The one who flashed in front of him to protect him was Staurakios Posadas, whom he had recently promoted.
Staurakios Posadas first used his short spear to block the blades of the two enemies, protecting Manuel.
Then, while the enemies were stunned, Posadas roared, forcefully knocking aside the two scimitars, shielding Manuel behind him, and intercepting all three enemies—the one who had been grappling with Manuel and the two who had almost succeeded—in front of him.
Seeing their near-success thwarted, the three Tatar cavalrymen were enraged.
They raised their scimitars, intending to kill Posadas first.
The three began to circle on their warhorses, using their superb horsemanship, intent on dicing Posadas into mincemeat.
But Posadas did not directly charge at one of them with brute force.
Instead, when one Tatar cavalryman charged, attempting to finish him with a single blow to his warhorse, Posadas, like an otter swimming in a river or sea, nimbly turned his reins, changing the direction of both himself and his warhorse, causing the enemy to completely miss.
Before the three could react, he quickly got behind the Tatar who had just tried to kill his warhorse and pierced his armor and heart with a spear.
The remaining two Tatars, seeing this, were furious.
They abandoned their horsemanship tactics and charged directly at Posadas.
Posadas, however, showed a hint of fatigue, as he was not originally a cavalryman but was more skilled in infantry combat.
Yet, even so, he managed to fend off the two for a time.
But as time passed, wounds slowly began to appear on his body.
After circling for a while, Posadas deliberately exposed an opening.
A Tatar cavalryman, overjoyed, disregarded caution and charged forward on his horse.
But Posadas merely smiled coldly, then threw his short spear, piercing the Tatar's skull.
The last Tatar was both delighted and enraged.
Delighted that his opponent was now unarmed, enraged that he was the only one left.
But a great opportunity lay before him, and he could not ignore it.
He brandished his scimitar and charged with extreme speed.
Just as his scimitar was about to reach Posadas, both of his shoulders were suddenly struck by arrows, causing him to cry out in pain and drop his scimitar.
But this was not the end.
The whistle of a sword came from behind him, and in an instant, his head was cleanly severed by a sharp blade.
The arrows were shot by Aidian and another Filaka soldier, while the fatal blow was delivered by Manuel.
After dealing with these pursuing Tatars, Manuel and his men did not say much but headed straight for the Tatar Isthmus.
That area was currently guarded by Theodore's soldiers under Manuel.
About an hour later, at midnight that day, Manuel and his fleeing companions, dragging their hungry and weary bodies, finally managed to escape safely to the Tatar Isthmus's pass.
After mutual confirmation, he was finally able to embrace his exhausted body and enjoy the most peaceful sleep he had had in days.
Meanwhile, in Keziyar, through the interrogation of prisoners captured in the skirmish, Klier obtained some intelligence that they had not previously known much about.
"The Philaka Legion? Theodore purchased pagan slaves and had them convert to heresy to form it? Hahahaha," when he read this passage, sitting on the bench, he couldn't help but laugh from the bottom of his heart, "These Christians should throw themselves into the Black Sea and wash their brains.
What kind of rubbish are you, to even dare to imitate us Ottomans in forming an elite foreign army?
"Without professional instructors, without strong financial resources, without a specialized systematic training method, how can their combat effectiveness rise? How many people can they support?
In the end, it's just a monkey in a hat, not amounting to anything.
At most, they've raised a good-looking and fun honor guard," saying this, he tore off the page and stomped on it fiercely, "The same rubbish as those Western European barbarians who are keen on raising tin cans."
After a harsh ridicule, he continued to read, and he discovered a somewhat surprising piece of intelligence.
"Musketeers? So that slender, iron-made firearm is called a matchlock gun."
Klier nodded secretly in his heart.
This time, he had originally estimated casualties would not exceed 500, but in the end, 750 people died, including 25 Janissaries.
"New firearms, in the end, are not to be underestimated."
Klier first closed his eyes, then narrowed them slightly, and began to write a letter.
Finally, he considered summoning a few of his subordinates but ultimately gave up.
"Damn Christians, they actually blockaded the sea routes.
And the Crimean Khanate's useless navy, they can't even manage a slight breakthrough."
He cursed under his breath, "A messenger going by land, who knows how far they'd have to detour.
Lithuania in the west is in civil war, and the Golden Horde in the east has also blockaded us.
It seems this letter can only be given to Chandler Pasha after the war ends."
The Grand Vizier Chandler Pasha, whom he thought of constantly, was unaware of the current situation in Crimea.
At the end of last year, the Ottoman Grand Vizier, Chandler Ibrahim Pasha, who had privately dispatched this unit of Janissaries, had passed away from a cold at the age of 60.
He was the third Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Sultanate from the Chandler family and the first Grand Vizier under Murad II.
His successor as Grand Vizier was Ottoman Osman Džekle Danišmendoğlu Koja Muhammad Nizamettin Pasha, or Koja Nizamettin Pasha for short.
Not young himself, he was completely unaware that the elder Chandler Ibrahim Pasha had privately mobilized this small unit of Janissaries to support the Crimean Khanate.
Currently in charge of this somewhat awkwardly positioned Janissary unit was the elder Chandler Pasha's grandson, the younger Chandler Halil Pasha.
It was fortunate that in the current Ottoman Sultanate, the Chandler family held the highest position below the Ottoman family, which allowed them to conceal the mobilization of Janissaries, an act that was already slightly overstepping their bounds.
The next day, in Brusa, the younger Chandler Pasha, having just woken up from his ancestral mansion, first enjoyed the company of beautiful Greek and Slavic slave girls, and only then took his breakfast.
The place where he took breakfast was a Roman-style balcony that his ancestors had Greek craftsmen build, though unlike traditional Roman architecture, his then-pious ancestors had specifically added many Crescent Sect decorations to the balcony.
While having breakfast on the balcony, he also received intelligence regarding the Crimean Khanate from his subordinates.
After reading it once, he couldn't help but shake his head and sigh:
"What was my grandfather thinking? To mobilize the Janissaries just to curry favor with the Sultan? Alas, he was truly senile.
Now he's gone, and he's kicked the ball to me?
Allah above, what a thorny matter."
After complaining for a while, he forced himself to compose himself and not dwell too much on the matter.