Chapter 51: Carduchians

Chapter 51: Carduchians

Cheirisophus’ gaze was focused on the man in the middle first, he was slightly thin compared with the brawny men around him, but he is wearing a short-sleeved leather robe with a lot of bright-colored fur to make up for the defect in his body shape. In addition, he is wearing a tawny Persian robe covering his exposed legs.

When his light brown gleaming eyes locked on the men of Cheirisophus, he raised his right hand and listened to the shout of the old Carduchian, “The leader of the Carduchian’s great Sokangte tribe greets the guests from afar!”

The mountain people strike their wooden shield with the hatchet, and came a sound from their mouth, “O LA O LA…”

The high-pitched, animal like roar made Davos’ eardrum uncomfortable. Several of the mercenary leaders were at a loss because the old man spoke in the language of the Carduchian. Marigi immediately translated it to them in a low voice, and soon they regained their calm, and even Davos curiously enjoyed the primitive way of hospitality.

Marigi, with the consent of the leaders, also loudly shouted in the language of the Carduchians, “The Spartan ephor, Cheirisophus, sends his friendly greetings to chief Kangmoro!” Just as his voice fades, the 50 silent Spartan warriors shouted at the same time, “HOO! HAA!” Accompanied by the two roars was a uniform stabbing on the ground with their spear, and the opening and joining of their round shield, then the silence was restored. Compared with the noise of the other side, the Spartan warriors were low-key and reserved, but it gave an invisible pressure on the people.

Kangmoro’s complexion slightly changed, and his eyes were fixed on the 50 warriors who were as tall and straight as pine, and with a big symbol “Λ” in the center of their round shield held in their hand, while muttering to himself, “Sparta…”

Over the past centuries, the prestige of the Spartan warriors has spread throughout the Mediterranean, and even the people in this remote mountain area have heard a bit about them. He raised his right hand, and the roaring of the mountain people stopped. He then said in the Persian language, “Welcome! Please sit down!”

As an ephor of Sparta, Cheirisophus, who often have contacts with Persia, can of course undestand it, he then also replied him in the Persian language, “Please sit down as well!”

The negotiations officially began…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

To Davos expectation, the seemingly Carduchian savages were particularly shrewd in their negotiations, specially Kangmoro. Their demands were to use the Greeks mercenaries as a laborer and hired thugs, and their reasons were quite adequate, ‘When our tribe become an ally of the Greek mercenaries, it will then offend the powerful Persia and also get isolated and excluded by the other tribes in Corduene. There must be enough benefits to make the whole tribe to agree in signing the alliance.’

The Greek’s negotiating ability is also not weak. Cheirisophus’ diplomatic ability is beyond doubt since Sparta had sent him as a liaison to Cyrus the Younger. While Davos, as the main director of the urban High-Teach Development Zone in his previous life, had participated in many business negotiations. Plus Marigi, a merchant who is greatly familiar with the Carduchians.

Before they came, the mercenaries had already agreed on the bottom line that they must adhere to: and that is, the marching route of the Greek mercenaries must be decided by them and not at the mercy of outsiders. They deliberately showed that they didn’t attach great importance to this alliance. When the negotiation was in a stalemate, Cleanor had repeatedly said that it was okay if the alliance doesn’t succeed since their soldiers can just forcefully enter.

Due to this, the chief of the Sokangte tribe have a headache. After all, they are the first stumbling block on the way of the mercenaries to Armenia. They can undoubtedly take advantage of them, but they have to choose to fight and defeat the Greeks who had defeated Persia. Of course, they can also choose not to fight head-on, the Mercenaries have no way to attack them, but their stronghold can’t be move, so their houses and goods can’t be saved. What’s more, this will hit the prestige of Kangmoro, and will increase the coveting of the surrounding tribes on the Sokangte tribe.

After several clashes, the alliance was finally reached:

First, the Greek mercenaries and the Sokangte tribe of Corduene became allies, and the two sides will be on friendly terms and refrain from attacking each other.

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Second, The Greek mercenaries will decide their own marching route, and the tribes near the route will be attack by the mercenaries and the Sokangte tribe together. The mercenaries will get 60% of the goods and wealth, while the Sokangte tribe will get 40%. The captured enemies will be handed over to the Sokangte tribe. The mercenaries could not kill or plunder indiscriminately without the consent of the Sokangte tribe.

