Eagle Byzantium

In the early hours of the second Thursday of Pentecost, a violent massacre suddenly broke out outside the city of Nassa in northern Cappadocia. General Osen's black battle flag suddenly rushed to the Red Grassland settlement near the Great Salt Lake. Under the guidance of the white "middle finger bone", about 400 Jinat cavalrymen took the lead. They rushed from the river valley dozens of miles away, and the horses' hooves raised huge black dust. The Turkic scimitars in their hands kept slashing down like lightning. The javelins made of oak seedlings passed through the fireworks and kept piercing the backs and necks of the fleeing Danishmonde herdsmen. Then villages and pastures were set on fire, and corpses fell in the sea of ​​grass. The red flames dyed half of the gray morning sky, and all the stars and the waning moon were covered.

Behind the galloping Jinat cavalry, teams of "border troops" from the Kalon border area holding spears and flags also stepped on the red grass and attacked Nasa in an orderly manner along the lake that was covered with red light by the rising sun.

The "Diwangash" in Nasa City quickly sent out several groups of brisk scouts, some moving and some quiet, some openly and some covertly, some simply and some resorting to force, to conduct reconnaissance on all sides of the attacking team from Kalon City - a reconnaissance team of 15 riders was trapped in a swamp at a river branch near the Great Salt Lake, and was besieged by the border troops with spears and halberds. Only two people were left to escape, and they reported to the highest commander of Diwangash, Giribeyi, in shock, "It's Gawain's main force. They use projectiles and melee weapons very accurately and brutally."

But in fact, this group of people is still Gawain's border troops and Jinat cavalry. However, because the former and the Seleucid militia had received training from the veterans of the Red Hand Brigade beforehand, their combat skills were significantly improved, and their formations and fighting were well-formed, which actually gave the garrison team of Nasa City the illusion that "Gawain's main brigade is attacking."

Jiribeyi climbed up the wooden tower of the fortress and saw that the entire wilderness grassland was burning. The smoke and fire made it difficult to see the true situation of the enemy team. "Beat the drums to warn, all the border residents of Diwangash get on horseback and enter the gate to defend the fortress! Send me another scout to Kayseri and Amasya for help."

At the simple gate of Nasa, many Turkic border residents rushed in with their children and daughters, riding horses, shouting nervously. Many soldiers on the battlements and towers were beating the drums desperately, "We used to attack the enemy's Kalon constantly, but now the enemy has retaliated!" and began to ignite long and lonely beacon fires, warning and asking for help in all directions. Several Turkic Ghazi warriors, wearing cloaks and helmets, with important letters hidden inside, ran to the east and north respectively.

Three of them ran to a river beach at the bend of the Harris River. When they stepped on the fine and turbid river water and rushed to the opposite direction of Kaiseli Fort, they saw a loud noise half a mile away. They turned their heads and were almost scared to death: in the morning mist, about hundreds of cavalrymen holding red hand battle flags, with straw bundles and rafts tied to their saddles, lined up from one bank to the other, forming a "horse and man embankment" to block the turbulent water in the upper reaches of the Harris River. Then, large groups of infantrymen waded through the shallow river water quickly behind this "embankment", leaving a series of swirling and spreading dirty water marks.

The three of them were just wondering why the river beach was so shallow during the summer flood season?

Soon, the chasing arrows whistled in succession. The three brave and calm Ghazi whistled at each other sharply, turned their bodies sideways and hid beside the stirrups to avoid the pursuit of the enemy cavalry, and headed towards Kayseri Castle boldly. They wanted to report the enemy's movements clearly to the Jemaladin Bey there.

At this moment, on the sandy hillside of the famous Cappadocia Great Grotto on the other side of the Haris River, bordering Kayseri, Gawain and the generals were already facing the bright blood-red sunlight, looking at the small-scale scout battles everywhere below.

The banner of the Red Hand Seven Ridges fluttered behind him, and the Grand Patron extended his silver horse-headed staff toward the outline of Kayseri in the distance, "Giovanni, you will end your duties as the supervisor of the armored cavalry regiment and return to my command. Lead 700 Red Hand cavalrymen to attack in the direction of Kayseri Castle. Kill any pagans you see."

When Giovanni raised his lance and led a large group of Red Hand cavalrymen to leave first, Dim Goliath beside him pointed to the other side of the river, "Master, our equipment and caravan are coming!" Gawain turned his head and looked, but saw the Red Hand Brigade and Most of the infantry of the Guardian Brigade had successfully crossed the river and deployed on this side of the river. The remaining 500 Red Hand Cavalry (more than 300 were added after the Battle of Miliocephalon to make up for the casualties) deployed on both wings, sandwiching one Glamorgan back cart and two-wheeled carriage after another to protect the central passage. On the vehicles near the river bank, the craftsmen and military servants shouted and unloaded the simple wooden boats and various assembled siege equipment on them, and then pushed each wooden boat into the surging river along the slanting planks coated with butter.

A fleet that can span across both sides of the river quickly started to operate. They switched roles and transported various carts to the other side, and then the disassembled equipment...

"Tell everyone to work harder. I will lead you to shoot through the first unlucky tower in Kayseri before sunset today." The patron raised his fist to cheer up all the soldiers on the spot.

In the panic-stricken Kayseri Castle, a fierce dispute broke out between Djemaladdin Bey, who received the urgent report, and Ghazi, the messenger of Jiri Bey: both sides believed that the main force of the enemy was in front of them.

Jemaaluddin Bey claimed that his scouts and you (the three ghazis who crossed the river) saw with your own eyes that the enemy used carts and boats to transport a large number of siege equipment and attacked me;

And the three ghazis also said that there was a "cavalry team with heavy armor on all the men and horses, marching tenaciously in such hot weather" heading towards Nasa City. This was Gawain's terrifying armored cavalry. Obviously, Jiri Bey was the enemy's main attack direction.

In the absence of a conclusion, Jemaaluddin Bey sent 500 cavalry out of the city fortress to conduct armed reconnaissance in the direction of Nasa City. About an hour later, 150 remnants rushed into the city gate and came back, saying that they were attacked by a large group of enemy cavalry ten miles outside the city, accompanied by an ambush of infantry. The rest of them died in the battle, and some fell off their horses and were captured. I don't know whether they are alive or dead.

"The enemy's main force is very close to me. I will personally climb the tower to supervise the battle to protect this fortress!" Jemaaluddin Bey was passionate.

"But what about Nazar?"

"I will write another urgent letter and send it to Melitene and Sivas, which are farther away, for help. Of course, your Bey can also ask for help directly from the Great Emir, whose 20,000 men are closest to there." After saying that, Jemaladdin Bey climbed up the tower.

In the field below him, the enemy cavalry kept rushing in along the sandy hillside and sparse bushes, and their armor reflected a disturbing light in the hot air. They set fire everywhere and seized water sources. Countless flags spread from the bottom of the city to the large cave over there, and there was no end in sight. (To be continued ~^~)