章 52: Crossing the River (I)
"Everyone, get into formation!" The officers shouted.
The soldiers in the river hurriedly retreated and were almost washed away by the water.
"There are a lot of large and round stones at the bottom of the river, and they are very slippery and hard to walk!" After the soldier went ashore, he reported to the leaders.
"It seems that with the Persians on the other side, it will be very difficult for us to cross the river from here!" Timasion said helplessly, and the other leaders agreed. They stared at the other side. The Persians had stopped moving forward and were close to the river bank. Their formation is more than a mile long and it seems that they have no less than 20,000 people.
"It's the troops of Orontes!" said Cleanor in surprise.
Xenophon said with some regret, "It seems that he got ahead of us."
Xanticles pointed to the other side in surprise and exclaimed, "Look, he has also recruited many Cardans!"
Cardan? Davos didn't know about it, so he turned to look at Philesius with doubt.
"The Cardans are a tribe that lives in Armenia. I heard that they are brave and fierce, and the Persians like to recruit them as infantry." Philesius explained while pointing to the other side, "Look, that is!"
Following the direction of his finger, Davos saw that in the middle of the Persian formation, there were some Cardans wearing leather helmets, leather robes, long shields in one hand and spears in the other.
"It seems that Orontes is trying to stop us, but unfortunately, the Cardans are not our opponent!" Timasion said unwillingly.
"But with this river, it's hard to say." Xanticles said pessimistically.
"Have the soldiers camp and rest first, then send someone to check if there is a better place to cross the river on foot." Cheirisophus said calmly.
The order was passed down, and the troops retreated to a place less than a mile away from the river Kentrit and began to camp.
Not long after, Ledes brought back a piece of news: They did not find the whereabouts of the Persians on the river bank, but in the mountain forest not far away, they found some Carduchians spying on them. This made the leaders frown.
"Go and call Izam." said Cheirisophus.
Izam was the son of the great chieftain of the Sokont tribe, Kangmoro, who was sent as a guide. In the end, during the 20 days that he spent with the Greeks, this energetic young man became very curious about the distant Greece, and he didn't want to return to the closed village and wanted to go out and explore. After getting the consent of Kangmoro, the mercenaries accepted him.
When Izam got the news, he was stunned at first, then he swore that the Dukes were definitely not sent by the Sokangte tribe, and volunteered to investigate.
After getting the consent of the leaders, Ledes took him there. Half an hour later, he came back and reported that those people were from the tribes that had united in the mountains to attack the Greek mercenaries, and he had even seen some of them.
After Izam went out, Xenophon breathed a sigh of relief and said, "As I said, Kangmoro had cooperated with us very well before, so how could he start to have ideas about us as soon as they separated?"
Cleanor snorted, "Don't believe the words of this Ducian too easily. How do you know that the son of this Comoros is not lying?! We have all seen what kind of person Comoros is. Every time after a war, he would argue with us about the ownership of the spoils, and not even let go of a jar. Such a greedy man, now that he sees that we are going to war with the Persians again, how can he let go of such a good opportunity to take advantage!"
"What's more, now that the agreement has failed, there is no longer any binding on him!" Timasion interjected.
"His son is in our hands!" Xenophon reminded.
"I heard that he has more than a dozen sons, and it is not a big deal for one of them to die. Besides, who knows if Comoro had already made up his mind to let him be the spy?!" Cleanor retorted.
Davos, who was sitting in the corner, saw that the atmosphere in the tent was not right. Xenophon was an active and energetic man, and recently, as he became more familiar with the affairs of the mercenaries, his performance became more active. In the eyes of some leaders, they felt that he was too ostentatious and would occasionally find opportunities to beat him. Davos had once advised him to restrain himself, and his answer was, "I didn't do anything wrong. Hades let me come here not to please someone, but to contribute my strength to save the lives of more than 10,000 Greek brothers!"
In contrast, the younger Davos was much more stable. After becoming a leader, besides trying his best to perform when he should perform and win respect and prestige for himself, he was usually reserved and listened most of the time when discussing things, because he knew that these leaders had been wandering on the battlefield for many years and were experienced, which was worth learning and thinking about.
"We all know that Kangmoro is an ambitious smart man, and smart people know when to do things. Now, the most important thing for the Kersokant tribe to do is to quickly annex and digest the four tribes, so that they can integrate into his tribe and become his real strength. Therefore, as soon as he walked out of the mountain area, he broke up with us. I don't think that he will provoke us when the internal situation is still unstable. He knows how strong our force is, especially since he has many enemies around him." Davos said gently and carefully. Xenophon has a good relationship with him, and he will help him out whether it is public or private.
"In that case, the people of the mountains who came to spy on us are the people of the tribes that we have defeated, just like what the kid said. They don't attack the Xauconte tribe, but they dare to provoke us." Cleanor mocked.
"Just like what you said before, they are here to see if there are any advantages to pick up." Davos responded.
Cheirisophus then said, "It doesn't matter whether they are from the Xorconte tribe, as long as we are on guard on the plain, we will not be afraid of anyone. What is important now is to find a way to cross the river, break through the obstruction of Orontes and enter Armenia. Otherwise, the longer we delay, the more difficult it will be."
The leaders were silent.
A day passed and there was no discovery.
The next day, there was still no good news, but there was a lot of bad news: There were more people in the nearby mountains, and Ledes roughly estimated that there were more than a thousand people. The Persian soldiers on the opposite side seemed to be increasing, and the number of supplies they felt was decreasing rapidly. The soldiers who went out to collect firewood were also attacked by the Dukes from time to time…
The grim situation not only made the soldiers anxious, but also made the leaders anxious. While the leaders were discussing, Xenophon suggested that Izam should go back to the tribe and find his father, Kangmoro, to see if he could help the mercenaries drive away these merchants.
They were ridiculed by Timasion, and the two sides even quarreled.
…
On the morning of the third day, Xenophon entered the tent with two young warriors, who had found a place to easily cross the river.
Hearing this news, the conflicts between the leaders disappeared, and they became excited.
In order not to attract the attention of the Persians on the other side, Cheirisophus changed into an ordinary soldier's outfit and followed the soldiers to the river crossing…
When he finally came back and saw the relaxed expression of Cheirisophus, everyone knew that the crossing was done.
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