Duchians

Cheirisophus and the others immediately focused their gaze on the man in the middle. Compared with the brawny men around him, he is slightly thin, but he is wearing a short-sleeved leather robe with a brighter color of fur to make up for the shortcomings of his figure. In addition, he should also be wearing a yellowish-brown Persian robe inside, which covered the legs of the people of Duchya who like to be exposed.

When his light brown and bright eyes locked on Cheirisophus and the others, he raised his right hand, and heard the old man of Duchya shouting, "The chieftain of the tribe of Duchy, Aksoct, greets the guests from afar!"

The mountain people knocked on the wooden shield with their short axes and said, "Ohhhh…"

The high-pitched beast-like roar made Davos' eardrum uncomfortable. Because the old man was speaking the language of the Duchesne, several mercenary leaders were a bit confused, and Mariji immediately translated it to them in a low voice. Soon, they regained their calm, and even Davos curiously appreciated this primitive way of treating guests.

With the consent of the chieftains, Marigi also shouted in the language of the Duchesse, "Cheirisophus, the prosecutor of Sparta, sends a friendly greeting to the great chieftain of Comoros!" As soon as his voice fell, the 50 silent Spartan warriors behind him roared together, "Hey! Heh!" Accompanied by two roars was a neat row of spears on the ground, the round shield opened and closed, and then silence was restored. Compared with the noise of the other side, the Spartan warriors were low-key and reserved, but gave people an invisible pressure.

The expression of Kangmoro changed slightly, and his gaze was fixed on the 50 soldiers who were as tall and straight as pine trees. In the center of the round shield in each of their hands, there is a large "°" symbol, and he muttered, "Sparta…"

For a hundred years, the reputation of the Spartan warriors has spread throughout the Mediterranean region, and even the people in this remote mountain area have heard of it. He raised his right hand, and the roars of the mountain people gradually stopped, "Welcome! Please sit!" The words that came out of his mouth were Persian.

As the Spartan inspector, Cheirisophus, who often interacted with Persia, naturally understood it. He also replied in Persian, "Please sit down!"

The negotiations officially began…

…

What surprised Davos was that the seemingly barbaric Duchians were quite shrewd in the negotiations, especially Kangmoro. Their request was simply to use the Greek mercenaries as laborers and thugs, and their reason was quite sufficient, 'If our tribe becomes the ally of the Greek mercenaries, we will offend the powerful Persia, and at the same time, we will be isolated and ostracized by the other tribes of Duchya. We must have enough benefits to make the warriors of the whole tribe agree to sign the agreement.'

The ability of the Greek negotiators is not weak either. For Cheirisophus to be sent by Sparta as a liaison with Cyrus the Younger, his diplomatic ability is unquestionable. Davos, as the main person in charge of the high-tech development area of the city in his previous life, had participated in countless business negotiations. In addition, Marigi, a merchant who is familiar with Dukeya.

Before coming, the mercenaries had already discussed the bottom line that they must stick to: The marching route of the Greek mercenaries must be decided by themselves and not be controlled by outsiders. They deliberately showed that they don't care much about the alliance, and when the negotiation was in a stalemate, Cleanor had said several times that it doesn't matter if the alliance doesn't work, the soldiers can just barge in.

In this way, the chieftains of the Sokangte tribe will have a headache. After all, they are the first stumbling block in the way of the mercenaries on their way to Armenia. They obviously have benefits to take, but they have to choose to fight, and they are the Greeks who have defeated Persia. Of course, they can also choose not to fight head-on, and the mercenaries can't do anything to them, but they can't move the stockade, and their houses and supplies might not be able to be saved. More importantly, this will strike the prestige of Kangmoro and increase the coveting of the surrounding tribes to the Sokangte tribe.

After several confrontations, they finally reached an agreement:

First, the Greek mercenaries became allies with the Xauconte tribe of Duchy. Both sides were friendly and did not attack each other.

Second, the Greek mercenaries will decide their own route. The tribes near the route will be attacked by the mercenaries together with the Xaukant tribe. The mercenaries will get 60% of the supplies and wealth, while the Xaukant tribe will get 40%, and the captured enemies will be handled by the Xaukant tribe. Without the consent of the Xaukant tribe, the mercenaries are not allowed to kill and plunder.

