Chapter 18: The eastern kingdom of dream

Chapter 18: The eastern kingdom of dream

A few  days later, Davos saw a huge wall in front of him, which was more than 20 meters high, and extending infinitely to the southeast…

“Oh! The Median Wall!! I still feel shocked, no matter how many times I see it!!” Xenophon sighed aloud. During these days of marching, he would often run into the troops of Menon and accompany Davos. In his words ‘Talking with Davos helps stimulate his knowledge by making him think deeply.’ Davos thought that he was bored marching together with the troops of Proxenus, because he had no common language with the others except Proxenus, so he came to show off his knowledge to Davos.

“It was said that this Median wall was more than a hundred miles long, built by the former kingdom of Babylon, in order to defend against the Medes in the north. But the kingdom of Babylon was destroyed by the Media…” Xenophon looked up at the tall walls and sighed, “The Media were later destroyed by the Persians and Herodotus had a wonderful description in his book 《The Histories》. ‘Just as man is born, aged, sick, and die, so is a powerful kingdom.’ Therefore, despite the vast territory of Persia, we still don’t know who will destroy it in the future! I hope that I could see that day in my lifetime!”

Davos certainly remembers that in the past history, Persia was destroyed by Alexander the Great^[1], King of Macedonia, who had been admired by Westerners for more than two thousand years. He couldn’t remember the exact timeline, but it is probably several decades later. In his memory, the current Macedonia wasn’t a unified kingdom, but also his own “enemy”.

Looking at the huge wall made of burnt bricks and bitumen, Davos was equally impressed, It seems that building a Great Wall to defend against the barbarian isn’t exclusively belongs to Huaxia^[2]. Now China should currently still be in the Spring and Autumn period^[3] and the Warring States period^[4]…

He turned to look at the East, standing for a long time, with indescribable attachment and regret in his eyes. He is a Greek in this world and thousands of miles away from his native land, it’s impossible for him to return…

“Davos! Davos!…” Davos returned to his senses after hearing Hielos calling him, he then found out that he had been standing still which affected the progress of the march. He step up his pace and couldn’t help but say, “You know what? Perhaps there is a country in the far east, which governs a much more bigger territory and more people than Persia. Its manners and customs are totally different from Greece and Persia, and its political system is also different from Greece and Persia, which is strict and efficient! It has gorgeous clothes, elegant etiquette, magnificent mountains and rivers and delicious food! It has a strong army and the people are wealthy…”

“Davos, you are dreaming. How can there be such a powerful kingdom in the East?” Xenophon interrupted Davos’ speech and said seriously, “According to Herodotus’ record, India is to the east of Persia, Arabia is to the southeast, and the Scythians^[5] and the Arimaspi^[6] are to the northeast… There shouldn’t be such a kingdom that you had said! Is this a revelation that Hades has given you?”

“So what is beyond the east of the races you had just mentioned?” Davos asked.

“It should be the ocean.” Xenophon uncertainly said.

“This is what Herodotus said. Did he personally confirmed it?” Davos asked again.

“He…it should be what he had heard from other people’s recount…and took note of it.” Xenophon began to stutter.

“Since he had just heard of it, then we can’t be sure that it is true, nor can we deny that there is no such country in the distant East!” Davos retorted.

Xenophon was unable to respond for a moment, and strangely looked at Davos, “Looking at how serious you react, it seems that there really is such a country.”

Davos smiled and said nothing.

“How wonderful it would be if one day I can go to the distant east to have a look!” Olivos, was attracted by the scene described by Davos, and he suddenly said it with a sigh.

“Then you have to go through the Persian kingdom first and then there are the Massagetaens^[7], who come and go like the wind, and was said to have cut off the head of the Persian king, Cyrus the Great…well, there are also the terrible Arimaspi and the mysterious India…if you are lucky enough to not be killed or be captured as a slave, then you can see whether the distant East is an ocean or a powerful country…” Xenophon said half jokingly and half serious.

Olivos shrank his neck and didn’t speak anymore.

Matonis was a little annoyed, although he didn’t like Olivos, he even more hated the knowledgeable Athenian, “What are you afraid of? If I have a strong army, not to mention going to the distant east, I would dare go anywhere!”

