As for Janik Bey Emir, who personally came to the battlefield to supervise the operation?
In fact, he was still in the central army tent, contemplating countermeasures, until the Bosporus Army launched a large-scale counterattack.
By the time he finished his deliberations and decided to postpone the offensive to maintain the current front, he noticed that the sounds from outside seemed somewhat noisy.
At this very moment, the Janik commander he had appointed burst into the tent, reporting in terror: "Your Highness, something terrible has happened! Those damned Christians brought out a reinforcement army from who knows where, and now our and Kandar's frontlines have completely collapsed.
Your Highness, quickly order a retreat!" With that, the commander briefly reported the situation on the front lines to his sovereign.
Upon receiving his subordinate's report, Emir was completely dumbfounded.
Although he had anticipated an enemy counterattack and could roughly hear the clashing of weapons outside the tent, he had not expected the enemy's actions to be so swift, nor his own side to collapse so miserably.
"What a joke? Even if the enemy had launched a counterattack this afternoon, it would be impossible to reverse the situation in just two or three hours.
We and the Kandar people combined have 8,000 men; even if they were 8,000 pigs, it would be impossible to catch them all in one afternoon!
What's more, the two of us mobilized nearly a thousand Ghazi Guards; how could this possibly…?"
Before he could finish, the central army tent he was in was struck by an artillery barrage from the enemy, kicking up dust.
Although the artillery's accuracy was so poor that it caused no effective damage to the tent or the people inside, the feeling of walking on the edge of death just now instantly brought Janik Bey back to reality.
Instantly understanding the truth of the matter, he immediately had his servants prepare his horse, gave a few perfunctory orders to his subordinate generals, and then had his personal guards cover him as he quickly fled the battlefield.
Emir's direct flight, in fact, had no impact on the battle, as the Turk allied forces, whose decline was now fully evident, were already collapsing like a landslide, and nothing could salvage the situation.
As for the platitudes he had given to his subordinates, they served no purpose other than to encourage them to hold the line on the battlefield to cover his retreat.
Even the most loyal Janik officers, after a few clashes with the skilled Bosporus Army, had their psychological defenses shattered by the enemy in this life-or-death situation, and very simply abandoned their armor and weapons, attempting to escape.
But under the pursuit and annihilation by the Bosporus Tatar Legion, most of them were either killed, wounded, or captured, with few able to escape from the Giresun area.
Tukharovsky showed no mercy or slackness towards the shattered enemy.
While sending Balin to pursue the fleeing remnants, he also led his general Dungar in an active attack, personally leading the charge, and cooperating to annihilate or capture all the enemies.
The next day, Caesar Manuel also arrived in Giresun with the remaining main force.
On this day, in addition to the cheers of the soldiers and civilians, he was greeted by a battle report from his generals that greatly satisfied him: according to current rough estimates, the Bosporus reinforcements led by Tukharovsky and others had annihilated or captured nearly 7,000 enemy soldiers, while their own losses were basically less than a thousand.
However, the situation for the Giresun garrison was relatively worse; out of over a thousand men, fewer than three hundred remained after the battle.
In response, Manuel first highly praised the achievements of the reinforcements, instructing Serenus and other accompanying military officials to record their merits.
Subsequently, he personally met with the brave soldiers of the garrison, rewarded their commanders, and promised them that if they continued to maintain such spirit, they would be granted corresponding noble titles and fiefdoms.
These words were also spoken for the other soldiers under his command.
After doing all this, Manuel, sitting in the Giresun City Hall, pondered the next strategic direction with a serious expression.
"Next, we must prepare to enter other countries' territories.
But," he sighed, hesitating whether to follow the original plan and invade the territories of Janik and Kandar, "these two are nominally vassals of Ottoman."
While Manuel was considering his next move, in the city of Ordu, the capital of Janik Beylik, Janik Bey Emir, who had fled back to his old lair, was sweating profusely as he meticulously shared everything that had happened on the battlefield yesterday with his ally and colleague.
"So," upon learning of their miserable defeat, Kandar Bey Isfendiyar almost lost his composure, "we each sent out 4,000 troops, a total of 8,000 men, of whom over 7,000 were lost at the border, and only less than 800 men and a few generals escaped back?"
Emir nodded awkwardly.
Isfendiyar felt he almost fainted on the spot from anger, "Emir Bey, among these 8,000 men, there were 1,000 Ghazi Warriors we jointly deployed.
Are you kidding me? Our 4,000 men here are 60%, no, over 70% of Kandar's army!"
"My 4,000 men are 90% of Janik's troops," Emir mumbled.
But Isfendiyar Bey seemed not to hear his response.
After a long while, he barely managed to suppress his anger, "So, what do we do now?" The old Bey asked his colleague with a stern face and a questioning tone.
"At this point, we cannot resolve this incident with our own strength alone." Emir shook his head like a block of wood, but his eyes quickly sharpened, "So, we can only go to them for help."
"Them? Who? The Genoese? I heard the Venetians also seem to be involved in this war; it would be good enough if the Genoese could just hold them back." When it came to Genoa, Isfendiyar was not in a good mood, because the port of Amastris, not far from his capital, had long been controlled by the Genoese, thereby suppressing Kandar's trade development.
"No," Emir shook his head, "compared to a commercial Republic with no credibility, shouldn't we rely more on the troops of our liege, the Sultan?"
"The Sultan in Edirne? It'll be too late, won't it? By then, our lands will have been ploughed over several times by the infidels." The old Bey held no hope for this, nor did he have much affection for the Ottoman Sultan.
Although he was nominally an Ottoman vassal, it was only in 1423 that Murad II incited one of his sons and a local governor to defect to the Sultanate with several southern cities, for which he even risked a fight with his liege.
Of course, the result was a perfectly predictable defeat, and the only thing to be thankful for was that Murad ultimately tolerated his transgression and allowed Kandar to continue existing.
"No, no, no," Emir smiled, refuting his statement, "without a direct order from the Sultan, as long as we can persuade the troops stationed on the Black Sea, this defeat will ultimately only be an interlude."
"Emir Bey, are you mad?!" Isfendiyar found Emir's idea unacceptable, "That unit is the Janissaries.
And their commander, that Pasha, although nominally stationed on the Black Sea, they are actually sent by the Sultan to monitor us, and no one can mobilize them without a direct order from the Sultan…"
"I have some acquaintance with Muhammad Ozil Pasha.
Moreover, as Janik Bey, personally appointed by the Sultan with land, I have some say in this matter." At this point, the smile on Emir's face turned sinister.
"You are playing with fire!"
"As long as we can avoid defeat, this small price is insignificant." Emir made up his mind.
Realizing he couldn't convince his ally, Isfendiyar lowered his head somewhat dejectedly.
After a moment, he tried to refute the other party again, "Can't we not go to him? I remember Arnavutlu Iskender Pasha, one of Ottoman's generals, is currently in the Ankara area.
If we report to Edirne, and the Sublime Porte reacts in time, the Sultan should send him over…"
"It'll be too late; what if these infidels step onto my territory first?" When discussing this, there seemed to be a furious glint in Emir's eyes.
"This is a rogue action; the Sultan will not let us off."
"Our rise or fall, depends on this one move."