Third, During the operation, Cheirisophus and Kangmoro will coordinate the command, and if there are differences that cannot be resolved, the operation will be cancelled. (This one was originally put forward by Cheirisophus for fear that Kangmoro, for the sake of the interests of the tribe and regardless of the lives of the mercenaries, will take some tactics against the mercenaries. Therefore, this was specially emphasized. In fact, this part has not been implemented in the end, because after tasting the sweetness, Kangmoro was afraid that the mercenaries would cancel assault plan. Therefore, when the mercenaries have any objection, he would take the initiative to seek a solution while consulting Cheirisophus.)

Fourth, If the Sokangte tribe has special targets to attack and is not near the marching route of the mercenaries, then they can hire the Greeks to attack, but they will need to consult with the leaders and obtain the consent of the mercenary soldiers. (This one is mainly the request of Kangmoro, while Cheirisophus and Davos, after discussing, thought that if this cooperation between the two sides went smoothly, then the targets to be attacked will only be close to each other, and it is not impossible for the mercenaries to be employed. After all, since the death of Cyrus the Younger, the soldiers are no longer paid.)…The alliance will be implemented on the same day, and ends when the Greek mercenaries leaves Corduene.

The last step to implement the alliance is a sacrifice. Cheirisophus was ready for this, he ordered 3 white lambs to be slaughtered, and the fresh blood was to be placed on the stump. The Sokangte tribe also slaughtered a deer.

Then the two sides inserted wood strips around the stump, lit it on fire, and read aloud the clauses of the alliance written in Persian on the two animal skins. There were no priests in the mercenary troops, so Cheirisophus had to do it. On the Carduchian side, it was performed by the oddly dressed witch.

When the sacrifice was over and the two sides began to discuss their next action, a mountain wind came and caused the leaf to fall and blew out the torches around the stump, which made the expression of everyone change. The Greeks, including the silent Spartans, respectfully called out the name of “Zeus”, while the Carduchians fell to their knees and paid respect to the mountain god that they worshipped. Obviously, everyone thought that the gods had come by and made their presence known in order to recognized this alliance.

As a result, the attitude of both sides was much more energetic. Kangmoro had even sent one of his sons to the mercenary troops as a guide.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 days later, the mercenaries left the Corduene mountains and entered the plains.

In the past 20 days, the mercenaries cooperated with the Sokangte tribe to breach 4 mountain villages and also defeated an alliance of Carduchian tribes. The casualties in the battle were not small, but they manage to seize a lot of supplies, which made their rations keep up during the long march in the mountains. The gains of the Sokangte tribe was even greater, most of the captured mountain people, except the fanatics, are forced to join the Sokangte tribe. No one knew how big the population of the Sokangte tribe became, but it’s obvious that Kangmoro was satisfied, as it can be seen from his sincere gift of a good white wolf skin to Cheirisophus at the time of their parting.

One afternoon, they found some villages after a few days since the mercenaries had marched in the plain. Hence, the mercenaries happily stopped moving forward, and started driving away the villagers, plundering supplies, and camping in the village. They can finally sleep well without worrying about getting bitten by snakes and insects.

The next morning, the mercenaries marched to the river Centrites(T/N: Kentrites or Botan River), which is the border between Armenia and the country of the Carduchians, the river is about 60 meters wide.

According to the guide, the troops came to the place where there was a pontoon bridge, but found that it had been burned.

The leaders looked at the burning marks of the bridge piles on the river bank, and their hearts sank: the Persians are nearby!

Cheirisophus immediately order Ledes and his cavalry squad to explore the surrounding area(after they entered the mountain area, the cavalry squad lost a lot of horses, leaving only 5~6). At the same time, he ordered some soldiers go down the river to explore the depth of the water.

After they received the order, several soldiers that are good swimmer took off their armor and walked into the river, the water reached their chest when they reached the middle of the river.

At this time, someone shouted, “Persian!”

Immediately, there was a commotion in the troops. There are many Persian cavalry on the other side of the hill, while on the plain below the hill, are Persian infantry in battle formation. They raise the dust which filled the whole sky as they marched towards the river bank…

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