Military Conference

Mesis leaned in and said in a low voice, "Davos, regarding that Persian family you sent to the baggage camp last time, I've taken very good care of them, just as you requested!"

"Is that so?" Davos looked at him with a half-smile. "How should I thank you?"

"You are the leader; this is my duty after all." Mesis smiled awkwardly, then leaned in closer and said even more quietly, "Also, Menon still has nearly two talents of silver stored in the baggage camp..."

Two talents were equivalent to sixty-five kilograms of silver—a huge sum. Menon indeed knew how to make money. But for Davos, who had only recently been reborn, he didn't yet have a deep grasp of Greek currency, so he didn't appear very surprised. He thought seriously for a moment and said, "Does Menon have any immediate family?"

Mesis had been watching Davos closely. Seeing no trace of irregularity in his expression and hearing this question, he immediately understood Davos's intention and gained even more respect for him. He hastened to reply, "No."

"Did he leave a will?"

"No. He never imagined he would die so young."

Davos pondered for a moment, then said with a sigh, "Menon founded this camp and put a lot of effort into it. Let's use this money for the development of our camp."

"Davos, you are truly just and selfless!" Mesis exclaimed loudly in flattery, then rubbed his hands together and cautiously asked, "You counted the number of people so quickly just now—did Hades give you some kind of inspiration?"

Davos had long sensed that Mesis had something on his mind, but he didn't expect it to be this. "Of course!"

"Can you teach me?" Mesis begged with a pleading expression.

Davos was surprised that this fat man, despite his age, still had such a strong thirst for knowledge, and couldn't help but feel a bit of admiration. "Of course, no problem."

"Great! Davos, you are the best leader!" Mesis couldn't help but hug Davos. Davos stiffened—the ancient Greek tradition of homosexuality made him wary of excessive physical contact, but he quickly realized he was overthinking. Mesis was just expressing his gratitude. Without a doubt, this fat man had become a steadfast supporter.

…

After everything was arranged, it was already past noon. Davos thought he would be late, but when he and Philistos arrived at the mercenaries' command tent, they found only Cheirisophus and Timasion inside.

Cheirisophus saw two men enter, one of whom was the young man he had seen earlier at the assembly. His brow immediately furrowed, and he said in a grave tone, "You are from Menon's mercenary company. Who has your camp elected as your leader?" As he spoke, his gaze naturally fell on Philistos.

Before Davos could speak, Philistos stepped aside, gestured with his left hand toward Davos, and said solemnly, "All our soldiers have unanimously elected Davos as the new leader of our camp!"

Cheirisophus and Timasion stared wide-eyed, their faces full of shock. After a long moment, they exchanged glances, and then Timasion loudly protested, "We are about to go to war with the Persians! Everyone must give their all. Your camp elects a child who hasn't even grown up—are you trying to hold us back? Do you know that war means death? Many people will die!!"

Timasion's last remark was directed at Davos, clearly intended to intimidate.

Davos faced Timasion's somewhat ferocious expression and responded without backing down: "When the fighting starts, we'll see who holds whom back! Fighting the Persians requires more than brute force! Back when I went to stop Clearchus and Menon, where were you? If they had listened to my advice, we wouldn't be in such a terrible situation today!"

"I certainly also... tried to stop them..." Timasion had been feeling guilty about Clearchus's capture, so he was drawn into Davos's topic and answered weakly.

"Everyone in our camp believes Davos is the best choice for leader, and no one objected! They have also entrusted me to serve as adjutant to assist Leader Davos in managing military affairs." Philistos emphasized loudly again. As an old mercenary, he knew what Cheirisophus and Timasion were worried about and trying to do.

Cheirisophus looked at Philistos again. "And this is?"

"Philistos, Menon's adjutant, the actual manager of his camp..." Timasion said in a strange tone beside Cheirisophus.

"Oh..." Cheirisophus wore an expression of understanding. Davos could guess what they were thinking, but he didn't want to argue—time would prove everything.

"The other camps are still in heated elections, but you lot elected quickly." Cheirisophus finally stood up and said with mild mockery.

Davos immediately retorted, "At this critical juncture, it's better to have the whole army unified in thought than to have everyone go their own way!"

Cheirisophus was taken aback: he didn't know about this young new leader's other abilities, but at least his eloquence was not weak. He reluctantly bowed and said, "Welcome."

Davos returned the gesture. "I'm glad to fight alongside you!"

For a moment, the tent was silent.

More than ten minutes later, Zantiparis entered. He had replaced Socrates as the new leader.

Next, Cleanor replaced Achilles as the new leader.

Finally, Hieronymus entered. He had ousted Agasias and replaced Proxenus as the new leader. Accompanying him was Davos's acquaintance Xenophon, who became Hieronymus's adjutant.

Everyone expressed surprise at Davos's age, but fortunately it was already afternoon and time was pressing.

Once everyone was assembled, Cheirisophus immediately said, "Gentlemen, let us first decide on the retreat route back to Greece. My opinion is to follow the original route: march north along the Tigris River, enter Armenia, reach the Euxine Sea, and then sail back to Ionia..."

"This is the route that Tissaphernes arranged for us—it was always a trap! I've heard that there are many barbarian tribes in the north that even the Persians find troublesome. That's a huge threat to us!" Zantiparis objected.

"Then what do you suggest? Go west?! Not to mention the longer distance, the more important point is that we are now at war with Persia. Every extra day we spend on Persian land increases the danger—the Persians can gather more soldiers to besiege us at any time! Since the north gives the Persians headaches, it precisely shows that their control over the north is not strong. That is our opportunity! Those barbarians have no enmity with us, and besides, we have a common enemy—Persia!" Timasion spoke confidently, clearly having discussed this with Cheirisophus beforehand.

So we are still going north after all! Davos saw that Zantiparis, like the others, showed an expression of agreement.

"Let's vote. Those in favor of going north, raise your hands!" Cheirisophus said.

Everyone passed unanimously.

Cheirisophus continued, "In order to concentrate our soldiers to fight the Persians and prevent being struck due to scattered forces, I suggest merging smaller mercenary camps like those of Sosis, Pasion, and others into our own. Of course, this depends on both sides voluntarily merging."

"If we merge, how will the grain rations be distributed? How will the property each side collected previously be allocated?" Hieronymus asked seriously.

"It's already been said that it's voluntary on both sides. If they are willing to join your camp, you can discuss it privately," Timasion said somewhat impatiently.

Annex other small camps? Davos was somewhat tempted—after all, the more troops there were, the greater the camp's chance of survival in battle.

"Since we all agree, we will announce this at the general assembly. Additionally, a more important issue: in a state where we could be attacked by Persians at any time, what marching formation should we adopt to ensure our safety as much as possible?" Cheirisophus looked around at everyone, and without waiting for an answer, he took out a wooden stick and drew on the ground. "My suggestion is to advance in a large hollow square formation: two companies as the vanguard to lead the whole army, one company each on the left and right to protect the flanks, and two companies as the rearguard, with our baggage train and non-combatants in the middle... What do you all think?"