A Startling Success (Part 1)

###GLOSSARY###

Just then, thunderous cheers erupted: "Davos! Davos!! Davos!!!..." The shouts were so synchronized, so loud, they overwhelmed all the clamor and even made the leaders' faces change color.

"Those are Menon's mercenaries!" Timasion said, standing on tiptoe and looking toward the source of the sound.

"Now they should be called Davos's mercenaries!" Hieronymus said enviously.

Davos on the platform broke into a smile. He began to speak: "Warriors of Greece, I am Davos of Thessaly. I am taking Menon's place to become your new leader!"

Once the soldiers on the platform had relayed his words, the men in Davos's camp immediately stood up to applaud and cheer for him, which left the other soldiers exchanging bewildered glances: Have these men all gone mad?!

Some who knew the inside story began showing off their knowledge to those around them: "I hear this young man is a God-Touched One of Hades. Every 'oracle' he receives comes true without fail!"

"I also heard he miraculously saved a dying soldier. That's right! That man standing behind him!"

"And he invented some things that are really useful to us! Like this thing on my leg... uh, these greaves..."

The soldiers passed the word from mouth to mouth. In no time, the looks they gave him were less contemptuous and more curious.

Davos's voice reached their ears again: "Just now, Cheirisophus's speech was very stirring, but it was just too short! It is like when a man and a woman do that thing—the woman is just getting excited, and the man finishes. How miserable must the woman feel!"

The soldiers below the platform were stunned that such vulgar words could spill from the mouth of this still somewhat youthful young man. They froze for a moment, then burst into roars of laughter: "Hahaha..."

Many even took the chance to let out obscene whistles...

"This young man is very amusing!" Many soldiers nodded and smiled.

"Nonsense! This is outrageous!" Timasion looked over at Cheirisophus and cursed repeatedly.

Xenophon was also surprised. The Davos he knew was a young man with unique insights and refined speech; he should not be so crude.

Cheirisophus said nothing. Although Davos was making a joke at his expense, he was not angry. Having lived in military camps until he was thirty, Cheirisophus knew well what soldiers were thinking. He could not tell whether Davos had blundered into this or done it on purpose, but in any case, this lewd joke had already made the soldiers feel close to this overly young leader. And it made Cheirisophus look forward to the rest of the speech.

"When I came up here just now, I saw all of you with your heads down and your spirits low. Some of you even had tears in your eyes. You are afraid! Afraid you won't make it back to Greece! You are scared! Scared the Persians will destroy you!—But think about it carefully. When we were deep in the heart of Persia, with our employer Cyrus the Younger dead, and we didn't know what to do, the Persians, who outnumber us many times over, did not immediately attack us and wipe us out. What did they do?" Davos slowly used questions to pique the soldiers' interest.

"Every one of you here knows very well. The Persians spent their effort negotiating with us, gave us plenty of food, and accompanied us all this long way... They spent so much time, money, and energy just to trick our leaders into walking into their trap and being killed!" Davos spoke slowly, then paused and shouted: "Soldiers, tell me! Who is truly afraid?! Who is scared?!—It is the Persians! They are more afraid than we are! They are terrified of our courage! They dare not fight us face to face! Cowardly, they only dare to use these schemes in secret! They fear us more than they fear their own gods, so much so that they broke the oath they swore before the gods!

Now they have killed our leaders, and while we are in chaos, they still dare not attack us. Instead, they still want us to surrender! Faced with such timid Persians, what is there for you to fear?! Let it be known that we Greeks are a race that fears no threat!—Decades ago, King Darius of Persia led a vast army and conquered every race on this land. When he set his next target of conquest on the still-weak Greek city-states across the strait, soldiers, tell me: Did Greece surrender?!" Davos leaned forward, stretched out his right hand, and asked the soldiers below in a loud voice.

"No," came scattered answers.

"Too quiet—I cannot hear you! Tell me, did Greece surrender?!" Davos raised his voice.

"No!" This time the answer was more unified.

Davos was still not satisfied: "Your voices are as small as the cowardly Persians! Say it one more time: Did Greece surrender?!"

"NO!!!" The soldiers roared. Their emotions were beginning to stir.

"Right! We Greeks did not bend! At Marathon, the Athenians, though outnumbered, won a decisive victory and sent the Persians fleeing in utter defeat. Darius rolled back to his lair and died of illness within a few years. His son Xerxes, seeking revenge, gathered an unprecedented massive army and invaded Greece again. But we Greeks never bow before brute force!

Soldiers, tell me: Where did we strike the Persians hard?"

This time, without Davos's prompting, the soldiers eagerly spoke up: "Salamis!"

"Plataea!"

"Thermopylae!"

...

Davos picked up the thread: "Yes, the Greek people united and defeated the Persians again. That is how Greece became a fertile land of freedom and enjoyed decades of peace and prosperity. Soldiers, can any of you tell me the names of the commanders and soldiers who fought in those battles against the Persians back then?"

"Miltiades!"

"Aeschylus!"

"Phidippides!"

"Leonidas!"

"Themistocles!"

"Aristides!"

"Pausanias!"

One name after another was shouted out by the soldiers, eager to be heard. At first they were names of commanders, then names of soldiers who fought... The Persian Wars had only passed about eighty years, having involved almost the entire Greek world. The mercenaries still remembered them vividly. In fact, many soldiers present were descendants of those who fought, and they couldn't wait to announce their ancestors' names proudly to everyone. Even leaders like Xanthippus, Kleanor, and Hieronymus could not help joining in. The whole assembly began to boil with excitement...

Timasion couldn't help widening his eyes either, realizing he had underestimated this young man.

After a long while, the shouting from all sides finally died down...

Davos continued with passion: "The names you have just uttered—they were written into history by Herodotus, written into your memories! They became heroes of Greece! Their spirits are immortal, like the gods! We grew up hearing their stories, and when we grew up, we took them as our models, longing to achieve earth-shattering feats like they did! Now—soldiers, you have an opportunity, a perfect opportunity to become heroes of Greece just like them and be written into history!" At that, Davos paused again.

The eager soldiers stood up and asked impatiently: "Tell us! What opportunity?!"

"Have you not realized it yet?!" Davos shouted. "Our ancestors defeated the Persians, but it was either on Greek soil or at sea. Never has a Greek army managed to invade the heart of the Persian Empire. And we have already penetrated deep into Persia. As long as we unite, overcome the Persians, surmount all difficulties, and finally return victorious to Greece, then we will make history! Our deeds will be written in books and turned into songs, sung everywhere in Greece. Beautiful girls and adorable children will pester us to tell them of our adventures! Our descendants will be as proud of us as we are today of our ancestors! And more importantly—"

Davos took a deep breath and said excitedly: "Our deeds will inspire future Greeks! Let them know that the Persians look strong but are actually weak inside—they are nothing but a colossus made of mud. A nation is like a man: sometimes strong, sometimes weak. The day will come when Persia and Greece go to war again. Then Greeks will take us as their model and follow the path we once walked to invade Persia. When they triumph and come to the battlefield where we spilled our blood, offering sacrifices and praising us, what will they say?!"

The soldiers listened, utterly captivated.