The substance splashed onto the Turkmen Ghazi was a potent concoction specially developed by Manuel before his march into West Armenia. According to Bosporus Caesar Manuel, he had stumbled upon this effective counter-enemy method while reading classical texts from the Eastern Dynasty: pour faeces into a large pot, boil it in water until it reached a rolling boil, and then, when the enemy approached, directly pour it down upon them from above. It was easy to obtain, highly deterrent, and given the elegant name: Golden Juice.
As for its true source of inspiration and actual effectiveness, that was open to interpretation. At least today, Golden Juice's real-world application was remarkably effective, instantly scalding many Turkmen Ghazi to death on the spot. Those who luckily survived were severely wounded, and their festering, scalded wounds greatly intimidated the White Sheep heavy infantry still in the rear. This ultimately forced Mahmoud to send his personal guards to supervise the battle, allowing the assault to continue.
"Where did these Romans learn such disgusting tactics?" The stench from the filth being poured down on the front lines reached even Mahmoud in the central army, making the relatively young White Sheep Bey so nauseated that he instinctively pulled on his reins and retreated a few steps.
In reality, the defenders in the watchtowers and earth forts felt the same way. But out of fear of the Kafir and their duty as soldiers, they showed no mercy to the enemy, who had already begun to subtly retreat, relentlessly firing cannons, shooting arrows, and pouring Golden Juice at them. They successfully forced the White Sheep soldiers, who were about to approach the earth fort, to retreat several hundred Greek feet, leaving over a hundred bodies on the mountain.
Seeing that this offensive was about to collapse, an unknown rage welled up in Mahmoud's heart. He no longer held the same appreciation for the enemy, viewing them as mere playthings, as he had before the war. Instead, he genuinely wanted to drag those Christians out of their fortifications and torture them. Unwilling to accept defeat, he risked rushing to the front lines, protected by his personal guards, and ordered the subtly retreating army: "Warriors of Allah, are you willing to lose to the Kafir's strange tricks? Follow me, allah akbar!"
The Turkic Ghazi, easily moved by passion, saw their general, the Bey of the tribal alliance, leading by example. Their morale surged, and they felt ashamed of their earlier thoughts of retreat. They all returned to the front lines, enduring the defenders' stray arrows, cannon fire, and Golden Juice, fearlessly charging towards the Bosporus Army's fortifications.
But this time, they did not attack as before; instead, they adopted a strategy. Most notably, the heavy infantry acting as the vanguard raised their long-unused shields to block stray arrows and reduce splash damage from stone projectiles and Golden Juice.
And this time, the White Sheep Army's attack was effective. Although the cannon fodder and soldiers at the very front were either killed or wounded, the subsequent wave of Turkmen Ghazi reached the base of the watchtowers. For the wooden watchtowers guarding the earth fort, the White Sheep Army soldiers, having determined that the range was sufficient, unanimously decided to take out their bows and arrows. They coated the oiled arrowheads with gunpowder or saltpeter, lit them, drew them back on their bowstrings, and fired burning arrows at the defenders' watchtowers.
Due to the defenders' interference, only a little over ten percent of the fired arrows hit the watchtowers. But this was enough; upon contact with the watchtowers, the arrowheads quickly ignited the dry wooden structures. Upon realizing that their fortifications were on fire, the soldiers stationed in the watchtowers quickly took out prepared dust and other materials to extinguish the flames, which also forced them to weaken their defense against the enemy.
With the pressure from the watchtowers alleviated, the White Sheep Army's offensive became even fiercer than before. After nearly half an hour, the blades of the White Sheep elites, who had left few bodies behind, were less than fifty Greek feet from the central earth fort.
Seeing victory within reach, a Ghazi from a tribal background, eager to be the first to break through, let out a roar and, relying on his brute strength, lunged towards the top of the earth fort in front of him. But just as he was about to touch the earth fort, an opening suddenly appeared in it, from which a thin, long, hollow iron pipe flashed out. Before he could react, it fired a lead bullet, glowing with fire, directly striking the Turkmen Ghazi's brow, killing him instantly.
Along with this Turkmen Ghazi, several White Sheep soldiers who had led the charge also fell. They too were caught off guard by these new firearms suddenly emerging from the earth fort and died on the spot.
However, to the defenders' surprise, the White Sheep Army did not halt its advance due to this sudden factor. After a very brief moment of shock, these White Sheep soldiers, eager to seize spoils, military honors, and piety, continued to surge forward fiercely, looking as if they would not rest until they had conquered these fortifications.
"Saint Mary, how can these Crescent Sect soldiers fight so ferociously?!" Realizing that no matter what methods were used, they could not prevent the enemy from approaching the earth fort, the Bosporus Army officer commanding from within the earth fort couldn't help but wail. If it weren't for the need to maintain his dignity as a commanding officer, he would have almost burst into tears on the spot.
If this pace continued, the first line of defense designed by Bosporus in this sector would soon be breached by the White Sheep, completing the "feat" of collapsing several miles on the first day.
Fortunately, the subsequent developments did not spiral into the worst-case scenario. Just as the earth fort was completely unguarded, save for a few disabled watchtowers, and the remaining Turkmen Ghazi were about to swarm it, a sudden sound of footsteps and clashing metal, of unknown origin, came from behind Palantoken Mountain.
At first, these sounds were not noticed by many of the fighting soldiers on both sides. Even the White Sheep soldiers who did sense something simply assumed it was their own side making noise behind the mountain. But after a quarter of an hour, when groups of lightly armored soldiers with wooden crosses at their waists appeared on the mountainside and mountaintop, those White Sheep soldiers realized that these sounds were, in fact, enemy reinforcements.
Initially, Mahmoud, who was at the front, did not perceive the enemy reinforcements as a threat. But as the number of people on the opposite side swelled, the Bey quickly realized something was amiss.
"Wait, Allah, is the number of people on the other side... increasing?" Looking at the enemy soldiers taking out bows, crossbows, and firearms, he suddenly had a bad premonition. He frowned, quickly and subtly retreated, and positioned his Ghazi Warriors in front of him.
What happened next was much simpler. Under the long-range attack of an unknown but clearly large number of Bosporus reinforcements, coupled with the terrain, many brave Turkic Ghazi quickly became corpses or casualties, and even the hard-won front line was forced to shrink. As the enemy retreated, the pressure on the defenders within the earth fort also eased, and they began to peek out and counterattack.
However, even in retreat, the White Sheep Army did not want to easily abandon the gains of the first day. The result was a back-and-forth struggle, leading to a stalemate. This seesaw battle continued until evening that day, when the demoralized White Sheep Army finally retreated to the hillside, leaving behind nearly a thousand bodies whose fates were unknown. Thus, the Aq Qoyunlu Dynasty's offensive on the first day ended in an incomplete failure.