Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

And the concern that Devers had had about how to get his army across the wide Euphrates River in the face of heavy Persian defenses had disappeared as the Persian army retreated.

Within a few days, the engineering battalion had erected three wooden bridges over the Orontes River in front of the camp, and 150,000 soldiers had crossed the Orontes River in Syria in an orderly fashion, marching straight eastward.

Six days later, the advance guard was approaching Tapsosakus.

The Euphrates, which rises from the mountains of eastern Asia Minor, flows from north to south across the westernmost part of the Mesopotamian Plain and joins several rivers, forming a series of wide lakes, but when it reaches the vicinity of Tapsacus, it turns eastward, causing its surface to narrow abruptly, making it the best river crossing in the upper Euphrates, through which the imperial road from the Persian court to Asia Minor passes, and thus leading to the prosperity of the city of Tapsacus.

When Deionian advance troops arrived on the west bank of the Euphrates, they were surprised to find that the Persian army had not burned the pontoon bridge as they retreated, and that it was so large that it could accommodate ten soldiers side by side at the same time, saving the engineering battalion the trouble of building an additional pontoon bridge.

The next day, Devers followed the commander to the west bank of the Euphrates. He stood at the edge of the pontoon bridge and watched the soldiers, dressed in singlets and wrapped in armor, with a certain longing on their faces as they stepped firmly onto the pontoon bridge and crossed the wide Euphrates River onto the unfamiliar Mesopotamian plains. ......

Riding on his horse, Davos, despite his 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.

The soldiers passing by the bridge were first surprised and then thrilled at the sight, but the long line of soldiers did not allow anyone to stop their progress, and the heavy burden on their shoulders did not allow them to free their hands, so these young soldiers, most of whom were born in Deionia and had grown up with the glory of many victories, gazed with great reverence at the near-by kingdom builder and the author of many military miracles. The kingdom's supreme military commander, excitedly shouted, "His Majesty wins!"

"All hail Your Majesty! ...... All hail Your Majesty! ...... All hail Your Majesty! ...... "At the beginning, the scattered shouts soon converged into a single voice, reverberating on the bridge, and quickly spread to the front and back of the team, the soldiers were informed of the news as if playing a stimulant, forgetting the fatigue of the long journey, and accelerated the pace of progress.... ...

Watching this exciting scene, Epithenius couldn't help but exclaim, "We were here 30 years ago, just like these little guys, hopefully stepping on this pontoon bridge into the rich Mesopotamian plains ahead ......".

"Don't forget, Menon was leading us as the vanguard of an entire army, but the first to enter the Mesopotamian plain!" Amintas, who was half lying on the wagon, took up the story with pride.

He was paralyzed in the lower limbs and unable to walk, so he was to be carried by his servants in a wooden litter, but he was too slow to keep up with the army, so Devers granted him a ride in a small open wagon. He had been in poor health since the army landed in Egypt, due to a lack of acclimatization, but his spirits improved when the army retraced the route taken by young Cyrus on his march to Babylon.

"Amintas, you have the nerve to say that!" Agathe, who used to be part of another mercenary army, said with disdain: "Menon wanted to be a pioneer, to scout the way for the army, but everyone understood that he just wanted to be the first to plunder the Mesopotamian plains, so little Cyrus agreed to his request, and then issued an order to the whole army, forbidding plundering on the Mesopotamian plains. Disappointed?"

"What am I disappointed about-" Amintas was about to retort, when suddenly something occurred to him, and he said deliberately and loudly, "Hieronymus, you just said 'we'! '?! Don't you forget that His Majesty was one of 'us' back then!" He also pointed to Davos, who was standing solemnly in front of him, and said: "Don't talk nonsense, I'm I-".

Hearing this, Agassiz, who had always been unobtrusive among the veterans of the group, was a bit flustered at this point, and eagerly defended himself: "Don't say anything nonsense, I ...... I-"

"In fact, the reason we joined the mercenary army and served Cyrus was to survive." Hieronymus, who was once the leader of another mercenary army, spoke up in time to ease Agatha's embarrassment: "In fact, even Cyrus Jr. allowed us to plunder Asia Minor many times in order to solve the problem of military expenses, but the reason why he did not allow us to plunder Mesopotamia was probably because he thought that Mesopotamia would be the core of his rule after he took the throne. region, and therefore could not allow the people there to harbor resentment against him."

