The crowd couldn't help but exclaim, "This is amazing! Xenophon was instructed by Hades to come to Persia! And Davers, you have never seen Xenophon, but you know him through the oracle! It's Hades bless us!! The crowd began to recite the hymn of Hades in reverence. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Davers was surprised, but thought it was just a coincidence. He pretended to follow the group after reciting the carol, and then said, "Even with the blessing of Hades, it will take our own efforts to pass the test and return to Greece safely." ”

"Davers isn't very confident that he'll be able to get home?" Xenophon looked at Davers. Xenophon believed in oracles, dreams, and prophecies, and it was precisely because he heard that Davers was Hades' deity that he came to find out, because Hades, he believed that there must be some mysterious connection between him and Davers.

"I'm just an ordinary infantryman, like a frog in a well, who doesn't understand the situation at the top. So it's inevitable to feel confused. Davers said calmly, "You are a close friend of Proxinus and the most outstanding student of Socrates. I hope to tell us what kind of situation we are facing now, so that we can clear up our confusion. ”

Oliver wanted to say something, but was stopped by Davers with a look.

Xenophon said in a nutshell: "I think our return to Greece this time should be relatively smooth!" Why? "Xenophon had a sense of responsibility because he came to Persia under the guidance of the 'gods'. Faced with this possible catastrophe, when everyone was panicking, he thought that this was the reason why the gods had asked him to come. Therefore, in the past few days, he has been in the barracks, running back and forth, helping Proxinus stabilize the morale of the army.

At this time, he looked at the crowd and said patiently: "First, our Greek heavy infantry is strong and the Persian army is weak. In the decades since the Battle of Thermopylae, we Greeks have always had the upper hand in the battle against the Persians. The previous battle with the Persian kings was even more telling, and our brave onslaught led directly to their collapse. It can be seen that the fear of the Persians for the Greek heavy infantry was deep in the blood. Although their cavalry is stronger than ours, but what is the use of that? The cavalry could only reconnoiter and harass them, but they did not dare to fight head-on, which did not help them improve their combat effectiveness. ”

"That's right, cavalrymen are cowards!" Mattonis exclaimed in approval, and Xenophon's face suddenly showed a little embarrassment.

"However, the javelins and bows of the Persian cavalry caused us a lot of trouble." Shiroth reminded.

"But the cavalry, like their infantry, lacks the skill and courage to confront us head-on, and bows and arrows alone cannot shake our courage, and if we decide to retreat, they will not be able to stop us from leaving." Based on his knowledge of the cavalry, Xenophon said with confidence.

"Secondly, I have heard from the Persians that their new king, Artaxerxes, was a mild-mannered and cowardly man from an early age, which is why Cyrus the Younger dared to rebel. I heard that in the area of Susa and Persepolis, a friend of Cyrus the Younger rose up in response, and although Artaxerxes was lucky enough to kill Cyrus the Younger, he would never dare to fight to the death against the powerful us at the risk that the rear had not yet been pacified.

Thirdly, our commander Clearcus is a very capable man. Although I am an Athenian and he is a Spartan, I cannot but admit that during the war between Athens and Sparta he caused a lot of trouble for Athens, after which he defeated the Thracians several times in Quersonis. Proxinus, Menon and other chieftains were also experienced commanders, and they knew the Persians very well after dealing with them all year round. And the commander of the Persians was Artaxerxes, the great king of Persia who had just become king and had never commanded an army, and the general Tisaponis he relied on was even easily defeated by us, and they were no match for several chieftains! ……”

Davers listened intently to what Xeroxyprofen had to say. Through Xenophon, he learned a lot about things he didn't know before. This time he applauded sincerely: "Very wonderful speech! He is an outstanding disciple of Socrates! ”

"Yes! Worthy of the man instructed by Hades! Your words give us all confidence! Shilos said sincerely.

In the face of everyone's praise, Xenophon was calm, convincing ordinary soldiers that it was a common thing for him, and his eyes fell on Davers, as if he wanted to see what was different about the rumored "Divine Favorite" of Hades.

