Young people are always so restless because they are vigorous and energetic, and Leo IV is obviously such a young man, and he is also an emperor, an emperor of one of the most powerful empires in the world, and the result of his restlessness is that he likes to take his army around on a personal expedition.

This war with the Bolgars was no exception, and the whole plan was planned by him, which also showed his extraordinary intelligence, but he did not know that his plan had been sabotaged, and he did not know that the detachment he had sent to cut off the back of the Bolgars had been wiped out.

On September 23, Leo IV's army of 50,000 men had been in ambush in Chorlu for five days, and there was a relatively narrow basin leading to Constantinople in Chorlu, and there were many towns and villages living around.

This narrow basin is about twelve miles long and five miles wide, and although the surrounding mountains are not high, there is no room for cavalry to detour, and the low mountain terrain and the width of five miles from north to south will also make the Bolgars ignore reconnaissance and ambushes, which is why Leo IV set the decisive battle site here.

Leo IV also had no other way, he did not dare to fight the Bolgars in the Great Plains, the cavalry of the Eastern Roman Empire was too small, most of them were infantry, fighting in the Great Plains was not good for the army of the Eastern Roman Empire, even if he won the battle, he could not catch up with the Bolgars who had a large number of light horses, the Bolgars had the right to choose the time of battle, and he only had the right to choose the geographical advantage, as for the people, in the Thracian region, there were no people on either side and this factor, The barbarians living in Thrace were forced to survive by the heavy taxes of the Eastern Roman Empire, and naturally did not have any good feelings for the Eastern Roman Empire, and the Eastern Romans here hated the Bolgars for plundering almost every year.

Lucis, the general of the Praetorian Guard, walked quickly to Leo IV's side with his sword in his hand and reported on his chest: "Your Majesty the Emperor, the Bolgars are here, twenty miles away from here, their march is very slow, it is estimated that it will take two hours to walk here, and it is strange that they only have five thousand cavalry, and the remaining twenty thousand people are all infantry, and there are a large number of cattle carrying a large amount of supplies behind them!" ”

Leo IV's eyes flashed, and he sneered, "Isn't this normal? They burned, killed, and plundered all the way, and looted so much that they could not carry all of them on their backs, but only horses and livestock! Very good, very good, the Bolgars are looking for death on their own, they have robbed so much burden, they will be defeated later, I see how they can escape! Tell me my will, order everyone to hide, no one is allowed to make a sound, and wait for them to enter the encirclement and then listen to my commands! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty the Emperor!"

The Bolgar army was slow, and many of them gave up their horses and chose to go on foot, carrying all the loot they had stolen on their horses and on the backs of their cattle, even though each of the five thousand cavalry had something on his back to some extent.

After two hours, more than 20,000 Bolgars finally entered the ambush circle of the Eastern Roman army, because the two armies were far apart, and the Bolgar army was densely covered with banners, Leo IV and the generals of the Eastern Roman Empire could not see that there were only a few Bolgars in this army, most of them were recruited barbarians, and Leo IV and the Eastern Roman generals were confused.

At the head of the horseback was Fatli and Golmut, the leader of the Unogul tribes, when Golmut turned his head to look at the low mountains in the distance on the left and right, he frowned and said to Fatli: "How do I feel that there is danger here, is it possible that Leo IV has ambushed the army here?" It's so wide here, even if they ambush here, it won't be of much use, right? ”

Fatley said: "You are wrong, you look at this place is relatively wide, but once it is arranged in formation, there is almost no room for the army to retreat and detour, if his army is large enough, I am afraid that this place will not be able to fit at all!" It seems that this is really the place where he set up an ambush, don't worry, we just need to resist for a while and hold on until the Khan King leads the army to come, and it will be a victory! ”

When all the Bolgars entered the ambush circle, Leo IV finally couldn't help but be excited, stretched out his trembling hand and drew his sword and pointed forward: "Attack!" ”

With the sound of a desolate bull's horn, dense Eastern Roman Empire soldiers appeared from the low mountains and forests on both sides, they quickly formed a military formation at the foot of the mountain, and at this time, a few miles in front of the Bolgars also appeared in support of an Eastern Roman Empire army, the soldiers of this army were all wearing heavy armor, holding spears in one hand, shields in the other, and short swords hanging on their waists, they lined up in a neat square under the orders of the centurion and the commander of the thousand and slowly advanced forward collectively, and they could feel the murderous aura from the pavement from so far away, yes, This was the phalanx of heavy infantry of the Eastern Roman Empire.

"Leo IV has indeed ambushed his army here!" Fatli and Golmut's faces changed, they were surprised that the number of troops sent by the Eastern Roman Empire this time far exceeded their estimates, a full 50,000 troops, which is not a small number, you must know that the Eastern Roman Empire still has a large number of troops stationed in Syria and Canaan, and these 50,000 troops are only the last force that Leo IV can use.

The Bolgar army stopped, and many people in the ranks found that there were enemies in the distance on both sides, and there were also enemies in front, forming a siege on three sides, and they all began to panic, and there was confusion in the ranks.

Fatli shouted: "Come on, pass the order, everyone is not allowed to hurry, we have reinforcements behind us, as long as we hold on for a while, the reinforcements will come, who wins and who loses doesn't know yet!" Let the people in the back pull the vehicles to the front, and go! ”

"Yes, my lord!"

