Chapter 169
"Of course. Otherwise, we wouldn't have found him so easily," Andraporis answered first.
Aristiras, on the other hand, was thinking about the meaning of Devers's words.
Devers glanced at him and said seriously, "This Crotone man is just not good enough. A good spy can not only collect information accurately and in time, but also distinguish the authenticity of the information. In times of war, they can create chaos within the enemy, alienate the enemy, undermine unity, destroy the enemy's walls, shipyards, arsenals, and other valuable facilities, and provide the greatest help for the city-state to win a head-on battle. They will be the secret soldiers of our Tua Alliance! "
Seeing the two of them in deep thought, Devers said in a deep voice, "Aristiras, are you willing to be in charge of such an organization for me, collect information, and cultivate such an outstanding secret team to help the alliance?"
The sudden invitation surprised the two of them.
Andraporis elbowed his brother excitedly, and Aristiras was also a little excited, but he could still keep calm. He said hesitantly, "But Asistes …"
Devers nodded secretly. "Asistes has other important tasks to complete, and is no longer in charge of this organization."
"I'm willing to work for you, sir!" Aristiras replied straightforwardly.
… …
Half a day later, Crotone's chief general, Myron, received information from a spy: Early in the morning, about 4,000 troops of the Tua Alliance left the city of Turií and marched west. "
Myron fell into deep thought. From the location of Turií, there was only one force heading west — the Lucanians. Was the Turií going to war with the Lucanians again? Was it Laos or Neutum?
Myron suddenly became a little excited. Because Lucania Municipality was far away from Crotone, and there were several forces in between, he did not know much about them and had little contact with them. However, the Lucanians were a powerful indigenous force that even the rich and powerful Greek city-state alliance in the north, the Campanian Alliance, did not dare to provoke! The Tua Alliance had only defeated the Lucanian Alliance once before. Did they really think they could create another miracle with just four thousand men? Even if they succeeded, were they not afraid of triggering another war with the entire Lucanian people? Would the Tua Alliance, which was still in the midst of rebuilding, be able to sustain such a continuous depletion? Perhaps the young consul had been blinded by his previous victory?! …
A few thoughts flashed through Myron's mind, and he suddenly felt like watching a good show. Perhaps the Crotone would declare war again before the peace treaty expired, and the Lucarians would set foot on the land of Turín again. The Crotone should be prepared for this …
… …
At the same time that Myron received the intelligence, the troops of the Tua Alliance had already arrived at the entrance to the Lucania Pass. The Alliance had set up a simple sentry post here, with three sentries stationed in shifts every day. If anything happened, they would immediately light a beacon to inform the Turís to prepare for battle.
Y 'zam had already led a small scouting team to scout ahead to see if there were any abnormalities along the narrow path.
The main force began to enter the mountain path.
At its widest point, the narrow mountain path could only accommodate four people walking side by side. On both sides were steep ridges and towering trees. Not only was the path narrow, but it was also rugged. It was all uphill, and the ground was covered in gravel. If one was not careful, they would slip and get scratched all over their body …
There was once a soldier's cold joke that spread throughout the army: If the enemy pushed down a round boulder in front of them, it would continue to roll down the mountain path until the entire Tua Alliance was wiped out …
Autumn in Great Greece was still relatively hot in October. Snakes and insects were still active in the mountains, and wolves could be seen from time to time in the mountains. The soldiers trudged through the mountain path while carrying rations, weapons, and equipment that weighed nearly 25 kilograms. Everyone was sweating profusely and exhausted, but no one dared to fall behind. If they did, there was a high chance that they would fall and get injured or attacked by wild beasts without help.
At night, they could not build a camp according to military rules, so they could only sleep on the mountain path. However, standing guard was a must. Listening to the howls of various beasts in the mountains and looking at the flashing green lights in the darkness, even with countless teammates lying next to the sentries, they could not help but feel a chill in their hearts.
For the resting soldiers, the biggest difficulty of sleeping in the mountains at night was the weather. At the end of autumn, the temperature in the mountains suddenly became cold. Although the soldiers were prepared and had brought sheepskins to sleep in, and there were bonfires lit every ten meters in the middle of the soldiers, it was still a little cold … When they woke up in the morning, some soldiers would scream because something had appeared beside them: bobcats, hedgehogs, badgers, and most terrifying of all, poisonous snakes … Several soldiers were bitten as a result.
