Chapter 350: First Confrontation

"Run! The Turks are coming!"

A group of Turkic cavalry had entered Rome. They robbed property and killed residents, but because they retreated too quickly, they could only burn their houses and destroy their fields to vent their anger.

"What bad luck! I thought there was treasure, but there was nothing."

"Me too. I found nothing except a few broken bowls."

A group of 15- and 16-year-old cavalry complained in a ruined Roman village. They didn't have anything they wanted, not even girls. They were too poor.

But just behind the ruins, a crossbow was being strung up. After it was ready, it was aimed at the Turks. With a whoosh, it went off the rails and hit the horse.

"Who are you? Come out!"

They waved scimitars, which caught them off guard. They tried to scare them off in this way, but they were obviously wrong. Dozens of arrows flew at them. How could these children face so many attacks? They were shot and fell to the ground. Some of them wanted to escape, but their horses were tripped by ropes from nowhere, and they were also tied up and caught.

"Do you know who I am? My father is an important official of the Sultan. You will all die a miserable death."

This man may not have thought that he was arrested now. Although the two sides did not speak the same language, his expression was infuriating.

"You burned our homes, trampled our crops, and tried to turn us into your slaves. It is God's will that we caught you today. We will punish you, punish your greed, and punish your arrogance."

"Village chief, why waste words with him, kill him."

After sentencing him to death, they directly sentenced this man to death. Including digging out eyes, cutting tongues, cutting off limbs, etc., whatever they wanted to vent their anger. In the end, they burned him alive.

When the residents were relocated, some people volunteered to stay to fight against the Ottomans. They formed guerrillas, hid in various places, and attacked lone Ottomans everywhere. They killed the older ones and tortured the younger ones before killing them.

Georgian King George VII sent troops to assist Alexios, and at the same time sent gifts to the Golden Horde and the Timurid Empire to express friendship.

The eastern army was coming aggressively, and Constantinople was also preparing for war. Peter and Vlad led the army to Ancyra, ready to face the Ottoman army; while Michael dealt with Georgia and Trebizond alone, these two were soft persimmons, so Michael practiced his hands.

Muhammad went with his ministers, concubines, attendants and others, leaving only a part of the people to guard the city. He had already obtained accurate intelligence. At this time, there were only 6,000 defenders in Ancyra and only more than 10,000 ordinary people, but there were countless food supplies. It seemed that the other side also realized that they would have a war sooner or later, so they stored supplies here first.

"Tell the army that as long as they break through Ankara, they can take the things inside."

"Yes"

The previous rainstorm has gone away, the ground has begun to dry, and the marching speed has accelerated. The Ottoman cavalry can be seen outside the city of Ancyra, but the large siege equipment is still on the way. At present, we must surround them first, leaving them with no way to retreat.

Woick encouraged the soldiers on the city wall, and the bishop in the city also blessed every soldier.

"Your wives are here, your children are here. The pagan army is at the gates of the city. For your family and for the empire, fight with me!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The Ottoman army outside the city had looted. Although there were some treasures, the most important food was gone. Only a bunch of pigs were left here.

The soldiers could only watch but not eat. They were all apostles of Allah, so how could they break the rules?

The cavalry naturally could not attack the city, so they could only loot around. Wojcick sent a lot of Cossack cavalry to fight, and both sides won and lost.

————Dividing line————

Mikhail in Dehrim also received the news that Georgia and Trebizond had declared war, and decided that he would lead the troops to attack. Peter sent someone to send him a letter, asking him not to force it, just to contain it.

"Brother is worried that I can't complete the task, but I am no longer the same person as before."

In recent years, with Michael's initial governance, Dehrim has changed a lot. Many people settled here, and in order to gain more population, Michael encouraged the residents of Lithuania and the Golden Horde to migrate. Including Bulgars, Khazars, and Rus living in Kiev. Not far from Dehrem, a new town rose from the ground. The local people called it Luhansk, and Michael also recognized this name.

Settlements of all sizes were established, and trade began to circulate in various places. Caravans and farmers appeared in this somewhat desolate place, nomads began to settle, and residents along the Don River fished and traded. The whole place was thriving.

After receiving the order, Michael immediately asked people to assemble the army and prepare to attack Trebizond directly by sea.

Both sides began to make moves, and other countries were watching and ready to take action.

The Mamluks kept providing food and supplies to the Ottomans. He had sent troops into the Levant region, but the local business was basically controlled by Roman merchants. As long as Rome was defeated on the battlefield, there would be no pressure for him to annex here.

European countries were watching, too. It was always a shock to see the pagans send the largest army in history to attack Rome. Neighboring countries such as Austria and Florence watched how Rome was defeated, and some casinos even set up special bets. Many people thought that Rome would lose so that they could divide up its land and wealth.

But Rome's allies were more enthusiastic than the others. Naples King Laszlo assisted a fleet and 2,000 soldiers, Hungarian Queen Mary funded 20,000 cavalry, Prince Bozzoni also supported 10,000 cavalry, and the Cossack chieftains supported a large number of cavalry. Although there were few allies, they were all powerful allies and reliable with those alliances in Western Europe.

The Ottoman vanguard of 20,000 had arrived in Ansela. In order to seize the city first, Ali, the leader, directly ordered an attack, but how could their field army adapt to siege warfare? When they reached the city wall, they had lost most of their troops.

The walls of Ansela were upgraded and renovated, using the strongest stones, the foundations were rammed, and the artillery reserves were the first in Anatolia. After finally setting up the ladder, they were either hit by stones or stabbed to death by hooks. By dark, the vanguard was less than a quarter. This made Ali very angry, and he could only wait until the main force arrived.

But they didn't expect that Ansela would launch a night attack, which was spontaneously organized by the Cossack cavalry. As a result, the already low morale of the Ottoman army was dispersed by less than 200 Cossacks, and important personnel such as Ali were captured. The vanguard was completely wiped out.