The king left Gaza the following day, the 5th of Pakhons; he marched but slowly at first, following the usual caravan route, and despatching troops right and left to levy contributions on the cities of the Plain--Migdol, Yapu (Jaffa), Lotanu, Ono--and those within reach on the mountain spurs, or situated within the easily accessible wadys, such as Sauka (Socho), Hadid, and Harilu. On the 16th day he had not proceeded further than Yahmu, where he received information which caused him to push quickly forward. The lord of Qodshu had formed an alliance with the Syrian princes on the borders of Naharaim, and had extorted from them promises of help; he had already gone so far as to summon contingents from the Upper Orontes, the Litany, and the Upper Jordan, and was concentrating them at Megiddo, where he proposed to stop the way of the invading army. Thutmosis called together his principal officers, and having imparted the news to them, took counsel with them as to a plan of attack. Three alternative routes were open to him. The most direct approached the enemy's position on the front, crossing Mount Carmel by the saddle now known as the Umm el-Fahm; but the great drawback attached to this route was its being so restricted that the troops would be forced to advance in too thin a file; and the head of the column would reach the plain and come into actual conflict with the enemy while the rear-guard would only be entering the defiles in the neighbourhood of Aluna. The second route bore a little to the east, crossing the mountains beyond Dutina and reaching the plain near Taanach; but it offered the same disadvantages as the other. The third road ran north of _Zafiti_, to meet the great highway which cuts the hill-district of Nablus, skirting the foot of Tabor near Jenin, a little to the north of Megiddo. It was not so direct as the other two, but it was easier for troops, and the king's generals advised that it should be followed. The king was so incensed that he was tempted to attribute their prudence to cowardice. "By my life! by the love that Ra hath for me, by the favour that I enjoy from my master Amon, by the perpetual youth of my nostril in life and power, My Majesty will go by the way of Aluna, and let him that will go by the roads of which ye have spoken, and let him that will follow My Majesty. What will be said among the vile enemies detested of Ra: 'Doth not His Majesty go by another way? For fear of us he gives us a wide berth,' they will cry." The king's counsellors did not insist further. "May thy father Amon of Thebes protect thee!" they exclaimed; "as for us, we will follow Thy Majesty whithersoever thou goest, as it befitteth a servant to follow his master." The word of command was given to the men; Thutmosis himself led the vanguard, and the whole army, horsemen and foot-soldiers, followed in single file, wending their way through the thickets which covered the southern slopes of Mount Carmel.*