Most of the soldiers only had one thought in their minds: get out of the mountain path quickly and capture Neutum!
After two nights, the team began to go downhill. With Bagoule's reminder, Felicius knew that they were more than halfway through the mountain path, so he ordered the troops to slow down.
Y 'zam's team had already crossed the mountains and reached the exit of the mountain path. He let most of his men continue to monitor the peripheral movements and protect the expedition troops, while he took advantage of the night to avoid the detection of the mountain path checkpoints and rushed to Laos overnight to inform Avinogis.
… …
The great leader of the city of Laos, Tula, was in a good mood these days because Avinogis had finally agreed to move his people to Neutum, and he had been preparing for the move for the past few days.
Early the next morning, he received a report from his men that Avinogis was preparing to move his people to Neutum in batches, and now the first batch of pack caravans had left the city and were heading to Neutum.
Tula laughed out loud, "Avinogis, Avinogis! Aren't you usually a very smart person?! How can you be so stupid at this time! If your entire tribe left together, Lamu and the others wouldn't dare to forcefully divide and devour your tribe. If you go in batches, wouldn't it be just right for them to swallow you up! But that's great, we don't have to worry about the problem of Laos's bastards anymore! "
Thinking of the days he endured because he was afraid that Avinogis would cause a riot a few days ago, Tula let out a long sigh of relief: the days of fear were finally over!
Feeling much more relaxed, he immediately asked his servant to bring over a beautiful Greek slave girl that his men had offered a few days ago, and he had a good time.
… …
Arobuma led the pack to the exit of the narrow road. There was originally no sentry post here, but last year, the Turís army invaded Laos. Although the Lucanians won in the end, it made the Lucanians feel the need to set up a sentry post.
This exit was located between Laos and Neutum. Since Laos was affiliated to Neutum, this sentry post was under Neutum's control. As a result, it became a place where Neutum's warriors blackmailed merchants from Laos who went to Neutum to do business.
In the morning, when the sentries saw the huge pack coming from the south, their first thought was to get more money, even if the pack belonged to the famous leader of Laos, Avinogis.
Leading the pack, Arobuma, agreed to the sentry's unreasonable demand for money. After leading the pack into the sentry post, he suddenly launched an attack and easily took care of the ten greedy Neutum warriors.
Then, Y 'zam, who was hiding in the pack, immediately ran into the narrow road. An hour later, the Tua Alliance army immediately rushed out to meet up with Arobuma. Among them, the fourth group (the Lucanian group) took off their armor and weapons, stuffed them into the pack wagons, then changed into the tattered leather robes that they had prepared beforehand, and scattered into the camel team, while the other three groups followed far behind.
When Arobuma saw Bagoule coming up, he was still a little stunned, "I heard Y 'zam say that the Tua Alliance has an army made up of Lucanians, but I didn't expect there to be so many of them!"
He spoke in Lucanian. Bagoule grinned and said in Greek, "Asenu bless us with a smooth cooperation!"
"Oh … smooth …" Arobuma was still in a daze when he was embraced by Bagoule.
The man sent by Tula to follow the pack to see if Arobuma had successfully entered Neutum was suspicious when he saw the pack stop at the sentry post for a long time. When he saw countless Greeks in armor appear, he was instantly shocked, "Avinogis has betrayed us, he's colluding with the Greeks!"
He immediately returned to Laos like a frightened rabbit.
However, Avinogis, who knew Tula very well, was already prepared. Before Tula's man could return to Laos, Avinogis' bodyguards, who were hiding on both sides of the road and monitoring the situation, swarmed and captured him.
… …
Monet heard a report from his man: There's dust flying in the south, I'm afraid a large army is coming!
"Then it must be Avinogis with his people!" He immediately made a judgment.
In the past few days, Avinogis had sent people to inform them that they were ready to move. He had also sent his younger brother, Arobuma, to Neutum several times to repeatedly confirm the place where his people would live, graze, and work, and made many requests. Not only did the whole city know about it, but it also gave Lamu and the other leaders a headache. However, since Avinogis was so serious, it was obvious that he could not resist the pressure of the two cities and was finally moving.
In the end, after a discussion, the leaders of Neutum decided to agree to Avinogis' request first. Once they entered Neutum, it would no longer be up to him to decide. Now, everyone was in urgent need of warriors and strong labor, and they all had their eyes on Avinogis' tribe, which was a big fat piece of meat.
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