Davers was listening attentively and being happy about it, when he suddenly saw Marigi kneeling down with a "plop" and said with a guilty face: "Your Majesty...... Actually I'm a Babylonian, just to make myself ...... It seems noble, so I have always called myself a Persian, and then I want to confess, and I feel that if I let the people of the kingdom know that I have lied, it will damage the majesty of the Ministry of Commerce and the implementation of the decree, so I ...... Please forgive me, Your Majesty, for the sins I have long concealed! ”

Davers laughed, stretched out his hand to pull him up, and said aloud: "You're not a Persian, that's great!" I was also worried that defeating Persia and letting Persia lose too badly would cause you some damage, but now I'm relieved! After a decisive battle with the Persian army, I will appoint you as an emissary of Dionya to persuade your people to submit to the kingdom and share in the fruits of victory! ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Mariji bowed deeply to Davers with a delighted face.

………………………………………………………………

The next day, King Davos convened a military council, which not only required the generals above the commander of the legion to attend, but also invited Alexis, Phellisius, Tormid, Amintas, Epitenis and other retired veteran mercenaries to attend the meeting, and after listening to Izzam's detailed report to the Persian army, they discussed whether to change the current defensive posture and attack the Persian army instead. 、

At about the same time, the Persian king Artaxerxes also convened a military council in the city of Taposaku, and although his army outnumbered Dionia, only a few people attended: the Persian king's confidant Tribasus, the governor of Susa, Halpergues, the general of the army from Persepolis (both of whom were descendants of the six allies of Darius, the great king of Persia, who had rebuilt Persia, and were of a very honorable position), and the governor of Armenia, Ojontas, who was also the son-in-law of the king of Persia, and Tirtheus, a young general who commanded the undead army, were also of noble status, and he was born into the royal family of Achaemenids, although he was already a distant branch, but married a daughter of Artaxerxes, and was close to the king of Persia.

The last one was the Royal Secret Chief, Maktonos, who was now loudly telling information about the Dionian army: "...... From the turmoil in Egypt last September, when the Dionian army landed in Egypt, to the arrival of the Ionian king in Egypt in January of this year, and then their invasion of Canaan, the capture of Phoenicia, and the occupation of Syria, we can detect the so-called 'Dionian legions' in the ...... 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th (Po region, predominantly Gaul), 21st Legion (Aphilica region, predominantly Phoenicians and Numibians)...... Based on the fixed combat strength of 8,000 men for each regiment in Dionia, this is a total of 144,000 men.

In addition, the banners of five Ionian cavalry regiments with more than 10,000 people appeared in the Ionian army...... The total number of this army, led by the king of Dionya himself, exceeded 150,000 men, which is consistent with the judgment of our spies who had observed the Dionian army for a long time in Syria...... "Maktonos spoke eloquently, knowing the situation of the Dionian army very well, and he was able to obtain such accurate information thanks to the department he was in charge of, the Persian royal spy agency.

Cyrus founded Persia, but Darius made Persia a real empire by perfecting the Persian political system, establishing a complete administrative bureaucratic hierarchy, reforming the Persian fiscal and monetary system, and establishing the Ahoras. Mazda was the leader of the people's faith, and he also built a vast road system within the country, which made it easier to travel between the central and regional regions...... Of course, Persia has such a vast territory, and even some regions are still autonomous, in order to rule its subjects more effectively and prevent the recurrence of the great rebellion of the Cambyses period, it is necessary to have a more detailed and accurate grasp of the situation of local officials and people, so as to be able to respond in time, so Darius established a royal secret service dedicated to the king, which was more than 100 years earlier than the intelligence department of the Kingdom of Dionia.

Although more than 100 years later, this intelligence agency became bloated and inefficient, but it was still the most trusted eyes and ears of the Persian king, monitoring not only the movements of his subjects at home, but also the situation in neighboring regions such as Egypt and Greece, so that the presence of the Dionian army in Egypt and Asia Minor was immediately the target of his attention. After such a long period of time, and in the territory of his own country, with the ability of the Royal Secret Agency, he was naturally able to understand the situation of the Dionian army more clearly.

