The first thing Hakri Sopes and the rest of them focused on was the man in the center: he was slightly lean compared to the burly men around him, but wore short-sleeved leather robes of brighter fur colors to compensate for this deficiency in his stature. In addition, he should have been wearing a tawny Persian robe underneath, covering the legs that the Dukia mountain people liked to bare.
As his light brown, brilliant eyes locked onto the few of them in Kerisopus, he raised his right hand, and that old man Dukia was heard to shout, "Greetings to our guests from afar from the Great Chief of the Dukiak Sokont Tribe!"
The hillbillies struck their wooden shields with short axes and mouthed, "Oh la oh la ..."
The high-pitched, beast-like roar was hard on Davos' eardrums. As the old man spoke Dukkia, several of the mercenary leaders were somewhat confused, and Marigi immediately whispered a translation to them, and soon they regained their composure, even as Davos curiously admired this primitive form of hospitality.
Marigi, with the consent of the chieftains, also shouted loudly in Duchess, "The Spartan prosecutor, Kerisops, sends friendly greetings to the great chieftain of Commoro!" At the words, the fifty silent Spartan warriors behind them roared together, "Hey! Ho!" Accompanying the two roars was a neatly organized jabbing of the spear and pestle on the ground, the round shields opened and closed, and the silence was restored in a whirlwind. Compared to the clamor of the other side, the Spartan warriors were low-key and introverted, but gave off an invisible pressure.
Commoro's face changed slightly, his eyes fixed on the fifty pine-like soldiers, each holding a shield with a large "∧" symbol in the center, muttering "Sparta ... "
For centuries, the fame of the Spartan warriors had spread throughout the Mediterranean, and even the people of this remote mountainous region had heard a little about them. He raised his right hand and the roar of the mountain people gradually stopped, "Welcome! Sit down!" The words that came out of his mouth were in perfect Farsi.
As a Spartan ombudsman, and having often dealt with Persia, of course, Clerithopes understood, and he returned in Persian, "You too, please sit down!"
Negotiations officially begin ...
............... ...
Surprisingly to Davos and the others: the seemingly barbaric Dukakians were quite shrewd in their negotiations, especially the Commoros, who made demands that were literally meant to use the Greek mercenaries as drudges and thugs, and they reasoned quite well, 'By becoming an ally of the Greek mercenaries, our tribe has offended the mighty Persia, and at the same time it will be isolated and ostracized by the rest of the tribes of Dukkia. ostracized, there must be enough benefits to make the entire tribe of warriors agree to sign the covenant.'
The Greek negotiating party's ability was equally not weak: for Kerisops to have been sent by Sparta as a liaison with Cyrus the Younger, his diplomatic ability could not be questioned; Davos, as the main person in charge of the city's high-tech development zone in his previous life, did not know how many times he had taken part in business negotiations; and then there was Marij, a businessman familiar with Dukia.
Before arriving, the mercenaries had already negotiated the bottom line that they must adhere to: namely, the Greek mercenaries' marching routes must be decided by themselves, not at the mercy of outsiders. They deliberately showed that they did not attach great importance to the alliance, and during the stalemate in the negotiations, Criano stated several times that it was fine if the alliance did not work out, and that the soldiers could go in hard.
In this way, the heads of the Ksokont tribe felt a headache. After all, they were the first stumbling block in the way of the mercenaries on their way to Armenia, and it was clear that there were benefits to be had, but they had to choose to fight against them, and it was the Greeks who had defeated Persia. Of course, they can also choose not to fight head on, the mercenaries can not take them, but the cottage can not be moved, houses, supplies will not necessarily be able to keep, more importantly, this will hit the prestige of the Kang Moro, at the same time increase the surrounding tribes of the Kesokont tribe of the covetousness of the heart.