Fatli said to Golmut again: "You go to rectify the people and stabilize the hearts of the people, most of the wild people here are recruited, these people are okay to fight with the wind, and now they are surrounded by him, they are afraid that they will not last long, so you need to stabilize the morale of the army, and I will be in front!" ”

"Good!" Golmut agreed to beat the horse and turned away.

The Bolgars formed a circular formation under the command of the fatli, with the cavalry in the center, the infantry on the perimeter, and the outermost part a large number of wagons and rickshaws loaded with supplies.

"Everyone listened, and all took their shields in their hands, and when they heard the order, they raised their shields, and the outermost people stuck their spears diagonally on the ground, leaving no gaps between the vehicles, which would be used by the enemy!" Fatley shouted at the command.

In front of the phalanx of the Eastern Roman hoplites, cavalry appeared one after another, joining them from both sides, and lining up as they walked, these knights were wrapped in thick plate armor, even the horses, they were armed with spears, and the spears were held around the horses' necks.

"Ironclad heavy cavalry?" Fatley's face changed again, although the number of these heavily armored iron riders was only three thousand, the visual shock they brought could definitely make the faint of heart urinate.

He felt a little glad in his heart, fortunately with this large number of vehicles, although they moved slowly, but now this situation arranged these vehicles on the outermost periphery, but they could effectively resist the charging of the heavily armored iron cavalry.

Fatli quickly understood Leo IV's tactic, which should be to charge the battle with heavy armored iron cavalry first, wanting to use the charging ability of heavy iron cavalry to break up the Bolgar army, and then use the light infantry on the left and right sides and the heavy infantry in front to flank the attack, and the heavy armored iron cavalry that rushed past the formation could turn around and block the retreat of the Bolgars and completely encircle them.

Fatley was right, Leo IV had intended so, and as his order was given, the three thousand heavily armored horsemen began to accelerate slowly, and the hooves of the horses trampled on the dirt and withered grass clippings, and the sound of a large number of horses' hooves was deafening, and these ironclad knights carried long spears, the heads of which glittered in the sun's rays.

The faces of the Bolgars, who were on the defensive, changed, and no one could not change their faces in such a situation, and no one could survive such an onslaught.

Fatley held his scimitar in his hand and shouted: "Hold steady, stabilize the carriage and cart for me, no one is allowed to retreat, and whoever takes a step back will be killed immediately!" ”

As the iron cavalry of the Eastern Roman Empire rushed over, the Bolgars at the front showed frightened expressions, and many of them already began to tremble, their hands were weak, and their faces were completely bloodless.

"Ahh

"Boom-"

The heavily armored iron cavalry finally crashed into the chariot and horse army formation, and the carriages and carts were completely knocked apart, and the Bulgars who controlled the car and the Bolgars behind the chariots and horses were all knocked away, but the first few rows of heavily armored iron cavalry knights also flew out from the horses, and the war horses were blocked, and they could not advance or retreat, but the iron horses behind were still sprinting at high speed, and the war horses in front were knocked down one after another, some were killed, and some were pierced by the spears inserted in the ground by the Bolgars.

After losing nearly a thousand people, the heavy cavalry of the Eastern Roman Empire finally rushed into the Bolgars, and the false Bolgar army composed of various tribes began to be chaotic, and the circular formation began to scatter, and the remaining heavy cavalry broke through the Bolgar army all the way, leaving a large number of corpses.

At this time, the Eastern Roman light infantry on the left and right sides had pressed up, they stopped for a while and began to collectively release arrows in a large area, and the overwhelming arrows fell on the heads of the Bolgars, causing a large number of casualties, and the heavy infantry in front also slowly approached, they lined up in a neat line like a road steamroller, and the Bolgars in front were stabbed to death, and they were holding heavy shields, and the Bolgars could not help them.

Standing on the hill and seeing that the Bolgars were surrounded on all sides, Leo IV was in a state of panic, and the encirclement was shrinking smaller and smaller, and he smiled and said, "The whole situation has been decided! ”

At this moment, a puff of smoke rose in the west, and a light cavalry of more than 10,000 men rushed from the rear, which was the main cavalry of the Bolgar army led by Trilig, a total of 12,000 horsemen.

These light cavalry were very fast, and they were killed before the Eastern Roman Empire army had time to react, and they used weapons to carry out close combat, and the main weapon of those Eastern Roman heavy cavalry knights was a spear more than four meters long, and they were attacked on the back, and they were hit hard before they had time to turn around, and they were cut off their horses.

The Eastern Roman heavy cavalry, which numbered less than 2,000 men, was quickly dissolved, and the Bolgars, who were surrounded in the middle, were demoralized and began to counterattack the Eastern Roman heavy infantry on the left and right and in front.

After the engagement, the archers were ineffective, but the light cavalry of the Bolgars could not stop firing arrows, and the morale of the Eastern Roman army began to waver, and it soon developed into a rout.

Leo IV's face turned pale, he had not prepared a reserve at all, he had just invested all his troops into it, and now the army's heart was shaken, the rout was already achieved, and there was no way to return to the sky.

The Praetorian Guard general immediately asked a few soldiers to carry him down the hill and flee with him.