Chapter 52: Crossing the River (I)
Chapter 52: Crossing the River (I)
“All troops in formation!” the officers shouted.
The soldiers in the river retreated in a hurry and were almost swept away by the current.
“There are many big and round rocks at the bottom of the river, which makes it slippery and hard to walk!” The soldiers reported it to the leaders after they came ashore.
“It seems that it is difficult for us to cross the river from here when there are Persians on the opposite side!” Said Timasion helplessly, while the other leaders agreed. They watched the other side closely: the Persians had stopped moving forward as they were close to the river bank, and their row were about a mile long and seemed that they have no less than 20,000 soldiers.
“It’s the army of Orontes!” Said Cleanor while in shocked.
Xenophon regretfully said, “It seems that he is ahead of us.”
Xanthicles pointed to the other side of the river in amazement and said, “Look, he hired a lot of Chaldaeans!”
Chaldaeans? Davers didn’t know about them, as he looked at Philesius in confusion.
“The Chaldaeans are tribes living in Armenia. They are said to be fierce and aggressive. The Persians like to recruit them as heavy infantry.” Explained Philesius, as he pointed to the other side, “Look, that’s them!”
In the direction of his fingers, Davos saw some Chaldaeans in leather helmet, robes, long shields and spears standing at the forefront of the Persian army.
“Orontes seems to be trying to stop us, but too bad, the Chaldaean are not our opponent!” Said Timasion not willing to be outdone.
“But with this river, everything is hard to say.” Said Xanthicles with a slight pessimistic.
“Have the soldiers camp and rest first, then send people to explore whether there is a better place in the river to cross on foot.” Said Cheirisophus calmly.
The order was conveyed and the troops retreated to a camp less than a mile from the river Centrites.
Before long, Ledes brought back informations, there are no trace of the Persians found on the river bank, but there are some Carduchians spotted in the nearby mountains spying on them. This made the leaders frown.
“Go get Izam.” Said Cheirisophus.
Izam was the son of Kangmoro, the chief of Sokangte tribe, that was sent to be their guide. As a result, the energetic young man had a strong curiosity about the distant Greece as he stayed with the Greeks for 20 days. He didn’t want to go back to the secluded mountain village, and wanted to go out wandering from place to place. With the consent of Kangmoro, the mercenaries accepted him.
When Izam got the news, he was stunned and immediately swore that those Carduchians were not sent by the Sokangte tribe. And volunteered himself to scout.
With the consent of the leaders, Ledes took him with him. 30 minutes later, he came back to report that those men are from the tribes that had allied together in the mountains to attack the Greek mercenaries, some of whom he had seen before.
After Izam left, Xenophon breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Just like what I had said, Kangmoro and us have cooperated very well previously. They couldn’t have started having ideas as soon as we split up.”
Cleanor snorted, “Don’t readily place your trust on those Carduchians. How do you know that this son of Kangmoro didn’t lie?! We have all seen what Kangmoro does, after every battle, he would argue with us about the ownership of the spoils for half a day. He won’t even let go a clay pot. Such a greedy man, now that we are going to fight the Persians again, how can he let this great chance slip by!”
“Let alone now that the alliance has ended, and there is nothing restraining him anymore!” Timasion added.
“We have his son!” Reminded Xenophon.
“I heard that he has more than 10 sons. It is no deal to him if one died. And who knows if Kangmoro had made up his mind and let him to be a spy?!” Cleanor retorted.
Davos, who was sitting in the corner, looked at the atmosphere of the quarter. Xenophon is an active and energetic man, with his recent familiarity with the mercenary affairs, he became more active. In the views of some leaders, they think that he is showing off, and will try to look for opportunities to strike him from time to time. Davos had once advised him to restrain himself, but his answer was, “I haven’t done anything wrong. Hades had asked me to come here, not to please someone, but to contribute in saving the lives of more than ten thousand Greek brothers!”
In contrast, the younger Davos is much more modest. When he became a leader, he worked hard to perform and won respect and prestige for himself, he is usually reserved when discussing matters and often just listens, since he knew that these leaders have been wandering on the battlefield for many years and have rich experience, which is worth learning and reflecting on.
“We all know that Kangmoro is an ambitious and intelligent man who knows when and what he would do. Now, the most important thing that the Sokangte tribe should do is to quickly annex and digest the four tribes, and have them integrate into his tribe so that they can become his strength. Therefore, I don’t think he will provoke us just after leaving the mountain and parting with us, since his tribe’s internal situation is still unstable, and he knows that our troops is powerful, specially since he has a lot of enemies around him.” Said Davos in a low voice. He has a good relationship with Xenophon, and so wants to help him both in public and private.
“So, the people that had come to spy on us, just as the kid said, are from the tribes that we had defeated. But instead of attacking the Sokangte tribe, they provoke us who are much more powerful.” Taunted Cleanor.
“Just like what you had said previously, they had come to see if they can get some small advantages.” Davos responded wittily.
Cheirisophus said, “Whether they are members of the Sokangte tribe or not, as long as we are on guard, we are not afraid of anyone in the plain. It is currently important to find a way to cross the river, break through the defense line of Orontes, and enter Armenia. Otherwise, the longer we are delayed, the greater the difficulty.”
The leaders were silent.
Time passed, and they still have no discovery.
The next day, there was still no good news, but there was a lot of bad news. There were more and more Carduchians in the nearby mountains, and Ledes had roughly estimated that there were more than a thousand people. It seems that the Persian soldiers on the opposite side are also increasing, while they sense that their supplies are rapidly decreasing, and the soldiers who went out to collect firewood got attacked by the Carduchians from time to time…
The grim situation not ony made the soldiers worried, but the leaders had also felt it. As the leaders discussed, Xenophon suggested that Izam should go back to his tribe and find his father, Kangmoro, to see if he could help the mercenaries drive out the Carduchians.
He was then ridiculed by Timasion, and the two sides had even quarreled.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the morning of the third day, Xenophon, with 2 young soldiers, entered the tent proudly. The 2 soldiers had found a place where they could easily walk across the river.
Hearing this news, the previous conflicts of the leaders had disappeared, and they become excited.
In order not to attract the attention of the Persians on the other side, Cheirisophus changed into a normal soldier outfit and walked with the soldiers to the place where they could cross the river…
By the time he came back, they saw the relaxed expression of Cheirisophus, and realized that he had crossed the river.