Eagle Byzantium

When all the generals quickly drafted a strategy against the enemy in front of the map sand table of the Sivas Plateau, Gawain said two sentences:

"After we occupy the big city of Melitene, I am afraid that these 70,000 holy warriors will stay in the Sivas Plateau and harass us. Now that they have been provoked and moved south, it is a good opportunity for us to defeat the enemy in a big way. The initiative is now in our hands."

"But this battle is a very special one. It is the first time for us to deal with such a large number of enemy troops alone. You have already decided how to fight and I will not interfere too much, but I will personally command the battle."

After the meeting, in the palace of the Grand Emir, Gawain said to the Saint Sister who was packing her luggage, "We are going to split into two groups. One group consists of 3,000 border troops, 2,500 new Melitene border troops, fire-throwing troops, Oghuz cavalry, and your believers; the other group consists of two brigades and three cavalry regiments."

Cabeamia's eyelashes trembled, and she carefully hung Gawain's red-handed feather helmet on the bracket, "Who is the commander of the second group?"

"It's the Great Earl Melo, this group is safe enough." Gawain replied.

"I will command the believers, and all of them will obey the commander-in-chief you appointed in the other group." Cabbeamia remembered the lesson of Xiangqian in the battle of Miliocephalon, when she disagreed with Birelle, which led to the loss of the camp by the emperor's sneak attack, and almost caused the camping to collapse.

After saying that, Gawain hugged the Saint Sister's waist from behind, "Don't worry, I will personally lead you on this journey. I will be right beside you with 120 imperial guards and the Red Hand Flag. I will protect you."

Cabeamia chuckled, clasped Gawain's arms with both hands, and leaned her head on his broad shoulders, swaying slowly as if she were sitting in a stable ship.

In the middle of the Sivas Plateau, there are barren peaks everywhere. Looking up, you can see the unobstructed sky, with only vultures circling above. A full 70,000 Crescent Crusaders are strictly arranged in the Hermetic Five Formations, with the elders and the young in order, and the infantry and cavalry standing side by side. The crescent and star flags and the flame flags are flying everywhere. In this respect, they are much stronger than the blind stream of pilgrims from the Frankish land. It was with such fighting spirit and momentum that this group of people came out of the remote desert and relied on simple infantry (the earliest Crescent Legion was imitated from Greece and Rome, with dense infantry battalion formation tactics and almost no cavalry) and simple weapons to defeat the two empires with a long military tradition (Persia and Eastern Rome).

Surrounding the core of the central army were three thousand Bactrian camels, one of which was carrying eight "Madam" cannons that the jihadists regarded as their trump cards. They were made of a large hardwood barrel inside and several iron hoops outside. There was a simple trolley under the launch tube, which used gunpowder similar to Khitan snow (but with a lower saltpeter ratio) to launch stone balls or arrows. The jihadists carefully tied them with colorful ribbons, hoping that these madams could play a heroic role in the upcoming decisive battle and make the enemy flee in fear.

In the vanguard were the Armenian Kibosha believers. Their men were all armed, lined up with flaming battle flags that were almost the same as those of the Paulists, and walked in front of the army with baggage carts in between. The leading archon, Pap. Potani, was a fierce warrior with scars all over his face. Of course, he also shouldered the final interpretation of the gospel. He was riding on a horse, looking at the rolling sand and dust ahead.

"We need to ask the Turkmens behind to send out more light cavalry to search for the direction where the enemy appears." Pap kept saying to the people around him.

As soon as he finished speaking, several Turkmen light cavalry wearing felt hats and turbans ran over like flying, quickly passed the formation of Kibosha believers, and shouted desperately, "Enemy cavalry appeared in front, enemy cavalry appeared in front!"

"How many people?" Pap shouted.

But he didn't get a definite answer.

Then Pap turned his head and stared at the terrain around him. After asking the guide a few questions, he made a simple judgment, "There are several rivers ahead that can be used as drinking water for the army. The enemy cavalry wants to seize it. All believers follow me and rush forward. We can't let them succeed!"

After the Archon's order was passed down, the Kiposha believers first drove the donkeys and mules in the team out and lined up. Then, regardless of whether they were infantry or cavalry, the warriors all rode on them with weapons, sandwiched the war horses in the middle, and quickly rushed over with the Archon's flag. When they left, the rest of the old and weak believers harnessed the carts to the oxen, walked to a hill, and began to surround the carts, circled most of the people in the middle, and began to defend.

The Turkmen scouts were talking about two squadrons of the Oghuz Cavalry. They were chasing the water and rivers in this area, preparing to find a suitable camp for the troops of the Grand Patron and Governor Kabeamiya. As a result, a large number of people riding mules and donkeys suddenly rushed out of the morning mist. After rushing to the hillside a few hundred feet away from them, this group of people changed to the war horses they brought, or walked, and rushed towards them.

Arrows were shot at a rapid speed. The two squadrons of Oghuz cavalry immediately left one squadron to form a horizontal line and kept firing arrows back. The other squadron stepped on the water of the stream and rushed to the south at a rapid speed to report the situation on the front line to Gawain's brigade fifteen miles away.

Gawain immediately turned over and dismounted, summoned Orson, Monomachus, Hallam, Kabeamiya and others, and held an emergency meeting to defeat the enemy before the battle.

At this moment, it was the cartographer who personally presented the clear local sand table to the patron, without daring to be careless in the slightest.

"How far are Mero and Branas from us?"

"About twelve miles behind us, strictly following an hour's rapid march." General Osun, who had just been honored to become an Armenian, replied.

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Gawain pointed his finger at the area in front of the sand table, "There are several rivers here, which are tributaries of the Teleboas River. I guess the enemy forward thought that we were going to fight for it, so they rushed over to attack my scouts in such a hurry. Outpost - However, the northwest side eight miles ahead of us is also There is a tributary of the upper reaches of the Comaches River passing by - ask Hajib to lead the Oghuz cavalry and archery regiment to fight against the enemy's vanguard first and hold them, while we and all the baggage convoys go to that hill to set up formations ! General Monomachus, lead all the border cavalry in formation to reinforce Hajib!"

Soon, at the river where Papu Potani was pointing, a fierce outpost battle broke out between the cavalry of both sides. The Kibosa cavalrymen are all Armenians and are natural horsemen. They line up in formation and constantly use bows and arrows to make surprise attacks. In front of them is the Oghuz Cavalry and Archery Regiment. This group of naturalized Turkic cavalry uncharacteristically ranks up on horseback and stands firm. Follow the block On the slopes of the hills, volleys of arrows were continuously fired to deter the Kibosa cavalry. Soon, horns and drums sounded, and four hundred border cavalrymen also appeared on the ridge behind them holding flags, forming a formation. There seems to be room for reinforcements. (To be continued ~^~)