“Strong army?” Xenophon disdainfully pointed his finger to the loose marching formation ahead, “Like this one?”

“Of course a much more powerful than this one!” Matonis said loudly.

Davos listened to their bickering and narrowed his gaze, ‘A stronger army?’

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

Passing through the Median wall meant that the Greek troops has left Babylon. In the next few days, what always appeared in Davos’ sight was, Vast plain, endless golden wheat fields, and rivers that was dug by man… These man-made rivers divert the water from the large rivers into a lot of small canals and ditches and eventually into farmland…

Davos couldn’t help but sigh after seeing this, ‘This should be the oldest irrigation project in the Middle East! A fertile land and an abundant water that have nurtured a large number of people and created a brilliant ancient civilizations of the two rivers one after another!…’

Further on, the source of those man-made river, the Tigris River. As one of the other mother river in the plains of Mesopotamia, the Tigris river was equally wide and at first glance, it seems to be difficult to reach the opposite side. There were countless sails moving over the river, merchant ships were the ones who move fast with their oars, while the fishing boats sails slowly along the river. The singing of the fishermen and the shouting of the sailors were heard across the river. Numerous aquatic birds were chirping and flying over the river, and there were large fishes leaping in the water from time to time, a beautiful and tranquil view of the river.

Near the river bank there is a large and densely populated city, Sittace, the Greek mercenaries approached the city and set up camp. The Persian army and Ariaeus troops crossed the bridge and camped across the river. That night, Davos and the rest finally manage to have a good sleep, because the Persian army was on the other side, and the psychological pressure on the Greek soldiers was much lesser.

On the second day, the atmosphere suddenly changed slightly. When Davos crossed the river, they saw armed soldiers on both sides of the bridge and there were also vigilant soldiers on the other side after crossing over the pontoon bridge.

What happened?

It wasn’t until Xenophon came that Davos understood why.

“Last night, a man came from the other side and said that he was a confidant of Ariaeus, he had brought a message to Clearchus and Proxenus. Therefore, the several leaders met him, I followed Proxenus in the main tent and listed to what the man had to say, ‘Ariaeus warned Clearchus to be vigilant because the Persian troops might attack the Greek mercenaries at night and they also intend to destroy the pontoon bridge and trap all of you between the Tigris river and the man-made waterway.’ the several leaders and I became nervous—”

Xenophon said with a slightly irritated tone, “After thinking about it, I think that this news is unreliable!”

“Oh, what did you think?” Davos curiously asked.

“Because if the Persians attack us, whether it is victory or failure. If they are defeated and destroyed, there is nowhere for them to escape. If they win, we are on Persian land, there is no place to run at all and so why bother to destroy a bridge that is not easy to build. Therefore, Clearchus listened to my advice!” Xenophon proudly said.

“Well, it makes sense!” Davos thought about it and praised him.

“Since even you can think of it, Tissaphernes certainly is not a fool, so why did he need to make up such a lie?” Olivos sarcastically said.

“That’s because he is really afraid of us destroying the bridge!” Xenophon glanced at him, not wanting to argue with this uneducated fellow, “As you can see these days, there are many villages in this area, and the land is fertile, producing a large amount of food, enough to support our mercenaries for half a year and if we destroy the bridge, they can’t come for a while since Tissaphernes’ troops is on the other side, so—“

[1] Alexander the Great was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and conquered the Achaemenid empire.

[2] Huaxia – old name of China.

[3] Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 771 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC).

[4] Warring States period was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation.

[5] Scythians were Eurasian nomads and the “classical Scythians” known to ancient Greek historians, agreed to be mainly Iranian in origin, and were located in the northern Black Sea and fore-Caucasus region.

[6] Arimaspi were a legendary tribe of one-eyed people of northern Scythia who lived in the foothills of the Riphean Mountains, variously identified with the Ural Mountains or the Carpathians.

[7] Massagetaens were an ancient Eastern Iranian nomadic tribal confederation, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia, north-east of the Caspian Sea in modern Turkmenistan, western Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan.