While Ali was captured alive by the Bosporus Army, his two brothers, under the cover of their personal guards and Turkmen Ghazi, barely managed to escape back to Erzurum with a few hundred men.
But everyone else was not so lucky. After a pincer attack and slaughter by the Bosporus Army, by that evening, the outskirts of Bayburt were covered with dense corpses. Upon closer inspection, it was even possible to find that many of the bodies were equipped with excellent gear, attracting many not-so-clean taxi soldiers to stealthily pilfer them when counting and organizing the bodies with the army late at night.
At first glance, these well-equipped corpses were indeed mainly tribal leaders of the Aq Qoyunlu Dynasty, but the Bosporus officers responsible for inspecting them quickly discovered a fact that made them quite tremble: more than 30% of these bodies were their own Bosporus officers and deputy generals.
The morning after the Battle of Bayburt ended, Manuel, who had already led his troops into the city, couldn't help but frown and sigh after receiving yesterday's military report.
Because according to the current rough statistics, the enemy White Sheep were indeed almost completely annihilated. Excluding those captured and those who successfully escaped, they left nearly 2,500 bodies on the dry land of Bayburt.
However, in comparison, the Bosporus side was also not optimistic. According to the brutal battle conditions they experienced and the temporary battle reports, the Bosporus Army lost approximately 2,000 men, of which seven to eight hundred were peasant soldiers and Philakatoi, considered elites. Moreover, the number of their own officers and deputy generals killed in action was the highest in the past five years.
Seeing this, Manuel's eyelids twitched with shock. As expected of the rising Aq Qoyunlu Dynasty, even if they lost a field battle, they could still inflict such solid damage on the enemy. This even made him feel like he had kicked a steel plate. Uh, no, up until now, besides Trabzon and his own rebel army, which of the enemies he encountered wasn't a tough nut to crack?
However, solely from these battle losses, he realized that continuing to penetrate from West Armenia into the Anatolian interior was not a good option. The forces they had encountered these few times were only a portion of the Aq Qoyunlu Dynasty's strength, and just this portion could inflict such battle losses... He dared not even imagine what would happen if they encountered the main force of the White Sheep.
In short, he planned to conclude this war against the White Sheep in the northern region of West Armenia. If they continued to advance further, it was highly likely that they would end up like the Greek Kingdom, which was severely beaten by Ataturk Pasha in his previous life, losing even the coastal areas of Asia Minor.
Just as Manuel began to ponder how to withdraw, to advance by retreating, and force a peace with the other party, he had unknowingly turned to the last page of the battle report. At this point, the very last part, briefly mentioned, caught his attention.
"Hmm? They captured the White Sheep commander of this battle alive, and he's suspected to be a member of the White Sheep royal family?" Although the paper only cautiously mentioned this possibility, Manuel still had a bold idea.
"Keep this person under house arrest for now. After our army rests in Bayburt, I will personally interrogate him." After making this decision, he closed the battle report and turned to discuss rewards and punishments and the upcoming marching plans with the heroes of this battle.
Meanwhile, after Hamza and Sheikh Hassan, the two brothers who had fled back to Erzurum, counted their remaining forces and returned to their mansion, their limbs went limp. This was their first time being so badly defeated by Christians. "It's over! Four thousand troops when we set out, and now less than seven hundred remain!" Hamza cried out in a low growl.
"Yes, and fourth brother's fate is unknown... It's truly all over." Sheikh was also on the verge of collapse, speaking incoherently.
"So what do we do now?" Coming back to his senses, Hamza could only look at him in a flustered manner.
"Immediately send an urgent message to Diyarbakir, tell father!" Sheikh gritted his teeth and made a decision, "The current situation can no longer be concealed, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable. Also, summon our cousin who is still idling in Erzurum. Alas, we will need him next."
Listening to him, Hamza also calmed down and turned to send someone to inform their father, the White Sheep Sultan Kara Yuluk Osman, about the recent battle. Of course, the cousin was not forgotten.
As for their cousin, the root of all evil in the hostility between Bosporus and White Sheep, Alexander Komnenos. At this time, Alexander was in the city of Erzurum, comfortably enjoying the service of Armenian female slaves.
Despite the severe damage to the White Sheep's military forces in West Armenia, the area around Erzurum maintained a superficial calm. For example, Bagrat, an Armenian slave still herding sheep somewhere in the suburbs, was completely unaware of what was happening outside.
More precisely, he had dedicated his energy to learning new knowledge these days. In order to master them, he even secretly distanced himself from the Christian slaves he used to be familiar with.
That evening, after driving the sheep back and timidly avoiding the damned Kurdish overseer, Bagrat quietly came to Anagnostes's thatched cottage as usual. But he always felt that the atmosphere in Erzurum had become a bit tense lately. Was it his imagination?
Fortunately, tonight was as peaceful as ever, reassuring. Close to midnight, after finishing an evening's lessons, Anagnostes extinguished a candle in the room and began writing with paper and pen, scribbling something furiously on several sheets of hemp paper.
"By the way, teacher, what are these?" Bagrat pointed curiously to the papers Anagnostes was writing on. Ever since he first received instruction from the Greek old man, those densely covered hemp papers with beautiful characters had attracted his attention.
"Oh, these," Anagnostes was startled at first, then reacted and explained kindly, "They are just my humble works that I am currently brewing. Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."
"Uh," Bagrat became even more curious, "For Saint Mary's sake, please tell me, teacher. I swear to God, I promise to keep it a secret."
"No need, no need," Anagnostes waved his hand a bit awkwardly, then explained the content on the papers, "'On the Last Fall of Thessaloniki', just a short piece I boldly imitated from historians like Herodotus and Procopius. And it's only a manuscript for now."
"I see," Bagrat now also mastered spoken Greek and simple Greek writing, and had some understanding of the historians Anagnostes mentioned.
After chatting for a while longer, Bagrat got up to leave, planning to depart before the Kurdish overseer and Turkmen masters noticed. Just then, Anagnostes suddenly called out to him, cautiously informing him of a major event that had recently occurred, "Bagrat, have you heard? Erzincan and Bayburt have been captured by the Romans from north of the Black Sea. And they have also begun to grant rights and freedom to the local Christians."
"So, teacher," Bagrat was a little surprised, but not much, "Do you think they will come to Erzurum?"
Anagnostes nodded hesitantly.
"Teacher," Bagrat clenched his fists, his expression calm but with a hint of unwillingness, "I'm afraid they can't achieve what you imagine. The Turkmen have ruled us Christians here for so many years; they are not so easily shaken. If you had seen with your own eyes what these Crescent Sect followers do." With that, he disappeared into the night before Anagnostes could react.