"Lord Governor, are you really letting the Greeks go just like that?" The adjutant at the side asked reluctantly.
"Spare?!" Tissaphernes glared at him fiercely, "This is the Great King's order, and I've followed his will and succeeded in driving the Greek barbarians into Dukia! Do you think they will be better off next?!"
Tissaphernes pointed his finger at the vast mountains in front of him and said fiercely, ''The steep and narrow mountain paths, the snake and insect infested mountain forests, and the ferocious Dukia mountain people will devour their courage! Even if they barely make it past Dukia, there is still Ojontas' army waiting for them ahead! Even if Ojontas can't stop them, they'll still meet the Calybians, the Caldans, the Macronians ... Let these barbarians fight each other! I'll see how many Greek barbarians can return to Greece in the end?"
He sneered and added, "We don't have to spend all our time and energy here, there are important things to do in Asia Minor. Withdraw the army! Go back!" He shouted dryly, then pivoted his horse back, unintentionally witnessing the expressionless face of Arielus not far away, and froze slightly, subconsciously turning back to look out over the rolling hills once again: it turned out that capturing the leader of the Greek mercenaries was already a great achievement. With everything going well, he had a new idea, which resulted in the deaths of Mithradates and Artaozus, and the casualties of the soldiers amounted to more than 10,000 people, making his own merits greatly reduced. Next, I hope that the Greeks will be completely destroyed in the mountains, as I thought, so as to relieve my heart!
But is it really possible?
............... ......
The mercenaries arrived at the edge of the Dukia mountains with the second day and began to camp, the next move would depend on the success of Marij's mission to the Dukia tribe.
Together, Davos and the other chieftains escorted Marigi to the pass, accompanied by a few dozen soldiers led by Xylos, who drove several pack wagons loaded with armor, shields, and spears that the mercenaries had stripped from the dead Persian soldiers, weaponry that the Dukia mountain people lacked, in addition to a dozen or so Dukias, mainly slaves that Davos had had Melsis cut off from Persian villages in the first place.
"Marigold, it's all up to you!" Davos gave him a strong hug, then whispered in his ear, "If things go bad, get out as soon as possible and Xellos will assist you in escaping back. It doesn't matter if we can't negotiate, we can still go in hard, your safety is the main thing."
Marigi froze and looked at the other chiefs behind Davos, then said aloud, ''Don't worry, with these weapons, and those Duchesses, we're already halfway through our negotiations! I've done many deals with the leader of this tribe, Commoro, before, and I still know him relatively well. He has always been very ambitious, trying to do everything he can to make his tribe powerful and monopolize the trade route between the mountains of Armenia, Dukia and Midian, so he has fought with all the surrounding tribes, and I believe that our offer will be very interesting to him!"
"I hope so." Timasong stepped forward and urged in a raw tone, "You'd better hurry, don't forget, we can only wait here for you for one day!"
Marij gave him a look and didn't say another word.
Davos ignored Timazon as well, and instead went forward to give Xillos an even stronger hug. To Xilos, who had strongly requested to go forward and had been persuaded many times to no avail, Davos knew that he had made the right choice, and that only this most capable of beloveds as an entourage would give Marij complete confidence that Davos would not give up on them so easily, no matter what circumstances arose.
Davos kept his gratitude to himself and said to Xellos, "Come back safely, brother!"
Xellos stepped back and gave a solemn military salute.
Davos watched them walk into the mountains until the dense trees completely obscured them ...
"It feels so strange that we've been driven here by the Persians and we have to rely on a Persian to get us out of a dangerous situation." Criano said in a strange tone.
"Don't think so much, Criano. We're all looking forward to this Persian's success now, aren't we?" Zantiparis said lightly.
"Perhaps this is both the arrangement of the gods and goddesses, who delight in such marvelous collisions of fate." Xenophon's eyes were filled with anticipation, "And now we have only patience to wait."
