After the General's death, the Theodoro Army fell into leaderless chaos, with only a few lieutenants desperately holding on.
But their formation was quickly broken, and the entire army was scattered by Genoa's knights, practically on the verge of collapse, with all the supplies they had just acquired and those they brought out of the city strewn across the ground.
However, just as the Eastern proverb says, "A blessing in disguise," the supplies the Theodoro Army lost actually helped them prolong their struggle for a while, because now Genoa soldiers were also attracted by the supplies and began to plunder instead of kill.
Vargas was indifferent to his army's reaction, as it seemed clear they would win; as long as these 1,500 men were dealt with, Kerch city would completely lose most of its defensive capabilities.
So he boldly indulged his mercenary soldiers to plunder, without much obstruction.
At the same time, to ensure his side could completely annihilate these 1,500 men of Theodoro, he had the entire army form a circle to surround and trap the enemy, preventing their escape.
Although there was a shortage of troops due to attrition, making the encirclement thin, it was more than enough to surround these remnants.
It was already afternoon, and looking at the trapped enemy, Vargas couldn't help but laugh, "With such a huge advantage, and the cavalry almost upon them, how can we possibly lose now?!
Unless the Lord sends reinforcements from heaven for these heretics!"
As luck would have it, a batch of reinforcements did arrive, but they didn't descend from the clouds in the sky; instead, they rushed over from the two-city passage area to the west.
The arrivals were several legions totaling over 2,000 soldiers under Manuel.
After hearing that Kerch was besieged at noon, Manuel led his legions to Kerch without stopping.
By the time they arrived, it was precisely the critical moment when the Genoa army had gained the upper hand, so their arrival was perfectly timed.
Catching sight of the vast Theodoro Army to the west, the scout hastily informed Vargas of this urgent news, which almost made him spit out a mouthful of old blood.
"How many enemy troops? What is their equipment like? How fast are they marching?" Vargas immediately asked.
"General, the enemy numbers around 2,000; their equipment is not as good as ours, but still fairly decent; their speed is not slow, but at least sixty to seventy to eighty percent of them are infantry," the scout reported.
"Is that so?" Vargas quickly reacted, having the orderly relay his command to the army: "All troops, reform, the encirclement size remains unchanged, prevent the remaining Theodoro forces inside from attempting to break out, and prepare yourselves."
He then explained to his lieutenants: "The enemy is mostly infantry, and they will surely be fatigued upon arrival.
We will rest up, then wait for them at our leisure and crush them; by doing so, we are sure to win."
Just as the Genoa army was resting, attempting to wait for the enemy at their leisure, less than a quarter of an hour later, the Theodoro reinforcements led by Manuel approached them.
The Theodoro Army also slowed their pace, seemingly assessing them.
After the Theodoro reinforcements completely stopped and began to change their formation, Vargas, for safety's sake, remained still, until half an hour later, when he determined that the other side seemed to have no further movements and was temporarily resting, he ordered the entire army to charge these enemy reinforcements.
But halfway through the charge, the Genoa army discovered something strange: the front ranks of the Theodoro Army were all mysterious soldiers holding strange iron tubes, which seemed to be hollow, with a dark, gaping hole facing them, sending an inexplicable chill down the spines of some of the less courageous.
Then, the enemy General even shouted a baffling command, "Fire."
Unfortunately, they did not have more time to think in this life; the dark, gaping "muzzles" immediately spewed smoke and fire, followed by bloodied holes piercing the bodies of the front-line Genoa soldiers or their warhorses.
Some, even with the protection of armor, were shot through the chest by lead bullets, falling straight to the ground, blocking the advance of their comrades.
Looking at the fallen Genoa soldiers, Manuel's face showed a gentle smile, "What a pity.
Be more careful in your next life."
The Genoa army immediately fell into disarray, and cold sweat dripped from Vargas's forehead, "What is that?
Hand cannons?
No, I've seen hand cannons, and their barrels aren't that thin.
What on earth is this?"
His mind instantly reeled, and he no longer cared about the surrounded remnants, urgently calling all soldiers to block the advance of the Theodoro reinforcements, while ordering the entire army to continue advancing.
It must be said that the Genoa army's combat effectiveness was still very good; even after being intimidated by the mysterious "gun barrels" of the enemy, they continued to charge forward.
However, Theodoro's musketeers had no intention of engaging them in close combat; after firing one more shot within 50 meters, they all retreated behind the pikemen and cavalry, except for a few clumsy unlucky ones who were stabbed to death by Genoa.
Next came the engagement of cold weapons; the battlefield once again devolved into a brutal scene of flying flesh and blood.
Initially, due to the superior equipment of the Genoa army, they managed to win a few battles, and there were even signs of suppressing these reinforcements.
But just as they were entangled in combat, another message, whose outcome was uncertain, arrived.
"What is that?" Vargas and his men, having received the scout's report, looked intently to the north; it appeared to be a large troop of Tatar nomads wielding scimitars, but the leader was a Rus' man.
He immediately had a bad feeling and could only pray in his heart that they were just a regular band of horse bandits.
Unfortunately, the reality was not entirely the same as his prayer; one could even say it was basically the opposite.
This troop of Tatar cavalry was a cavalry regiment that Manuel had hired Tukharovsky to recruit, costing him many ducats.
The leader was indeed Tukharovsky, and they charged into the Genoa army's formation at an extremely fast speed, slaughtering the enemy infantry and completely shattering their advantage.
Vargas still wanted to maintain his formation, but with the counterattack of the previously surrounded remnants, the deterrence caused by the arquebuses, and the charge of the Tatar cavalry, coupled with their current significant numerical disadvantage, they began to retreat step by step.
Vargas's heart was bleeding; he knew he had been utterly defeated today.
To preserve his strength, he finally, with a ferocious expression, ordered the entire army to retreat in an orderly fashion, and repeated his old trick, leaving all the supplies behind.
But he quickly discovered, to his surprise, that these Theodoro reinforcements had not expended any energy on the supplies, because they didn't even pick them up; they just relentlessly pursued the retreating Genoa army, hunting down their soldiers.
Soon, this Genoa army met its own demise; under the enemy's pursuit, the Genoa army quickly devolved from an orderly retreat to a rout.
In the end, when Vargas counted the mercenary soldiers who successfully escaped back to the ships, he found that only 1/4 of their original number remained.