"The whole army!" shouted the officers.
The soldiers in the river hurried back and were almost washed away by the current.
"There are many large and round stones at the bottom of the river, which are very slippery and difficult to walk!" The soldiers reported to the leaders after they landed.
"It seems that when there are Persians on the opposite side, it is difficult for us to cross the river from here!" Timasong said helplessly, and the other leaders agreed. They were staring at the opposite bank: the Persians had stopped advancing, close to the river bank, and their queue was about a mile long, and it seemed that there were no less than 20,000 people.
"It's Orontas' troops!" Crianno said in surprise.
Xenophon said with some regret: "It seems that he grabbed ahead of us."
Zantiparis pointed to the opposite bank in amazement and shouted, "Look, he has also recruited a lot of Cardans!"
Cardans? Davos didn't understand this, and turned his head to look at Felixius in confusion.
"The Kardans are a tribe living in Armenia. I heard that they are brave and aggressive, and the Persians like to recruit them as heavy infantry." Felixius explained, pointing to the opposite bank: "Look, that's it!"
Following the direction of his fingers, Davos saw some Cardans in leather helmets, leather robes, shields in one hand and spears in the other standing in the forefront of the Persian army formation.
"Orontas seems to be trying his best to stop us, but unfortunately the Kardans are not our opponents!" Tima Song said unwillingly.
"But with this river, everything is difficult to say." Zantiparis said slightly pessimistically.
"Let the soldiers camp and rest first, and send someone to investigate whether there is a better place to cross the river on foot." Kerisopes said calmly.
The order was conveyed, and the troops retreated to start the tree camp less than a mile from the Kentrit River.
Not long after, Ryders brought back a piece of news: No Persians were found on the bank of the river, but some Duqa people were found spying on them in the mountains and forests not far away. This made the chiefs frown.
"Go and call Izam," said Kerethorpes.
Izam was the son who was sent as a guide by Comoro, the great chief of the Kesokant tribe. As a result, in the 20 days spent with the Greeks, this energetic young man developed a strong curiosity about the distant Greece. Later, the mercenaries took him.
After Izam got the news, he was stunned for a moment, and then he swore that those Duqueyas could never have been sent by the Kesokant tribe. And volunteered to investigate.
With the consent of the chiefs, Ryders took him with him. Half an hour later, he came back and reported that those people were the tribes who had united in the mountains to attack the Greek mercenaries, and he had seen several of them.
After Izam went out, Xenophon heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Let me just say, Comoro worked well with us before, how could he just break up and start hitting on us."
Krianno snorted: "Don't be too gullible with the words of this Duqueya. How do you know that this Comoro's son is not telling a lie?! We have all seen who Comoro is. After the next battle, we have to argue with us about the ownership of the spoils for a long time, not even letting go of a crock pot. Such a greedy person, now that we are going to war with the Persians again, how could he let go of picking up cheap ones good chance!"
"What's more, the covenant has expired now, and there is no restraint on him!" Tima Song interjected.
"His son is in our hands!" Xenophon reminded.
"I heard that he has more than a dozen sons, and it's no big deal to die. And who knows if Comoro has made up his mind and let him do the internal response?!" Crianno retorted.
Davos, who was sitting in the corner, saw something wrong with the atmosphere in the tent. Xenophon was originally an active-minded and energetic person, and recently, as he became familiar with mercenary affairs, his performance became more active. In the eyes of some leaders, he felt that he was too flamboyant, and would find opportunities to beat him from time to time. Davos once persuaded him to be more restrained, and his answer was: "I did nothing wrong, Hades let me come here, not to please someone, but to save these more than ten thousand Greek brothers. life, contribute your own strength!"
Comparatively speaking, the younger Davos is much more stable. After becoming the leader, apart from acting hard when he should, he won respect and prestige for himself. Usually he is very restrained and listens when discussing matters. , because he knows that these leaders have been on the battlefield for many years and have rich experience, which is worth his study and thinking.
"We all know that Comoro is an ambitious and intelligent person, and a clever person knows what to do when. The best thing the Kesokant tribe should do now is to quickly annex and digest the four tribes and let them integrate into the Only in his tribe can he truly become his strength. So as soon as he walked out of the mountains, he broke up with us in a hurry. I don’t think he will provoke us when the internal instability is still there, he knows How powerful is our force, especially since there are many enemies around him." Davers said softly, Xenophon had a good relationship with him, and he would help him out for both public and private.
"So, the Dukya mountain people who came to spy on us are like that kid said, they are from the tribes that we defeated. They don't attack the Xoxokant tribe, but they dare to provoke powerful people. Us." Crianno sneered.
"As you said before, they came to see if there was anything cheap to pick up." Davers replied tactfully.
Kerethorpes spoke: "Whether they are from the Xocant tribe or not, on the plains, as long as we are on guard, we fear no one. Now the important thing is to find a way to cross the river and break through. Orontas' block, enter Armenia. Otherwise, the longer the delay, the greater the difficulty will be."
The leaders were silent.
A day passed without finding anything.
The next day, there was still no good news, but there was a lot of bad news: there were more and more Duqa mountain people in the nearby mountains, and Ryders roughly estimated that there were more than a thousand people. The Persian soldiers on the opposite side also seem to be increasing, and the supplies they feel are rapidly decreasing. The soldiers who go out to collect firewood are also attacked by the Duqya people from time to time...
The severe situation not only made the soldiers feel anxious, but even the leaders began to feel restless. When the leaders were discussing, Serophan suggested that Izam should go back to the tribe and find his father, Comoros, to see if he could help the mercenaries drive out the Duqa.
Being ridiculed by Tima Song, the two sides even quarreled.
… … … … … …
In the early morning of the third day, Xenophon and two young warriors entered the tent arrogantly. It turned out that the two warriors had found a spot where they could easily cross the river.
Hearing this news, the previous conflicts and conflicts of the leaders disappeared, and they all became excited.
Just in order not to attract the attention of the Persians on the other side, Kerisopes changed into an ordinary soldier's attire and walked with the soldiers to the place where the river could be crossed...
After finally waiting for him to come back and seeing the relaxed expression of Kerethorpes, everyone knew that the crossing of the river was over.