Ling Tong soon arrived at enclosed part of the Persian Camp, having been led here by one of the Theban Hoplite that had switched sides. Alpheus was beside him, whilst the rest of his senior Hoplite were now completing their own looting exercises. Not only had Centurion Phillip and his Theban's scouted the whole camp for the best locations for loot whilst the Siege commenced, they also had the information provided by Thucydides on the outcome of the battle.
"Here General." The Theban Hoplite stated an inner gate was broken open by Alpheus and another Spartan Warrior. In front of him was a wooden palisade wall within the fort, originally it would have been guarded, however the guards were long gone, either fighting against the Greek Alliance or fleeing North with Artabazos, the most senior surviving Persian commander.
Ling Tong walked through the open gate, flanked by his Generals to a small camp laid out with tens of tents or small wooden houses. Hundreds of women of different creed were sat around, fear clear on their faces as they grouped together. Some seemed less afraid than others, relief instead on their faces. The women were mostly clean, their clothes presentable, but little wealth adorned them.
"The captured women from the Persian's journey." Alpheus commented, "Supposedly a couple thousand in total, mainly from the Greek cities to the north of Plataea, or brought from the outer reaches of the Persian Empire. A disgusting practice, the lucky ones taken in to some form of Concubinage. The unlucky ones, well we won't discuss it."
"The victors spoils often lead to the losers suffering, I think if we have learnt anything since joining the Lazarus Kingdom, it is that this is the way, regardless of where we are from." Ling Tong replied in agreement. One of the main goals of growth was bringing in new Civilians, primarily females to even out the numbers of the larger number of male Warriors that spawned on a daily basis. Crassus, Xun Yu and even Shang Yang had explained to all of the Heroes, especially those who had the opportunities, to look for recruitment opportunities of women of a certain age bracket.
"That is the case." Alpheus agreed as he looked around them, "One of them is the Coan Woman that Pausanias supposedly frees."
"There is very little mention of the rest of them in history though." Ling Tong replied, the two talking in hushed tones as more of their small group of men appeared. He then turned to the large group of women himself and introduced himself. "My name is General Tong, I am an ally of the Spartan's and part of the Greek Alliance that has come to free you all."
"The Spartans come!" One Woman shouted in surprise.
"We can finally go home!" Another shouted, some relief on their faces, whilst others didn't show the same relief, knowing that their return home would not be the same, or their homes no longer existed.
"Please follow my men, who will escort you out of the Camp. Those that wish to return home will be free to do so after a few days of recovery of the Greek Alliance. Those that do not have a home, or wish to start fresh, you are welcome to return with myself and my forces to a much better life." Ling Tong explained, keeping his speech short to drop a thought in to their mind, with the intention to let his men continue the sales pitch.
"Can you find me a way home?" One woman asked as she approached, a tanned Greek woman with a slight accent.
"And where would that be?" Ling Tong asked her, as Alpheus directed some of the Helot's that suddenly arrived.
"Cos. I was captured in transit, my ship stolen and my men killed. If you hadn't have come, a certain Persian General had his eyes on me, thankfully I am free from that." She replied, with Ling Tong laughing in his mind that the specific woman he and Alpheus had been discussing had appeared.
"What is your name?" Ling Tong asked politely, knowing he needed to head north soon to support Andrew.
"Chloe." She replied as she looked at the strange features on Ling Tong's face. She noted that all of the men listened to his orders and had decided to try her look in finding a way home through him.
"I do not have a ship, but I will ask if their is a route for you." He replied honestly, before directing her towards the rest of the woman that were slowly being ushered out of the Camp. Whilst many were Greek, their were also Persian women amongst them and he didn't want the highly stressed Greek Alliance coming across them.
"Where to now?" Alpheus asked him as he approached, the sounds of intermittent battle still around them.
"The South and West Gates should be open now, lets head towards the next gold stash and then to the North Gate to support Andrew and Myron." Ling Tong replied as he felt the exhaustion from the day starting to hit him. "Then we shall make camp and rest."
"What of Pausanias?" Alpheus asked with a grin.
"That can be tomorrow Ling Tong's problem, todays Ling Tong just wants the day to end." Ling Tong replied with a laugh.
....
"If another delegation comes to the camp one more time with some demands, I am going to have to get violent." Andrew grumbled across from Ling Tong as they ate some breakfast. After finding their next Gold Cache, they had regrouped with a portion of their forces and headed through the North Gate.