After a few exchanges, a covenant was finally reached:
Article 1, the Greek mercenaries are allies with the Ksokont tribe of Dukia, and they are to live in friendship and non-aggression;
Secondly, the Greek mercenaries decided on their own route, the tribes near the route were to be attacked by the mercenaries together with the Kesokont tribe, and the supplies and wealth obtained were to be shared 60% by the mercenaries and 40% by the Kesokont tribe, while the captured enemies were to be disposed of by the Kesokont tribe, and the mercenaries were not to be indiscriminately killed or looted without the consent of the Kesokont tribe;
Article 3, during the battle, the command will be coordinated between Clerisopus and Commollo, and if there is any disagreement that cannot be resolved, the battle will be canceled. (This article was added by Clerisopus because he was afraid that Camelot would disregard the lives of the mercenaries for the sake of tribal interests and adopt some unfavorable tactics for the mercenaries. In fact, this article was never implemented until the end, because after the first taste, Commoro was afraid that the mercenaries would cancel the attack plan, so as soon as the mercenaries had any disagreement, he would take the initiative to find Clerisoppus to negotiate and solve the problem.) .;
Fourth, if the Ksokont tribe has a special target to be attacked that is not near the mercenary's route of march, the Greeks may be hired to attack it, but it is necessary to consult with the chieftains and to obtain the consent of the mercenary soldiers, (this one is mainly a requirement of Commodus, and Clerisopus, Dyfus
They had deliberated and thought that if the cooperation between the two sides went well, the mercenaries might not be prevented from accepting employment as long as the target to be attacked was close by; after all, since the death of Cyrus the Younger in battle, the soldiers had no more pay to take.) ... The covenant is in effect today and ends when the Greek mercenaries leave Dukia."
The final procedure in the conclusion of the covenant was the sacrifice. Cleethorpes was prepared for this, and ordered the slaughter of the three white lambs that had been brought in, and laid the fresh blood meal on the stump, and the tribe of Quetzalcoatl similarly slaughtered a deer.
Then both parties put sticks of wood around the stump and lighted a fire, and then they read aloud the articles of the covenant written in Persian on two animal skins. There were no priests among the mercenaries, and they had to be replaced by Kerisops. On the side of Dukia, the oddly dressed wizard performed it.
When the sacrifice was completed and the two sides began to discuss their next move, a mountain wind blew out the torches around the stump and everyone in the room changed color. The Greeks, including the silent Spartan warriors, shouted the name of Zeus, while the Duchesses fell on their knees and worshipped their mountain god, apparently believing that the gods and goddesses had manifested themselves and approved of the alliance.
So, a much more positive attitude ensued on both sides. Commoro even sent one of his sons to act as a guide for the mercenaries.
............... ...
Twenty days later, the mercenaries left the Dukia mountains and entered the plains.
During these twenty days, the mercenaries worked with the Kesokont tribe to break through four mountain fortresses and defeat a joint attack by the Dukia tribe, the casualties in the battle were not small, but a lot of supplies were captured, and the sustenance was maintained during the long march through the mountains. The Kesokont tribe's gains were even greater, and most of all the captured mountain people, except for the recalcitrant, were forced to join the Kesokont tribe. It was all but unknown how far the population of the Ksokont tribe had swelled, but it was clear that Commoro was satisfied, as evidenced by the fact that he had genuinely given Hakri Sopes a fine white wolf pelt when they parted.
One afternoon after the mercenaries had been marching through the plains for a few days, they spotted some villages. So the mercenaries happily stopped their advance and began to drive away the villagers, loot the supplies, and camped inside the villages, where they could finally get a good night's sleep without having to worry about the pain of snake bites.
The next morning, the mercenaries marched to the Kentritt River, which is the border river between Amelia and Dukia and is about sixty meters wide.
The troops followed their guide to the spot where the pontoon bridge was located and found it had been burned.
The chiefs' hearts sank as they looked at the fire-scorched marks of the bridge piles along the shore: the Persians were close by!
At once, Grissops had both ordered Ledus' cavalry squad to scout the surrounding area (after entering the mountains, the squad had lost quite a few of its horses, with only five or six left intact), and had the soldiers go down to the river to probe the depth of the water.
Upon receiving the order, a few soldiers with good water skills took off their armor and walked into the river, taking a few wobbly steps almost to the middle of the big river when the water had reached their chests.
At that moment, someone shouted, "Persians!"
Immediately there was a commotion in the ranks. A number of Persian cavalrymen appeared on a hill on the opposite bank, while Persian infantrymen arranged in battle formation appeared on the plain below the hill, raising a cloud of dust and fog and marching toward the riverbank ...
------------