"In addition to waiting be ready to fight." Kerisopus reminded everyone. After that, he turned around and headed back to camp.
............... ...
On this day, the mercenary leaders forbade all soldiers to go out, to prevent these plundering and idle mercenaries from clashing with the mountain people of Dukia, which would affect their plans, and also to put the whole army on alert to defend against attacks from Dukia or the Persians.
But nothing happened on this day. Just an occasional few Dukia mountain men in short fur coats with red stripes painted on their faces, short axes in hand, bows and arrows on their backs, wandering around the camp.
The soldiers watched and commented.
In contrast to the soldiers' relaxed writing, the chiefs had been nervously worrying about whether the plan would be accepted by the Duchesses, especially Davos, who hadn't slept a wink all night.
It wasn't until early the next morning that Acistus burst into the tent and shook him awake: "Marigi is back!"
Davers was so excited, his sleep was gone.
"Chieftain, the Dukea tribe leader, Commoro, has heeded my advice and is willing to form an alliance with us!" Marigi's excited shout came from behind Acistus.
"Excellent!" Davos leapt up and put his hands on Marigi's shoulders, saying happily, "You've saved the entire mercenary army, and all the Greek soldiers have you to thank for it!"
A small smile appeared on Marigi's face, then he presented a difficult look, "Xilos and the others didn't make it back because Commoro wanted to entertain them properly."
Davos froze as he heard the strangeness in Marigold's words and asked with a hard look on his face, "Hostages?"
Marigi was busy explaining, "Yes, for safety, because Commoro wants to discuss the alliance with the chiefs himself!"
Davos's face softened a little, and he asked again sharply, "At what time? Where?"
"Originally he wanted you to go to the cottage to negotiate, but I refused. I argued with reason and was even threatened by him with a knife several times. In the end, after repeated arguments, it was set at the foot of that mountain forest in front of us, at this afternoon." Marij emphasized the enormity of his negotiations.
"This afternoon ... at the foot of the mountain in front of us ..." Davos mused, then spread his eyebrows and said, "It seems that this Commoro wants to make an alliance is very urgent!"
"Yes, Chief!" Marij had a winning face.
"Then what are you waiting for! Quickly follow me to find the Hakurei Sopes and the others!" After saying this, the doctor was striding out the door.
............... ......
In the afternoon, Kerisops, Kriano and Davos led fifty Spartan warriors to the foot of the mountain, led by Marigi. In order to prevent a repeat of the situation where a group of Krilkus' leaders were eliminated in one fell swoop, the rest of the mercenary leaders led their troops into formation at the pass, a mile away from the foot of the mountain.
"There it is." Marigi pointed ahead: not far away in the grass was a stump a little larger than a Greek soldier's round shield, the section polished smooth and flat, half a man's height, with a couple of wooden stumps placed around it, and next to the stump a curved pathway running upwards into the depths of the mountain range ...
"This Dukia chief is quite a man with a heart." As the initiator of this plan, Davos had to show confidence in it, so he was the first to walk over, ruffle the dust and fallen leaves from the wooden pier, and sit down.
Hakri Sopes also sat down gracefully.
Criano looked around for a moment before slowly sitting down.
Marigold, on the other hand, stood directly beside Davos.
By this time, it was late fall. The climate was still warm when we marched in the Tigris River Valley before. When they arrived at the Dukia Mountains, the weather turned cooler, the grass began to wither, and as the mountain winds blew, the leaves continued to fall down, laying a thick layer on the ground.
Looking up at the branches of the trees, which were beginning to bare, Grissops said worriedly, "We must pass through this mountainous region as soon as possible, or it will be colder in the mountains as winter approaches, and none of the soldiers will have thick clothing to keep them warm ..."
Grissops' words reminded Davos that he honestly had never thought about it in that direction.
By the time the three Clerisopes start discussing how to cope with the onset of winter, the Dukia hillbillies arrive: dozens of brawny, strong men, and an old man in a strange costume.
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