After travelling for a mile or so, they had come across the battlefield where Andrew and the Player Cavalry had ambushed the retreating Persian Column. The Players had taken as much loot as possible, mainly gold, horses or weapons. Andrew however, had mainly taken prisoners. The Players had supported him, with some of the minor Lord Players and with DragonKnight as a representative coming together to split them between the group.
The majority of the Persian's who had made to retreat had retreated, including Artabazos, the surviving Persian Allied Players and the unknown fate of Mardonius. The rear guard however hadn't been lucky, with their Carts, Cavalry and Infantry all being hit in an unexpected smash and grab. The majority of the people had been from Persian Allied states, but Andrew had claimed as many people as he could have by the time Ling Tong had arrived.
"It seems that you have made an impression." Ling Tong replied, as he took a bite of some hard bread that he had been soaking in a porridge mix that had been brought from Riverside.
"No, they just want to take some of my Prisoners or the Women you have liberated." Andrew explained as he also took a bite of his food, his face not showing much enjoyment.
"At least they aren't trying to take the rest of our loot, the Gold and Weapons alone are enough to make most of their mouths water." Ling Tong laughed, with Andrew smiling along.
"They just believe the Persians took it all with them, thankfully some was left behind to appease them." He agreed as a messenger appeared before them. Seeing the messenger made Ling Tong smile, as it was the Helot who had acted as a messenger from Alpheus when they had first arrived at the actual Battleground of Plataea.
"General Pausanias has asked for all Senior Commanders, Junior Commanders and Leaders of Men to gather in Plataea for a discussion on the next steps." The Messenger explained politely, They were currently camped just west of the City of Plataea, throughout their sleepless night, Ling Tong's men had been moving their Captives, Loot and Women who had requested a new chance to the meeting points they had prearranged.
Plataea itself was a relatively small City-State that was aligned with Athens, having responded to the call for support at the Battle of Marathon and every battle against the Persian's ever since. Whilst they didn't provide the number of Warriors in comparison to Athens or Sparta, they still provided as much as they could.
"Ten days of recovery and then a Siege of Thebes." Andrew commented, the Messenger looking at him with wide eyes in surprise. Andrew had mentioned it as a passing comment, as this is what would actually be agreed, however the Messenger took it as Andrew having an extremely high intellect and deducing skills.
"We will be there." Ling Tong replied, dismissing the Messenger, before looking back towards Andrew. "This is when things get risky, we need our camp empty and reduce any risk of loosing our gains."
"I do not know when we will return, the Battle is won and it was the Battle of Plataea, not the Siege of Thebes." Andrew agreed, "It could be in several hours, or maybe they are waiting for Battle of Mycale to end."
"That should have ended on the same day." Ling Tong replied, before thinking for a short second, "But if it hasn't, then that does put more risk on us."
"If we act early, we could be caught and not only fail, but be executed." Andrew laughed, shaking his head in acceptance. "Where as, if we act too late, then there is no point acting at all."
"Then let's head to the meeting, and hope that we make the right decision!" Ling Tong agreed, also laughing slightly in understanding that their next plan was the riskiest of them all.
"Dom better be grateful!" Andrew said to himself as he took a bite of his own hard bread, before spitting it out as he almost cracked a tooth..
"You need to let it soak for longer." Ling Tong laughed.
....
Dom crouched down on the shale beach, south of Mount Mycale. Mount Mycale was tall, grey and as with any mountain, intimidating. A Lush Forest surrounded the Mountain itself, but Dom knew that amongst the Lush Forest was a camp of angry Persians and Players that would want to initiate the most damage to him and the other Players involved, as well as the Greek Alliance as a whole.
Gan Ning lead from the front, with Centurion Meng Ai beside him. Sun Ce brought up the rear guard, with Centurion Octavian and a large number of Legionaries from the two ships. The majority had to stay behind to manage the ships, with both of them now being out to see and one of the Player Transports being their collection point.
Amongst the centre of the forces was Dom, with Centurion Septimius and Actumerus. He was also joined by Pericles, son of Xanthippus and Archidamus, son of Leotychides. He was also joined by a handful of Player Captains. The rest had either joined up the battle with Leotychides or Xanthippus, whilst others were currently looking for other ship related opportunities.
The ship assault on the enemies banked fleet, from the previous night, had seen mixed results. Enough ships had already been set alight or sank before we the Navies arrival, but enough ships had been saved for the other Players to increase their fleets by a respectful margin.
"It's time to move out." Septimius commented as he saw Gan Ning waving towards them a long and windy path, that lay ahead of them. The path could be seen cutting through the dense forest and mountain side, until it came out just above the enemies Camp itself.