Eagle Byzantium

Branas had previously deeply understood the patron's military system of "five". On the river plain in front of the inner city of Melite, he deployed three infantry detachments in a row. Countless large infantry spears shone brightly, stimulating the Danishmond infantrymen who came to resist the battle, especially the giant red lacquered war spears in the front row, which seemed to pierce the sky. In front of the spearman company that was approaching slowly in a horizontal formation, 600 subordinate archers and fire throwers formed several horizontal formations. Under the protection of the subordinate cavalry, fireworks and flying arrows were fired at the same time. The Turkish archers, who were always proud of their archery skills, were only separated by a distance of 150 feet. The smoke covered the sky and the sun, and the sound and flash were blazing.

Merrick, who climbed up the tower of Melitene, stared at the bloody and cruel duel between the three gullies in amazement. At this time, the other two Danishmond ramparts also sent out troops, trying to attack the Red Hand Brigade from the valley on the north side. However, Branas also sent two detachments of "special troops" to climb the valley. This was the wonderful use of Gawain's "five". Three detachments entangled the enemy army head-on, and two detachments took on the responsibility of outflanking and attacking.

So on the narrow mountain road at the northern foot of the river, the two "special troops" of the enemy and us, who were heading towards each other, swarmed and fought against each other again, fighting to the death like rats in a bag. The centurions and sergeants of the Guards kept singing hymns to encourage the soldiers to attack in columns, while the ghazis of Danishmond shouted the family name and the Jihad and attacked bravely. The whole situation was attack against attack.

On this battlefield, the long spears were useless. Everyone drew out their short weapons and handed them over. Jamaluddin Bey, who had been released during the siege of Kayseri (Caesarea City), led more than a dozen Iqta knights in armor to charge bravely in order to wash away the shame of defeat. As a result, they were trapped in the encirclement of the Red Hand Brigade's special forces. An oak sapling javelin thrown by a skirmisher pierced Bey's neck, and the flat tip of the javelin wedged deeply into his body bones. Half of Jamaluddin Bey's head was almost broken, but he continued to fight to the death with his hammer raised. In the end, two other brigade skirmishers holding thorn spears went around the side of his mount, pierced Bey's helmet with one shot, and pierced his cheek with another shot. Jamaluddin fell off his horse and died, and all the Iqta knights beside him were killed in the battle. On the northern foothills, the Danishmond troops, who had lost their commander, began to collapse. Soon, the great emir who was watching the battle from the tower saw that the enemy occupied the winding northern foothill road and broke into the fortress behind it, setting fire everywhere and savagely killing everyone they could see.

At this moment, after the long-range shooting ended on the river plain, a head-on conflict also broke out.

Among the three detachments of the Red Hand Brigade, after the attached long-range shooting team retreated, the six skirmisher companies ran ahead of the spearman company and launched a fierce attack on the Danishmond archer team in front of them. At the moment of close combat, several Turkic special archers who had ambushed in the team in advance suddenly stood up and shot large armor-piercing arrows with swallowtails. The three centurions of the Red Hand Brigade who were currently charging were immediately pierced through their helmets or armor and fell down and died. But just when the Turks thought they would collapse due to the loss of their commander, a senior Lombard sergeant named Colonna in the brigade adhered to the requirements of the drill, hung the kite shield behind him, held the handle of the Saracen broad-bladed machete tightly with both hands, rushed straight to the Turks, and then pulled it out with all his strength, slashing left and right, and successively killed four Danishmond archers. The morale of the rest of the sergeants and soldiers was greatly boosted, and they followed Colonna to kill the archers.

The vanguard of the defeated Danishmond army spread its wings and prepared to resist the frontal attack of the Red Hand Brigade, but it was instantly pierced by the spears of the left and right columns of Branas.

Next, Branas commanded the subordinate cavalry to attack, and the battlefield soon showed a one-sided trend. Merick watched from the tower as the soldiers of Gawain's army ran fast, loosened their formation, charged in twos and threes with spears, chased his soldiers all over the field, and soon rushed to the ramparts like driving hunting cattle: a brave Danishmond drummer, riding on horseback, rushed out of the wall gate, and just when he was about to beat the drum to boost morale, a Gawain soldier who had arrived and speared him with all his strength, nailing the drum and the man to the doorpost...

At dusk, tragic clouds gathered above the river, and below them were densely covered with the corpses of Danishmond soldiers of various colors, gray and dim mist spread across, and several burning ramparts were scattered in between. The inner and outer defense lines of Melite that Merick had painstakingly built before collapsed within a day. Gawain's army cut off more than 800 heads and captured a full 3,000 people.

Returning to the palace, the distraught Merik began to doubt his faith and life. He stared at the dome of the palace in a daze, and then said to the beys who followed him with a hoarse voice, "Do you think Melitene can still be defended?"

Many generals, including Qudb, fell silent.

Melitene is narrower in the north and triangular in shape, because it is located in the branch of the Comach River. Then it slowly moves southward, and the entire castle becomes square. There are several bridges across the trench in the east and west. The key equipment area is the two corner towers on the west wall, one in the north and one in the south. It was originally strong and difficult to attack, but the great emir thought: Now that all the outer barriers have been slaughtered, if they defend the wall towers, they will become targets of Gawain's large plani cannon. He will stand there in great frustration and be blown to pieces by stone bullets. In that case, even if he martyrs, it will be too shameful.

"When the moon rises tonight, the entire army will break out from the east of the city and head towards Sivas." Merik made this difficult decision. "By the time Gawain attacks here, the food and fodder his soldiers carry with them should have been exhausted. We have to wait for the supply from the rear before launching a pursuit. We seize this opportunity and flee to Sivas to join the holy war martyrs' brigade. We must save Sivas first."

After nightfall, Gawain stood in the scarlet tent holding a silver horse-head scepter, and four soldiers from the night patrol half-knelt beside him In front of Gawain, there were shouts and cheers outside. "Great patron, please don't close your eyes for a while, because more exciting news has come. The enemy chief, Merik, was completely defeated by our army's heroic attack during the day. He took advantage of the bright moonlight and began to ride his mare desperately, wading across the moat, abandoning the beautiful land around Melitene, and fled towards the road to Sivas with his body soaked!" Philactos, the confidential officer beside Gawain, raised his fist and cheered loudly.

"The pagans, like the hunted deer and roe deer, lost their land and honor, and were defeated by our swords." All the generals present were also very happy.

"Leave all the infantry behind to besiege and capture Melitene. I, Bramson, Gottie, and Walter will lead four cavalry regiments to pursue. The enemy chief is full of hope that my supplies have run out, but in fact, we still have five days' worth of food and fodder due to the previous collection. Now we will focus on allocating them to my cavalry and horses, so that they can chase and kill the fleeing pagans like the wind!" Gawain waved his scepter, pointed to the north, and gave a loud order. (To be continued ~^~)