"Impossible, impossible, Muzar, you must have seen wrong!" Giray exclaimed, his voice filled with disbelief.
"But Khan, there were indeed Golden Horde banners among those soldiers," Muzar quickly bowed and confessed.
Giray was about to say something more, but he was interrupted by Jaqmaq, a Circassian slave soldier who burst into the camp. "Report, Khan, Golden Horde reinforcements have arrived from the north, and there are at least ten thousand of them."
The central camp finally fell silent. After a long moment, Giray weakly waved his hand and ordered, "Even if it's the Golden Horde army, we cannot let them do as they please. Pack up, we're retreating to Kuba."
The generals and soldiers exchanged glances before cautiously withdrawing. After confirming that everyone had left, Giray could no longer control himself and furiously slammed his fist on the long table: "Why, why, why! If only I had a few more days, I could have driven these infidels away. Why did the Golden Horde army arrive now?! Shouldn't that bastard Tenek be resting with his troops in Bakhmut? Why are they here?! Unless, unless—"
Giray suddenly understood something. He paused for a moment, then forced out a very grim smile. "Someone asked the Golden Horde for help and used themselves as bait to lure my army here to be swallowed."
"In that case, everything makes sense," Giray said with a bitter smile. "Olubey, no, Manuel, was this also part of your plan? It seems I've lost again this time. What a troublesome and disgusting Kafir he is."
"But even so, I won't give up willingly." As he muttered to himself, Giray's eyes sharpened.
Subsequently, Haji Giray emerged from the camp with a cold expression, attempting to personally rally the entire army and persuade the generals and soldiers to follow him in relocating their positions.
But his persuasion was so powerless in the face of the Khanate's decline. The news of the Golden Horde army's imminent arrival had already spread throughout the army. Now, their Khan's encouragements, which seemed incredibly pale in the face of reality, were so weak and ridiculous to the soldiers exhausted from the siege.
And their sudden drop in morale was quickly noticed by Theodoro Army inside Adamakha.
"The time has come," upon learning that the Crimean Army outside the city was seemingly demoralized by the arrival of the Golden Horde army, Manuel in the city joyfully sprang from his seat. "Prepare my armor and weapons. It's time to rally the entire army."
Soon, most of Theodoro soldiers were gathered by Manuel within the stone walls, looking at their Prince standing before them, standing in high spirits, awaiting his speech.
As Manuel looked at the soldiers quietly standing before him, his heart was filled with joy, but even more so with nervousness, for this was his first impromptu pre-battle speech. He didn't know if it would turn into the awkward scene he had experienced in his previous life.
But after a moment, he composed himself and spoke with a serious expression:
"Although I would love to deliver a lengthy discourse like Demosthenes to you all, the situation is urgent, so I will be brief."
"As God bears witness, for over a year, we have been fighting against those vile and shameless Crimean Tatars. During this time, we have had victories and defeats, experienced pain and joy. But now, everything finally comes to an end!"
"According to the most reliable intelligence, the approximately six thousand Crimean Tatars outside the city are the last usable soldiers under Haji Giray, who was born in hell. And now their morale is at an all-time low due to the arrival of the Golden Horde Khanate's army. In other words, this is our best opportunity for a counterattack. We now have nearly four thousand men, (fairly) well-equipped, with good logistical supplies, and battle-hardened. We have no reason not to defeat those infidels from hell!"
"You must know, since an unknown time, these bastard Tatar infidels have been like incarnations of Satan, constantly acting as Tatars, plundering our wealth and grain, and abducting our loved ones. The mainland Tatars, bound by the Golden Horde, are not so bad, but these peninsula Tatars are all incarnations of demons. If it were before, we could only endure, but now it's different—
"Now, the final battle of this war is before our eyes, the opportunity to bring these lawless Tatars and bandits to justice is before our eyes! Do you want to flee or die? Will you fight for honor or flee in disgrace?"
As he said, the Christians in the southern part of the peninsula had been plundered by these nomadic peoples of different faiths ever since the rise of the Khazar Khanate. Manuel's soldiers were all local good people, and naturally, they were no exception. Incited by his words, the soldiers, who already intensely disliked the Tatars, extended their hatred to the Crimean soldiers outside the city, and coupled with the religious and cultural differences between the two sides, the Theodoro generals and soldiers now desperately wanted to sally forth and personally kill the enemy.
Seeing the soldiers' emotions stirred, Manuel was overjoyed. Then, enduring the pain in his heart, he made a promise that might cost him dearly: "Before going to war, I solemnly swear to God—I promise: whoever can definitively prove that he has cut off the head of a Crimean soldier, I will personally award him one ducat. For two heads, two ducats; however many heads are cut off, that many ducats will be awarded."
As soon as these words were uttered, the entire Theodoro Army was brought to a fever pitch. Seeing this, Manuel, estimating that the Golden Horde army would arrive soon, no longer hesitated and ordered the city gates to be opened. He then personally mounted his warhorse and led the army to a decisive battle.
This action by Theodoro temporarily intimidated the entire Crimean Army. Many Tatars, still in a state of depression and dismounted in thought, were instantly stabbed into a hornet's nest by the Theodoro Army's long spears, and then their heads were chopped off. But Giray was not to be trifled with; after being initially stunned, he quickly urged his soldiers to mount their horses and wield their swords, and personally led his army to fight against the Theodoro soldiers.
This was also within Manuel's expectations; in fact, it would have been unbelievable if Giray had been so scared that he simply rode away. He sent Tukharovsky to command the troops to intercept and kill the enemy, sent Aidian to guide the Golden Horde army, and had Posadas and a large number of Filaka soldiers gather around him to protect him.
"Why hasn't the Golden Horde army arrived yet?" Manuel thought, worriedly, after personally seeing signs that his side's advantage was subtly being leveled.
As if by chance, just as he began to worry about this, Tenek Emir, led by Aidian, personally led the Golden Horde Khanate's ten-thousand-strong army into the midst of the battle, directly tipping the scales, which were about to be even, in favor of the Golden Horde and Theodoro coalition. Seeing this, Manuel's spirits were rekindled, and he shouted, "Kill those Crimeans from hell!"
"Retreat, retreat, retreat!" As Manuel shouted these words, Haji Giray, who was nearby, finally could no longer bear it. He repeatedly led his personal guards and several Khanate generals, reluctantly abandoning the main force, and retreated eastward to Kuba. With the departure of the Crimean Khan, the Crimean Army, which he had barely managed to hold together, lost its backbone and was slaughtered under the swords and spears of Theodoro and the Golden Horde, with heads rolling. By the evening of that day, this decisive battle, which had long since devolved into a massacre, finally ended with the complete victory of Theodoro and the Golden Horde.
And at this time, autumn of 1431 was also approaching.