Kara Osman's furious denunciation of his enemy was due to the Bosporus side having set up several difficult-to-breach defensive lines within less than half a month, relying on the mountainous plateau terrain in the southern area of Erzurum.
For example, the first defensive line facing the White Sheep Army consisted of a series of earthen forts and watchtowers built by the Bosporus Army along the Palantoken Mountain range. What infuriated the White Sheep Turkmens even more was that the foundations of these fortifications were originally constructed by the Turkmens when they controlled the area. In other words, in a sense, the Bosporus was using the White Sheep's own fortifications to defend against the White Sheep's attack.
Using the enemy's previous preparations against them is actually a common occurrence in warfare. What truly angered Kara Osman was how quickly, in just over a week, these Romans had taken over all the facilities he had left in Erzurum, effectively turning the tables.
"So what exactly were my two sons doing in Erzurum?!" At this thought, the White Sheep Sultan gritted his teeth in anger.
So, given the current situation, should they try to bypass the mountains from the east or west? Such a march would surely be detected, and who knew if the Bosporus would ambush them with more infuriating legions or fortifications on either side of the mountains.
After much deliberation, Kara Osman finally decided to directly break through these fortifications. Although the White Sheep Army, transformed from tribes, was not particularly skilled at siege warfare or dismantling fortifications, Kara Osman had encountered such situations many times before on the border between Mashriq and Syria, so it was not an impossible task.
After dispatching a large number of scouts for a full night of continuous reconnaissance, the next morning, Kara Osman, having received relatively clear intelligence, made a decisive move. He personally led an army of eight thousand towards a relatively recessed area in the central part of the mountains, intending to destroy the first line of fortifications in front of them in one fell swoop.
As the White Sheep Army launched its massive assault, the Bosporus defenders, having received reports from their own scouts and seeing the enemy surge forward like a dark cloud, immediately dispatched messengers to inform the commanders stationed in the rear. They themselves sharpened their swords, strung their bows, polished their spears, checked their firearms, and then took cover inside the forts or ascended the watchtowers, preparing to hold their ground against the enemy using the fortifications built into the mountains.
After about fifteen minutes, Kara Osman ordered his third son, Mahmoud, to lead 4,000 tribal warriors of varying quality as the vanguard to attack the enemy's defensive fortifications.
At first glance, the fortification in front of the White Sheep Army appeared to be an inconspicuous small earthen fort, surrounded by four wooden watchtowers of varying heights and distances, none of which were particularly prominent. Hidden on the mountainside were also obstacles such as chevaux de frise and caltrops, designed to deter cavalry. An inexperienced commander's first reaction would likely be to have heavily armored infantry lead the charge.
But the battle-hardened Mahmoud understood that the true part of this fortification must be hidden underground, integrated with the mountain itself. In other words, the earthen fort in front of them was actually more akin to a bunker. If it wasn't, then the periphery would surely not have just these few watchtowers, but also earthen walls, ramparts, and other fortifications as auxiliary defenses.
After having sharp-eyed archers go forward for a distant look, Mahmoud confirmed his suspicion: several black, large, hollow iron pipes were exposed near the ground of the earthen fort, possibly the enemy's commonly used cannons; and on the wooden watchtowers, a squad of soldiers was concentrating intently, either drawing bows with arrows, or holding torches towards the cannon barrels, or stirring something unknown in large cauldrons.
"As expected of the Christians who penetrated deep into West Armenia in just a few months; they are quite different from the Romans we usually see in Pontus," Mahmoud couldn't help but praise his enemy.
Unfortunately, based on past experience, their White Sheep Army had long anticipated this. After this praise, he immediately, under the pretext of "Jihad," ordered the conscripted soldiers in the army to step forward to cover the true elite troops. These conscripts were scattered Turkic nomads, common throughout Anatolia, both pious and barbaric. Although nominally obeying the White Sheep Sultan's command, they caused no less trouble for his father than the Ottomans or Timur, and were not as important to the tribal alliance as those tribes that were docile and obedient to the White Sheep royal family. They were perfectly suited to be used as cannon fodder here.
After the accompanying mullah led them in prayer and promised them seventy-two "little raisins" granted by Allah in paradise, these cannon fodder troops, driven by their piety and savagery, rushed headlong towards the enemy fortifications with rusty scimitars, shouting "allah akbar."
Although the White Sheep Army's true objective was unclear, the Bosporus defenders had no intention of letting them go. After confirming that this group of nearly a thousand cannon fodder had entered their firing range, the cannons exposed outside the earthen fort roared violently, spewing out stone projectiles of various sizes towards the enemy with flames shooting to the sky, pulverizing the foremost Turks into bloody chunks of flesh. The defenders on the watchtowers also rained arrows and small stone projectiles upon the enemy, cooperating with the earthen fort defenders to kill the encroaching foes.
While the Bosporus defenders were actively annihilating the enemy, the White Sheep Army led by Mahmoud was also closely observing the enemy's defensive methods. "The weak point of the earthen fort, it's there." After confirming the gap in the earthen fort based on the direction of the enemy's cannon fire, Mahmoud immediately mounted his horse. And after scouts reported that most of the defenders' obstacles had been destroyed, sensing the opportunity, he immediately ordered the entire army in the center to charge, intending to take down this fortification in one swift blow.
Soon, the defenders, who had been using the Turkic cannon fodder as targets, unpleasantly discovered that the enemy's elite troops were shouting "Allah is Great" and charging towards the earthen fort. These elite White Sheep soldiers were all clad in scale armor, wielding long sabers, and carrying quivers of arrows on their backs. Among them, the Ghazi Warriors, influenced by their Sultan, had even grown braided hair, imitating their ancestors from a century ago, which stood out even with helmets covering them.
To adapt to the mountainous terrain, they, who usually rode warhorses, specifically dismounted to fight on foot. The more agile among them quickly bypassed the corpses left by the cannon fodder and swiftly moved towards the blind spots of the defenders' cannons. After ensuring that the enemy's cannons would certainly not hit them and stray arrows would not strike vital points, he immediately took out a bow and arrows, swiftly coated them with something difficult to see, and then shot towards the enemy watchtower.
Soon after, visible flames erupted in the middle of that watchtower. But just as he was congratulating himself and preparing to shoot more flaming arrows, he suddenly heard the sound of liquid flowing above his head. As he curiously looked up, a basin of scalding, foul-smelling, disgusting filth mixed with solids poured all over him, and this brave Turkic Ghazi was quickly scalded to death on the spot by this unknown solid-liquid mixture.