The Persians originally prepared for the defense of the mercenary attack, and then gradually found that the mercenaries ran the route of the mountain peaks next to them, immediately alarmed, realizing that they made a mistake, and then also assembled the team, to the peaks next to the sharp march ...
By this time, Tissaphernes' army was approaching the mountain pass, while the mercenaries were forming up near the pass, with the supply battalion and the wounded concentrated in the rear, close to the ridge occupied by the Persians. If the Persians were to fire their arrows with all their might from the mountain range, they would be able to reach the edge of their formation. But at this moment, these Persians and Xenophon's troops were all rushing towards the top of the mountain from two directions at the same time ...
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"Put up the shield formation!"
"Stone throwers at the ready!"
"Archers ready!"
The chieftains looked grave and shouted orders to their troops. In front of the mercenary formation, the Persians slowly unfolded their array as they approached like a tidal wave ...
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"Quick! Quickly! Hold on brothers, you are in a race for your very survival! An extra push in this moment will make our future marches easier and save us from many troublesome battles!" Xenophon cheered the troops on as he led them up the mountain.
By the time they reached the mountainside, the soldiers were visibly feeling sore muscles, short of breath, and slowing down, but a sense of urgency prompted them not to let up when they saw the Persians on the flanks of the mountaintop doing the same thing.
Although the Persians were closer to the top of the mountain, the side of the mountain they were on was steep, unlike the gentle slopes in the back of the mountain that the mercenaries had traveled.
The Greeks had the last laugh in the "race up the mountain" between the two armies. They reached the top of the mountain ahead of the others and, despite their fatigue, immediately threw javelins and stones at the Persians as they climbed.
The Persians turned and fled, abandoning even their original position, until they reached the foot of the mountain ...
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Tissaphernes' long-range attacks continued, and despite the mounting casualties among his troops, he still would not give the order to retreat, which put the mercenaries under pressure, and just as they were struggling to hold on, scouting cavalry arrived to report that Xenophon had sent a message, and that they had captured the mountain range and driven off the Persians!
"Retreat!" Kerisops sighed in relief.
So the mercenaries began an orderly retreat ...
Persian army steps up to the plate ...
The retreat was only blown when all the mercenaries retreated into the mountain passes and the Persians who were still following up came within striking distance of Xenophon's troops and were met with powerful blows from rocks and javelins falling sharply from the mountain tops ...
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The mercenaries finished the mountain pass and entered a plain. There were a number of villages here, and the mercenaries began to camp, treat the wounded, and replenish their supplies in large quantities, for the guides were saying: the Dukia mountains were just ahead. For this reason, the chiefs held an important meeting.
"We Greeks revolted against Persia, and so did the people of Dukia. According to the guides the Persians once sent a force of about 100,000 men to attack Dukia and were defeated. Since both we and the Duccians have a grudge against Persia, we and the Duccians should be able to be friendly, and since we are only going to Armenia by way of a loan route, we will not violate the Duccians in any way, and as long as we send out emissaries to express to them our desire for peace, I believe that they will surely accept it! ... "Xenophon spoke eloquently, after this period of time, he became more and more confident.
"Be friendly? Easy for you to say!" Timazon scoffed, he was a bit displeased with Xenophon's flamboyance, both Davos and Xenophon were both young and capable, and were too sharp, drawing jealousy and a bit of resentment from some of the older mercenaries such as Criano and Timazon, "An army of tens of thousands of men entering one's own territory and one that has defeated the Persians many times over, would the Duchessian not be nervous? Would not be afraid? I don't believe it! Oh ... you said that you are only passing through Dukia, but in case you attack when you pass through the mountain fortresses and settlements, this cost would be too great, would the Dukia people dare to take this risk? Knowing that the Dukia people are fierce and barbaric, and fear even Persia, which has a vast territory and has it surrounded, how could they agree to our demands from thousands of miles away?!"
Just after Timasong's words were finished, Criano continued, "A few days ago, my soldiers captured a few Persian Dukia slaves, and after inquiring about them, I learned that 'Dukia people' is just a Persian name for the mountain people who live in this mountainous region, and there are actually a lot of tribes in the Dukia mountainous region, different races, and they often fight and kill each other for the benefit of their tribes, and some tribes are even deadly enemies. The problem now is - even if we can get the consent of one tribe, just after crossing a few mountains, we may be attacked by another tribe, and if we have to negotiate tribe by tribe, tribe by tribe, and the time drags on too long, we are going to starve. Keep in mind that the Dukia mountains are a region of barren land and lack of food!"
"It seems that the only way is to go in hard!" Hieronymus, who rarely spoke, said in a strong tone at this moment, "We don't actively violate others after entering Dukia, but if someone dares to violate us, then we have to give him a hard time!"
"When the time comes, we still don't know who will give who a great show!" Zantiparis said helplessly, "The Persians caused us a lot of trouble before by occupying the mountains, and that was just a few mountains! After entering Dukia it's all mountains, and we're mostly heavy infantry with a lot of provisions, making it difficult to march, let alone fight. The Dukia people know the terrain well, and climbing mountains is a skill they've practiced since childhood, while we can only rely on guides. The mountain road is narrow, I'm afraid that our ranks can only be lined up in long lines all the way, the Dukyans can pop up from anywhere and attack us, while we can do nothing to them ..." Zantiparis' words made the crowd fall into silence.
Xenophon took the opportunity to say, "So still negotiating with the Duchess, huh?"
Everyone ignored him and turned their attention to Kerisopus.
Instead, Crisopus looked at Davos, who had been silent in the corner, and asked, "Chief Davos, what do you think?"
Davos smiled slightly and said slowly, "After listening to everyone just now, it actually boils down to two opinions. One is to negotiate with the Duchess, the advantage is safety, the disadvantage is that it takes too much time and the Duchess may disagree; the second is to go in hard, the advantage is to save time, the disadvantage is the high casualties. So why don't we combine these two opinions into one approach?"
Into a way? The crowd looked at each other in disbelief, and Kerisopus was confused.
Next to them, Felicius saw their expressions, and secretly laughed in his heart: in fact, last night, the officers of Davos' barracks discussed this matter, and when Davos said his method, the crowd was shocked at the strangeness of his idea at the same time, but also had to admit that this method has a high likelihood of being realized. Now that he was facing the chiefs, a sense of superiority could not help but rise in his heart.
The crowd unanimously asked, "How does it change?"
"Find a tribe, work with them, and get them to clear the way for us!" Davos spoke out.
The crowd froze.
Xenophon responded first, "Davos, you mean ... let the Duchess fight the Duchess? Is that possible?"
"Profit, anything is possible with profit!" Davos affirmed.
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During the three days that the mercenaries were camped, Persian cavalry appeared on several occasions, attacking individual soldiers who had broken away from their unit, taking captive herds of livestock and attempting to set fire to the village.
The chieftains conferred and concluded that Tissaphernes was doing everything in his power to prevent the mercenaries from entering Dukia, going so far as to burn the Persian king's territory and people. To prevent him from doing something even more heartless, the army had to enter Dukia early.
So early on the morning of the fourth day, the mercenaries broke camp and marched north.
Tissaphernes watched from afar as the long line of Greek mercenaries gradually loomed in the shadow of the mountains ...