"But there's one more thing you forgot to say." Of course, Davers can't let the other side underestimate him, especially in front of his teammates: "Although Persia is a vast country and a large population, it cannot be effectively governed. Most of the regions were self-governing, they had their own culture and religion, and submission to Persian rule required only two things - paying taxes and serving in the military. The Persians believed only in themselves, so there were few foreign officials in their army and court. The foreigners could not integrate into Persia, so they naturally did not work for him. I think this is one of the reasons why the Persian army collapsed as soon as it met us. ”

Xenophon savored what Davers had said, and recalled what he had seen along the way, and it was very consistent. He was stunned: he was not as well educated as a nineteen-year-old man who could not read a word and knew Persia deeply, and this was not what a "god-favored" was! Xenophon could only comfort himself with this: "You are quite right! This is the ill of the dictatorship of kings! On the contrary, it is the advantage of Greek democracy, and we are fighting for ourselves! ”

What are the advantages of democracy? Davers seemed to see the face of the self-proclaimed "world policeman" in his previous life. He pursed his lips in disdain, but was seen by the attentive Xenophon: "Davers thinks what I said is not right? ”

"Xenophon, what do you think was the most stable and prosperous period in Athens in a hundred years?" Davers decided to use the knowledge of his past life to shock the historical celebrity in front of him and impress him, so that his name could be passed on to the top of the mercenary army through him.

"The period of Pericles' rule." Xenophon replied without hesitation.

"You forgot to mention the reign of Pisistratus." "It was under his rule that Athens took full possession of Attica, prospered the port of Piraeus, and made Athens another powerful city-state in Greece in addition to Sparta!" ”

"But ......" Xenophon did not expect Davos to mention Pisistratus, and the Athenians were proud to live in the most democratic Greek city-state, and almost no one wanted to talk about the dictator. He wanted to refute, but he didn't know how to say it for a while. After all, Xenophon, who was highly educated and knowledgeable, knew that Davers was telling the truth.

Davers seized the opportunity and continued: "You want to say, 'But Athens was stronger under Pericles', right? However, there is a problem with this phrase in itself during the reign of Pericles. How many years was Pericles a general? Thirty years! In 30 years, he has never lost the election, and he has been elected chief general many times! He proposed and formulated all the laws and decisions that were important to Athens, both internally and externally, and this created the Golden Age of Athens! Isn't this ironic for the Athenian democracy, which elected once a year, invented the law of exile for pottery shards, and prevented dictatorship? Could it be that Pisistratus is a dictatorship? Pericles is democracy?! Pericles was only more subtle and milder in his political tactics than Pisistratus.

And what do you think is a superior democracy without Pericles? Athens, which had more financial resources, a stronger navy, and more allies than Sparta, was infighting and fighting with each other, and the people of Athens were often unable to distinguish between the truth and the false, and were easily instigated by politicians. That's why at the most critical moment of the expedition to Sicily, you forced away your most talented general in Athens, Alcibiades; The generals, who had just won a crucial naval battle on the island of Agnosse but were unable to rescue the soldiers who had fallen into the water in time due to strong winds, were easily judged and even executed by the people...... These stupid actions made by Athens were not uncommon in this long war with Sparta! This is what the Athenians considered to be a perfect democracy?! It has exhausted the power it has accumulated over the past hundred years in constant internal friction! ”

The democracy of ancient Athens was a focus of Davers's study at the party school in his previous life, because it was the origin of the modern Western political system, and Davers still remembers it vividly.

Note 1: Western historiography does not have a high evaluation of Xenophon, believing that he is only a superficial taste in the fields of history and philosophy, inferior to Thucydides and Herodotus in the depth of research and understanding of history, and even less than his classmate Plato in terms of philosophical attainments. Moreover, in his writings, he believed in oracles, dreams and prophecies, and often selected historical materials and judged historical facts based on his personal political likes and dislikes, and the wind of exaggeration was very heavy. When I read his writings, I also realized something. However, in any case, he left behind a lot of precious first-hand information, so that we modern people can have a clearer understanding of that era, otherwise there would be no novel I am writing today.

Note 2: This is interesting: after the Battle of Agnosse, among the generals who were judged by the Athenian people was the character I wrote about in my last novel, Perikles the Younger, the only remaining son of Pericles, who was also executed in the end.