"What a joke! I was about to besiege Sinop!" Manuel almost fainted from anger when he received news in the morning that the Ottoman army was about to arrive. In his previous life's terms, Sinop was already 42% to 64% besieged under the Bosporus Army's fierce assault, only a few days away from a complete takeover.
Then the Ottoman arrived.
Facing the impending formidable enemy, Manuel, leading the army at the front, couldn't help but twitch his mouth. There were two paths before him: the first was to continue gambling that Sinop could be taken within a day. But this seemed impossible, at least against Kandar's still-spirited defenders, he wasn't confident he could take it by force. Even if the Bosporus Army miraculously entered Sinop, an army whose morale was already low from the fierce assault would undoubtedly collapse at the first counterattack from the Ottoman.
As things stood, he could only take the second path: flee.
To be honest, Manuel was very confident when it came to fleeing. Having led his army in multiple strategic retreats, he firmly believed that as long as they ran fast enough, the mere Ottoman could only watch the Romans with wide eyes.
Thinking of this, he no longer hesitated, immediately displaying the spirit of escapism and ordering the entire army: "All troops, retreat!"
Upon receiving the Caesar's direct order, everyone from the General to the lowest soldier breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed their Sultan still had his wits about him; they had thought they would truly have to fight to the death in this endless assault. To celebrate their Sultan's wise decision, cheers of "Long live Caesar!" even erupted from several peasant militia units.
Thus, the Bosporus Army, which had assaulted for several days without success, immediately abandoned the attack upon receiving the order, began packing their bags and supplies, and prepared to swiftly retreat towards the Janik region.
If they were facing an ordinary enemy, the Bosporus Army might indeed have successfully retreated as usual this time. However, what Manuel didn't expect was that the intelligence he received was erroneous: the Ottoman army's march speed was much faster than they had imagined.
At this moment, Rom Pasha, the Deputy General of the Ottoman Ankara Legion, full of questions, asked his General with some doubt, "Anaftolu Pasha, why did you order us not to pursue when enemy scouts were discovered last night? What if they take our army intelligence back? Also, when you knew they were nearby, why did you order the entire army to temporarily halt its march?"
"Rom Pasha, aren't your questions a bit too many?" Arnavutlu Iskender Pasha asked his subordinate with some displeasure.
"Mistake, everything is for Allah and the Sultan." Rom Pasha explained his words and actions in this way, subtly rebuking this General who claimed to be from the mountains.
"Then I'll briefly explain," Anaftolu Pasha finally explained to this subordinate, who was in fact a military supervisor, "Rom Pasha, if you were the enemy, facing our rapidly marching army, what would you do?"
"Run immediately. Supplies and provisions are not as important as life," Rom Pasha replied without thinking.
"Alright, what if we deliberately slow down for a while in front of their scouts?" Anaftolu Pasha said softly.
"Of course, we would take it for granted… Wait!" Realizing this, Rom Pasha suddenly understood, but quickly reminded the General, "But Anaftolu Pasha, the enemy couldn't possibly send out only one team of scouts."
"Misleading the earliest team is enough. Just wait and see," A cold smile flashed across Anaftolu Pasha's face.
Just as he had thought, Manuel, who had barely finished preparing for retreat by noon, was completely stunned after receiving a new piece of intelligence.
"The Ottoman are suspected of speeding up their march and might arrive at Sinop by the afternoon?!" The young Caesar suddenly felt his vision go black. After accepting this fact, he immediately issued an urgent march order to the entire army, telling them not to worry about supplies and provisions anymore, "Withdraw immediately, right now, as fast as you can!"
To ensure a timely escape, Manuel, ignoring many things, even quickly moved to the rear guard, personally directing the rearguard.
But how could the Bosporus Army, which reacted incorrectly, compare to the Ottoman army, which deliberately misled them? That afternoon, on the suburban grassland some distance from Sinop's main city, Manuel and the rearguard he directly commanded encountered a unit of Turk-dressed Turkmen heavy cavalry for the first time.
"These are Sipahi cavalry…" Looking at this formidable heavy cavalry unit, Manuel immediately understood what kind of enemy he had encountered. Before, the Ottoman units he had encountered were mostly Janissaries and their auxiliary forces. And now, he also understood that the Bosporus Army had been completely caught up.
Seeing no hope of escape, he could only try his best to suppress his fear, shouting at these Ottoman to inspire himself and the entire army, "You dog-breeds, if you want to fight, then come!"
After shouting this, he immediately ordered the entire army to halt, stop retreating, and prepare for the enemy. At the same time, he had someone hand Serenus, who was still riding beside him as a guard, a scimitar and long sword, and told him to take the messengers to notify the vanguard and middle army, ordering them to move quickly to provide support.
"Sultan, I am just a civil official, I don't have their strength…" Facing the Caesar's order, Serenus was momentarily stunned.
"Then don't go to the battlefield! Since you've followed all the way here, get to work!" Manuel, in a fit of rage, roared, scaring his Chief Secretary into immediately accepting the order and complying.
Thus, when the main force of the Ottoman Ankara Legion arrived, they were surprised to find that their enemy, who had originally been rapidly retreating, had already formed a square formation, ready to fight them.
"They formed a formation so quickly?" Rom Pasha looked incredulous. His General, based on intelligence and his observations, made a corresponding judgment, "No, these Romans seem to still be organizing their square formation, otherwise there wouldn't be so many disorganized soldiers at the flanks. Give the order: have the Sipahi charge immediately, and the Janissaries follow up, directly crushing them!"
Soon, the Sipahi cavalry of the Ottoman army, following their General's order, immediately charged, starting this encounter battle. Facing the charge of the Sipahi heavy cavalry, the Bosporus Army initially sent out the Tatar Legion to intercept. But the Tatars, primarily light cavalry, could not stop the Sipahi, who possessed both speed and valor, and instead disrupted the pace of their own infantry.
Because of this, Manuel urgently ordered the pikemen and spearmen to advance and block, and had the musketeers and artillery fire lead and stone shot to try and break the enemy cavalry's defenses. But the enemy's Janissaries immediately followed up, not only effectively supporting the Sipahi but also directly cutting down the Bosporus Army's pike square. Without the cover of the pikemen, the musketeers and artillery were directly overwhelmed by the various enemy cavalry.
Soon, in less than two hours, all the legions of the Bosporus Army were routed by the Ottoman army, with mercenaries and militias directly fleeing the battlefield. Manuel, separated from his Filakas Imperial Guards, watched his side's defeat with despair in his heart. If not for his remaining sanity, he even felt that he would be brought before the enemy, humiliatingly shouting, "Stop fighting, stop fighting," and "I surrender, I surrender."
"But this is impossible, as long as I am alive, as long as I can return to Pontus or Janik, as long as I can reach that place…" While immersed in his thoughts, Manuel suddenly felt a sharp pain in his lower abdomen, then looked down to see an arrow piercing his right abdomen, and immediately fell into a coma.