Alexis sighed, "Asia Minor is part of Persia, but neither Cyrus the Lesser nor Artaxerxes cherished that vast land, instead treating the people there as foreigners and taking what they wanted, so how could the people of Asia Minor not rebel! How can the people of other parts of Persia be truly loyal to Persia!"

"We should be grateful to the Persians for doing so, and it is because they do not consider other races as their own that we have the opportunity to invade this vast land and finally defeat this powerful enemy!" We were just tools in the hands of the Persians who died in this strange land in a senseless struggle for power and profit for the Persian royal family, but they are fighting for themselves and for the kingdom, even though they are repeating our march. A great victory like never before!"

"Well said, Martonius." Amintas leaned back against the couch of the wagon and said with a little sarcasm in his emotion: "Although you were not in my command back then, I had heard of you then, a strong and brave but rough-tempered recruit who gave the officers a headache. ...... No one would have thought that decades later you would become the commander of ten thousand. A soldier's general and so well spoken ......"

"Lord Amintas, I also heard of you back then." Martonius rudely scoffed back, "Do you know why I didn't want to go to the hundred you commanded back then? Because everyone called you a mad dog under Menon, who often led his troops to the front, but had little tactics to offer, and suffered many casualties every time ...... But I'm afraid the mercenaries who died with you would never have imagined that decades later you would become a great minister of a powerful kingdom and a famous general celebrated by the people. "

Martonius' harsh words touched Amintas' heart, and instead of retorting, he was painfully silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "We have come to Persia not only to take revenge on the king of Persia and wash away the shame of those years, but also to find the bones of our comrades and bring them home ......".

As soon as this was said, everyone fell silent, and the atmosphere became somewhat tense.

Hernipolis, who had been listening and taking notes to gather information for his future biography, couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Your Excellencies, after all that you have just said, could you ...... briefly tell us about His Majesty at that time? He would have been a young recruit then, right?"

Alexis, Felixius, and Tormid started talking to each other as if they hadn't heard Hernipolis speak, as if no one else had.

Even Amintas and Epithenius, who usually spoke without taboo, were afraid of being pestered by the annoying Hernipolis, and simply closed their eyes and pretended to sleep.

Martonius, who was in the same squad as Davos and knew him very well, even took Giroglis and left the crowd, saying that he wanted to urge the soldiers to march faster.

It was not that they could not remember how King Davos had behaved here, but rather that they remembered clearly: when the mercenaries came to the banks of the Euphrates, the young Davos was so impressed by the unusually wide river that he went weak in the knees when he stepped onto the pontoon bridge, and was helped by Martonius almost the entire way to the other bank. ......

If they had told the truth about these embarrassing events in Davos, how much of an impact would they have had on the people of the kingdom today? What's more, today, 30 years later, they revisit their old haunts and look back on the past with even more emotion: they were so lucky compared to their companions who died in the war. Not only did he escape from the Persian army, but he was able to come back in his lifetime to trample under his feet a once invincible enemy and wash away his shame! All this was possible because of the man standing in front of us, and it was under his leadership that the impossible became possible, creating a miracle like never before!

At this moment, their gratitude and reverence for Davos filled their hearts.

I don't know how long it took, but Davos turned around and said with great spirit, "Guys, it's time to cross the river!"

Everyone responded loudly and in unison: "Yes, Your Majesty!"

........................................................................

Davos crossed the Euphrates and found just what the scouts had said: the golden fields had been burned black and ruined villages were everywhere, the largest of which was the city of Tapsacus, where not only had the houses been burned but the walls had been destroyed, infuriating the legionnaires, who had wanted to save themselves the trouble of making camp, and scolding the Persians for their cowardice.

Even though the surrounding environment became a bit harsh, Devers gave the order that the entire army would build a camp near the city of Tapsacus.