Eagle Byzantium

Soon, fireworks were lit on the opposite mountain in response, and Kroto watched the situation change. After the fireworks were lit in both places, a large number of military servants and escorting soldiers began to appear at the mountain pass, with many mules, horses and vehicles in between, and they walked along the valley towards the direction of the Kobuha camp. Everyone knew that today was a critical day for the decisive battle, so it was extremely important to do a good job of logistics transportation.

Seeing all this, Kroto left the beacon tower, grabbed the rope ladder, and quickly lowered himself to the flatter mountain below. Facing the side of the hillside that was not in the sun, he struck the flint, lit the torch in his hand, and waved it continuously, making a "V" trajectory in the black air.

In the bushes at the foot of the mountain, rows of figures stood up from their hiding places: Tancred, with his long flaxen hair, which had not been cut since the disastrous defeat at Lepanto, led the remaining 250 Calabrian soldiers and 30 Normans with war horses to the top of the mountain.

Soon, the fireworks that continued to burn on the beacon tower printed the outline of Tancred's ambitious face. He looked at the long baggage train of the Mosul side in the valley below, and the Turkish camps around the Iron Gate Fortress, with only a few flames left, seemed to be sleeping quietly.

"Kroto, look, what do you think?" Tancred put one foot on the crenel of the beacon tower and pointed to a piece of connected trees and grass at the bottom of the steep valley below. That piece was relatively open and was the only way to the mountain where the Turks stored food.

"Their skills are just like fledglings compared to the warriors of Apulia." Croto mocked loudly. He easily saw the reflection of weapons and helmets where Tancred pointed. "Can this be called an ambush?"

"It seems that the enemy is not worth our fear, Croto. Launch a swift attack! You stay here, monitor the enemy, and take charge of the flags and musical instruments. I will go down and command the battle myself. The merit of seizing the enemy's key granary will belong to the Tver family." After speaking, Tancred swiftly jumped on his horse, and the forty Norman cavalrymen beside him also mounted their horses one by one. The rest of the Calabrian light soldiers formed a wide formation and stood on foot in front of Tancred, overlooking the hillside and valley below.

Then, Tancred clenched his fist and lowered his arm towards the narrow pass where the Acropolis and the Iron Gate Fortress intersected. A Calabrian archer thrust his arrow into the beacon tower, and then a red flame rose from the top of the mountain like a meteor, streaking across the dawn sky with a hissing sound. Then roars rang out one after another. Osdu, Pakade and his son, led 600 Armenian soldiers, one-third of whom rode various horses, pack horses, mules, and inferior horses, and the rest quickly followed on foot, scrambling to rush sideways towards the baggage train of Mosul.

Because the bald man Pak'ad had been hiding very well beforehand, he was only about 700 to 800 feet away from the Mosul troops, so he quickly rushed to a grain transport cart, waving his saber and riding a bad horse. The Mosul soldier escorting the cart had just raised his spear to stab when Pak'ad slashed his calf. The soldier fell backwards on the still-rolling wheel with blood splattering, crushing the spokes and rolling to the ground. The wheat cakes, flour bags and the rest of the soldiers all fell to the ground. Pak'ad laughed and stabbed with his saber like an agile venomous snake, quickly killing the soldiers who were struggling to get up, and blood was scattered everywhere.

The morale of the other Armenians was boosted, and they galloped on their horses. With the arrows shot by the following teams, they immediately broke the Mosul baggage team into several sections that ignored each other. The soldiers escorting these vehicles were not elite soldiers. Most of them were Khorasan farmers forcibly conscripted by Kobha. Facing the enemy's attack, they would only abandon the vehicles and rush to run around.

At this moment, the 500 Mosul soldiers who had ambushed there in advance, including their commander, were also scared. Many people holding weapons and flags saw the tragic situation of the baggage team in front of them being attacked, gave up hiding, exposed their positions, and stood up from the grass with their backs to the hill where Tancred was, ready to go to rescue, but they did not receive clear instructions, so they could only hesitate on the spot, and did not realize the danger approaching from the hill behind.

"Foolish ambush!" On the hill, Tancred drew out the long sword from the plain scabbard hanging on his belt, and led the way. Three hundred Calabrian soldiers shouted, divided into several columns, and rushed down unstoppably. Soon they broke into the grass behind the Mosul ambush. Their front row ran fast with hooks and iron forks, and kept whistling sharply to communicate with each other - this scene was just like the hunting of Norman nobles on weekdays.

The last dozen Mosul ambush soldiers who had just turned around were instantly knocked down by the forks, and then the Calabrian soldiers stepped directly over their injured bodies and continued to run forward, plowing more and more people. Those who arrived behind them picked up axes and chopped and hacked at the fallen people, harvesting their lives. At the end, Tancred was fierce and ferocious, with flaxen hair fluttering in the wind, leading dozens of elite knights, holding swords to guard the formation.

Instantly, the 500 ambushers were like animals being hunted. Those who should have been ambushed were attacked from behind. The people on the periphery were quickly chopped down and killed. The rest of the people gathered around their commander in panic. The Norman cavalry skillfully surpassed them from both wings and cut off the passages everywhere. Then it was a hunting game: the Normans surrounded them on horseback, three or five cavalrymen in a team, repeatedly and briefly assaulted and trampled, waving heavy weapons, which were covered with blood. About a minute later, all 500 ambushers were killed by Tancred.

Then, Tancred drove his horse and joined Parkard's troops who also achieved great results. "Don't run around, don't chase around. We have only one goal, that is the enemy's granary on the mountain. Rush up, seize and burn it!" When all the soldiers gathered together, Tancred did not hesitate, regardless of the abandoned enemy baggage and supplies on the ground, and shouted with his sword pointing at the towering mountain opposite.

At this time, from the Iron Gate Fortress to the Kobha Camp, the Turkic soldiers in various camps and forts were clamoring and running. They also realized that their granaries might be attacked by the enemy, so they came to reinforce from every place where they were stationed.

"Sir, a large number of enemy reinforcements have appeared over there." A cavalryman pointed to the large amount of smoke and dust coming out of the valley on the northwest side and shouted in fear, "Should we divide our troops to resist?"

"I repeat again, everyone must advance and not retreat, don't care about the enemy in any direction, just attack the mountain where the enemy's granary is!" Tancred shouted with a sword, ignoring the enemy behind him, and led all the people to move forward and fiercely kill along the mountain road. (To be continued ~^~)