"The Dionian army is only 150,000 men, and our army is twice as large as it, and with such a huge advantage, I don't understand why we don't take the initiative to attack the Dionians, but instead cower timidly in Taposacus!" Mardonios said loudly, his tone was obviously dissatisfied with Artaxerxes, but he had no scruples, not only because his ancestor Gobrias was the closest of the six conspirators of Darius who usurped the Persian throne, his family had always been trusted by the royal family, and he was the first Persian nobleman to support Artaxerxes in the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger, and then helped the Persian king to gain the support of the native Persian nobles and survive the crisis when he first ascended the throne, It also made him trusted by Artaxerxes, who commanded him to defend the true capital of Persia, Susa.

Artaxerxes was a little embarrassed in the face of Maldonhos's accusations. Although he expressed his contempt for Dionia, the "barbarian country", in many public occasions, in fact, the Persian king has reigned for so many years, and his military performance has almost become a joke among the Persian nobles, and the only thing he can do is that when he first ascended the throne, he put down the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger, who was quite prestigious among the Persian nobles, but in fact, he knew very well in his heart that in that decisive battle, he led more troops than the other side, but he was at a disadvantage in the battle, if it wasn't for the stupidity of Cyrus the Younger, he personally led the troops to charge, As a result, I die in battle, and I am afraid that the ending will be completely different.

Therefore, when the Dionian kingdom in the western Mediterranean, which was full of aggression and almost never suffered defeat, launched an attack on Persia, he was a little weak-hearted, so he stayed in Babylon for most of the year, sitting back and watching Canaan and Phoenicia be conquered one after another, and only when the armies in various regions were gathered together and he had enough confidence before he dared to start acting. But when he was about to face the Dionian army, he couldn't help but feel a little panicked, and the experience of repeated defeats in the past came to his eyes, so he didn't dare to make a rash decision.

As the most honorable king of kings, Artaxerxes certainly did not show his timidity in front of his minister, and he glanced at Tribasus next to him.

Trebasus immediately understood, and said, "The king has long wanted to attack the Dionian army, but I have been dissuaded by me. Lord Mardonios, although our army is huge, you should have a lot of experience in the battle fighting after staying here for so long. The natives and barbarians, who made up more than half of the army, looked fierce, but they could only rush and fight blindly, and they did not know how to arrange formations, did not know how to obey orders, and did not know how to cooperate with our Persian army, and they would only become a burden to us in such a state of attack.

So we need to spend some time training them and get them to be our help as soon as possible. Lord Maldonios, you have also commanded several such trainings, and you should have sensed their progress, and I believe that it will not be long before they will be able to cooperate with our army and launch an effective attack on the Dionian army. ”

Mardonhos snorted, unable to think of a rebuttal for a moment.

Halpergues sneered and interjected first: "It is said that Lord Tribasus is very wise, and I think it is nothing more than that!" We're wasting our time here, just so that the barbarians can be a little more obedient. But don't forget, the allied Greek forces in Asia Minor are coming here, and once they join up with the Ionian army in Syria, the strength of the Ionian army will inevitably increase greatly, and it will not be so easy to defeat them, so we must not waste any more time, we must defeat this Ionian army in front of us as soon as possible! ”

"Fanabazos is doing his best to hold back the advance of the Greek coalition with good results, and according to the information we have now, the Greek coalition has not yet entered the Silesian region, so we still have enough time to deal with the Dionian army in the Syrian region."

Hearing Tribasus mention Fanabazos, Artaxerxes frowned unconsciously: in fact, through the intelligence of the secret agent, he already knew the true situation of the battle in western Asia Minor, although he was angry at Fanabazos's lying about the military situation, he did not punish Fanabazos, and even gave him more support, because he knew very well that in such a bad situation in Asia Minor, only Fanabazos could support the overall situation, and the scapegoat of Iason only allowed both sides to have a step down. Of course, he will clean up the crime of deception of Nabazos after the war.

At the same time, it was precisely because he knew that Fanabazos's claim that "the Greek mercenaries led by Iason had defected to the enemy" was a lie, so he vetoed the proposal of some Persian officials, and did not get angry with the Greek soldiers he hired, but also won the gratitude of these Greek mercenaries.