Third, during the battle, Cheirisophus and Comoros will coordinate the command, and if there is a disagreement that can't be solved, then the battle will be cancelled. (This was originally emphasized by Cheirisophus because he was afraid that Comoros would take some tactics that are unfavorable to the mercenaries in order to protect the interests of the tribe. In fact, this was not implemented until the end, because after tasting the sweetness, Comorisophus was afraid that the mercenaries would cancel their attack plan, so once the mercenaries have any objection, he will take the initiative to consult Cheirisophus to solve it.)

Fourth, if the tribe of Xauconte has a special target that they need to attack, and it is not near the route of the mercenaries, they can hire the Greeks to attack, but they need to discuss it with the leaders and get the consent of the mercenaries. (This is mainly the request of Camelot, while Cheirisophus, Davos,

After their discussion, they thought that if the cooperation between the two sides goes smoothly, then as long as the target of the attack is close, the mercenaries can accept the employment. After all, after Cyrus the Younger died in battle, the soldiers no longer have a salary to pay.

The last procedure of the alliance agreement was to offer sacrifices. Cheirisophus was already prepared for this, so he ordered the slaughter of the three white lambs that he had brought, and put fresh blood on the stump, and the Xauconte tribe also slaughtered a deer.

Then the two sides inserted wooden strips around the stump and lit the fire, and then the two sides read aloud the agreement written on the two animal skins in Persian. There were no priests among the mercenaries, so Cheirisophus had to do it on their behalf. On the other hand, there was the strange-looking wizard on the side of Duchya.

When the sacrifice was completed and the two sides began to discuss their next move, a mountain wind came and swept up the fallen leaves on the ground and blew out the torches around the stump. Everyone's expression changed. The Greeks, including the silent Spartan warriors, respectfully shouted the name of "Zeus", while the Duchesians knelt down one after another and worshiped the mountain god that they worshipped. Obviously, everyone thought that the god had appeared and recognized the alliance.

Therefore, the attitude of both sides became much more positive. Comoros even sent one of his sons to the mercenaries as a guide.

…

Twenty days later, the mercenaries left the mountains of Duchya and entered the plain.

In the past 20 days, the mercenaries had cooperated with the Xaukant tribe to break through the four villages and defeat a joint attack of the Duchesne tribe. There were a lot of casualties in the battle, but they had captured a lot of supplies and managed to maintain it during the long march in the mountains. The gains of the Xaukant tribe were even greater, and most of the captured mountain people, except for the stubborn ones, were forced to join the Xaukant tribe. They didn't know how much the population of the Xaukant tribe had expanded, but it was obvious that Kangmoro was satisfied, and it could be seen from the fact that he had sincerely given Cheirisophus a good white wolf skin when they parted.

One afternoon after the mercenaries marched on the plain for a few days, they found some villages. Therefore, the mercenaries happily stopped their advance and began to drive away the villagers, plunder the supplies, and camp in the village. They could finally have a good sleep and no longer have to worry about the bite of snakes and insects.

The next morning, the mercenaries marched to the river Centrites. It is the river at the border between Asia and Duchya, which is about 60 meters wide.

The troops followed the guide to the place with a pontoon bridge and found that it had been burned.

The leaders looked at the burn marks on the bridge stump on the shore and their hearts sank, 'The Persians are nearby!'

Cheirisophus immediately ordered the cavalry unit of Ledes to scout the surrounding area (after entering the mountain area, the cavalry unit had lost a lot of horses, and there were only five or six intact horses left). At the same time, he asked the soldiers to go down the river to explore the depth.

After receiving the order, several soldiers who are good at swimming took off their armor and walked into the river. When they almost reached the center of the river, the river had reached their chest.

At this time, someone shouted, "Persians!"

There was immediately a commotion in the troops. On a hill on the other side, a lot of Persian cavalry appeared, and on the plain under the hill, the Persian infantry formed a battle formation, raising a dust cloud and marching towards the river bank…