The Russian officers desperately ordered the soldiers to form neat ranks, but with the chaos of over ten thousand men under constant cannon fire, it was impossible to quickly restore order.
The Russian soldiers at the forefront fiercely exchanged shots with the Persians, but soon thousands of Turkmen cavalry swept past their flanks. The sound of bowstrings was as dense as the summer cicadas, and the cold weapons that the Russians looked down on proved to be just as efficient in taking lives as the flintlock guns.
In less than 20 minutes, the Russian infantry began to retreat across the entire line.
Gazmanov, with no choice, left the cavalry behind and returned to organize a rear guard, but under the repeated harassment by the Persian cavalry, he was unable to effectively form any formation.
As the Russian army retreated to the previous positions of the two bastions, a unit of Persian light cavalry charged from the north, blocking the less than two-kilometer-wide passageway.
