*. Just as men are born, age, fall ill, and die, even the mightiest kingdom meets its end. So don't think Persia's domain is so vast now — who knows which nation will destroy it in the future! I hope I live to see that day!"

Davos, of course, remembered from his previous life that Persia was eventually steamrolled by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great, whom Westerners had revered for over two thousand years. He couldn't recall the exact date — roughly a few decades from now. In his memory, Macedonia wasn't yet a unified kingdom, and what's more, it was his own "enemy."

Staring at this colossal wall built of fired brick coated with asphalt, Davos felt equally overwhelmed with emotion: it seemed building a Great Wall to defend against barbarians wasn't a practice unique to the Chinese people. Back in his original time, China must have been in the Spring and Autumn or Warring States period…

He turned his head and gazed eastward, standing still for a long time. His eyes held an ineffable longing and regret: in this life, he was a Greek, tens of thousands of miles from his homeland, and could never return…

"Davos! Davos!…" Heilos's shout jolted him back. Davos realized his lingering was blocking the column's advance. He quickened his pace but couldn't help saying, "Do you know? Maybe far in the East there's a nation whose territory is even larger than Persia's, whose subjects are more numerous, whose customs are completely different from both Greece and Persia, whose political system is also entirely distinct yet rigorous and efficient! It has splendid clothing, elegant rituals, magnificent mountains and rivers, and delicious, abundant food! Its army is strong, its people wealthy…"

"Davos, you must be dreaming. How could there be such a powerful kingdom in the East?" Xenophon cut off Davos's torrent of words and said earnestly, "According to Herodotus, Persia's east has India, to the southeast Arabia, to the northeast the Scythians and the one-eyed people… There should be no such kingdom as you describe! Is this some revelation from Hades?"

"Then beyond those tribes you mentioned, what lies further east?" Davos asked.

"It should be the Ocean," Xenophon said uncertainly.

"Herodotus says that too, doesn't he? Did he go and confirm it himself?" Davos pressed.

"He… should have recorded it from hearing others speak…" Xenophon began to stammer.

"Since it's just hearsay, it can't be taken as truth. So you can't rule out the existence of such a nation far in the East!" Davos countered.

Xenophon was momentarily speechless. He gave Davos a strange look. "You sound so serious, as if such a country really exists."

Davos chuckled and said nothing.

"If only someday I could go to that distant East and see for myself!" Olivus, standing by, was captivated by Davos's description and suddenly sighed.

"Then you'd have to first cross the Persian kingdom, then the galloping horse-riding tribe of the Massagetae, who, it's said, cut off the head of the great Persian king Cyrus… hmm, then the fearsome one-eyed people, then the mysterious India… If you're lucky enough not to be killed or taken as a slave, you'd get to see whether the far East is the Ocean or indeed a powerful nation…" Xenophon said half-jokingly, half-seriously.

Olivus shrank his neck and said no more.

But Matonis was a bit annoyed. He didn't like Olivus, but he hated this pedantic Athenian even more. "What's there to fear! If I had a strong army, I'd dare to go anywhere, not just the distant East!"

"A strong army?" Xenophon pointed slightly contemptuously at the loose marching column ahead. "Like this one?"

"It would have to be much stronger than this!" Matonis declared loudly.

Davos listened to their bickering and squinted his eyes. A stronger army, huh?

…

Passing through the Medes Wall meant the Greek army had left the region of Babylon. Over the next few days, what constantly appeared in Davos's field of vision were crisscrossed plains, endless golden wheat fields, and man-dug canals… These artificial waterways channeled water from the great river into smaller ditches and channels, finally flowing into the farmland…

Seeing this, Davos couldn't help but feel deeply moved: this must be the oldest irrigation system in the Middle East! The fertile soil and abundant water had nurtured a huge population, creating one brilliant civilization after another in the ancient Two Rivers region!…

Further on, they reached the source of the artificial canals: the Tigris River. Another mother river of the Mesopotamian plain, the Tigris was just as wide. A single glance could barely reach the opposite bank. Countless sails swayed on the river; ships with oars splashing forward were likely merchant vessels, while those drifting slowly with furled sails were fishing boats. The songs of fishermen and the shouts of boatmen rang out across both banks. Above the river, countless water birds called and soared; below, large fish leaped from time to time—a beautiful, peaceful river scene.

Near the bank stood a populous city: Sittace. The Greek mercenaries camped close to this city. Meanwhile, the Persian troops and Ariaeus's forces crossed the bridge and set up camp on the opposite bank. That night, because the Persians were across the river, the psychological pressure on the Greek soldiers lessened considerably. Davos and his comrades got a rare good night's sleep.

But on the second day, the atmosphere suddenly changed. When Davos and the others crossed the river, they saw heavily armed soldiers standing guard at both ends of the bridge. After crossing the pontoon bridge, similar guards were on the other side.

What had happened?

Only when Xenophon came over did Davos learn the reason.

"Last night, a man came from the other bank. He claimed to be Ariaeus's trusted confidant, bringing a message for Clearchus and Proxenus. So the leaders received him. I followed Proxenus into the tent and heard the man say, 'Ariaeus warns Clearchus to be on guard, because the Persian army might attack the Greek mercenaries at night, and they also plan to destroy the pontoon bridge, trapping you between the Tigris and the artificial canal.' The leaders were all a bit nervous, but I—"

Xenophon emphasized with slight self-satisfaction, "After thinking it over, I concluded this information was unreliable!"

"Oh, what was your reasoning?" Davos asked with feigned curiosity.

"Because if the Persians attack us, the outcome is either victory or defeat. If they are defeated and they've also destroyed the bridge, they'll have no escape. If they win, we're already on Persian soil and have nowhere to run anyway; why would they bother destroying a bridge that wasn't easy to build? Clearchus and the others took my advice!" Xenophon said with a touch of pride.

"Hmm, that makes sense!" Davos thought for a moment and praised him.

"Even you can think of that, so Tissaphernes isn't stupid—why would he fabricate such an obvious lie?" Olivus said sarcastically.

"That's because he's really afraid we'll destroy the bridge!" Xenophon shot him a glance, unwilling to argue with such an ill-bred fellow. "These past few days, you've all seen this area has many villages, and the land is fertile, producing plenty of grain—enough to supply our mercenaries for more than half a year. If we destroyed the bridge and stayed put, Tissaphernes' army would be on the other side, unable to cross for a while. So—"