The Grand Emir himself rode out of the tent and looked at the entire battlefield: the new army of Tetisius and the pilgrims led by Conrad were divided into more than a dozen corresponding camps around Ankara, which cleverly covered their way to aid Ankara, and divided into two sides, the inner heavy siege and the outer heavy resisting his attack. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The southeast of his camp is the most likely place for Gawain to attack, there is a flat land, easy for Gawain to gallop with force, according to various previous information, his cavalry team against Gawain's red hand cavalry, not necessarily his opponent, not to mention that his own weak light infantry is the knife of Seleucia's fierce elite infantry.

After thinking about it, the Great Emir really couldn't find a reason not to retreat, so he summoned all the Atarbergs and Beys, and finally most of the people present agreed with the leader's decision, "Danishmund's advantage is in the mountains and deserts, and now it is better for us to feign retreat, so that we will not be attacked from both sides." Along the left bank of the Harris River behind us, we retreated all night, and then occupied the precipitous gorge around Fort Germanico, lured the enemy into a trap and ambushed them to annihilate them, and if the enemy did not come to pursue them, we chose another route - to threaten Nazar or Kayseri in the south, and force Gawain to withdraw from Ankara. ”

There should have been nothing flawed in such a plan, and Merrick was satisfied, and that night thousands of Sagitus cavalry, lightly armed with torches, like a roaring python, illuminated the waters of the Harris River for more than ten miles, and then the Grand Emir followed with his battalion and other cavalry towards the mountains of southern Paphragonia.

In the early hours of the morning, all the cavalry in front of them were horrified to find that on the opposite side of the Harris River, on the right bank, numerous torches had also been erected and marched towards them.

"What!" Merrick was furious, and when he himself rode to the banks of the river, he finally admitted that it was not the reflection of his own troops' torches, much less the mirages of the Gobi on the plateau—but the army from Seleucia, Gawain's army, with its cavalry, banners, and baggage, marching completely parallel to them: Merrick was going towards Fort Germanicos, and so was Gawain, and the two sides were across the Harris River.

That is to say, Gawain came, but he was not satisfied with removing his threat to the new army of Tetisius, as Merrick expected, and the great guarantor did not care about the gains and losses of Ankara's castle, nor did he stop tracking, and his message was clear and strong: "Don't run, fight me and see who on both sides can annihilate whom." ”

Everything is for the final decisive battle, such an idea is not prevalent in such an era, but Gawain does not care about this shackles, he relies on instinct and experience to form his own military philosophy:

"All military operations are in the service of a decisive battle between the enemy and the enemy, and the decisive battle has only one purpose, the complete or semi-complete destruction of all the enemy's overt or hidden military forces. If we do not have the conditions, we must do everything possible to avoid a decisive battle with the enemy army, and delay and deplete the opponent's decisive battle strength; On the other hand, it is necessary to create all the conditions for a decisive battle with the enemy. ”

"Damn, the whole army of cavalry is advancing with all their might, and we must enter Fort Germanico first, and occupy a good position to intercept Gawain's pace and movements." Merrick gave such an order, and nearly 8,000 Turkic cavalry of various colors suddenly increased their speed, marching for forty guli in one day and one night.

But the next day, when the tired Turkic cavalry was releasing the horses, they found that on the other side, Gawain's cavalry did not know when they would also arrive there, and continued to keep in line with them, and they were also releasing green.

Merrick looked at the formation on the opposite side, and when the red hand cavalry was released, the honorary cavalry dismounted and carried their spears in a garrison line, while their war horses were also gnawing or kneeling down to rest in an orderly manner.

This is indeed an elite cavalry team that should not be underestimated, and when Merrick saw that the light wagon of Gawain's cavalry was actually tied to the overturned boat, he couldn't help but shudder, "Change the previous order, the whole army of infantry and camp troops are all close together, in case Gawain's elite soldiers cross the river in a small boat and lose their baggage." ”

So the whole army of Danishmond slowed down completely the next day, and thirteen thousand men were close together, and the eyes of many soldiers were fixed on the boats on the opposite bank, looking very nervous.

"The enemy has been influenced and induced by us, Merrick has changed the marching order twice in two days, but we will not change, Branas, Leotius will lead the Guardian Brigade and the large detachment of Pyrinos according to the plan!" Under the Red Hand Banner, Gawain pulled the reins and laughed, "As for the Red Hand Cavalry, hand them over to Bramsson, let me keep running!" ”

With this order, more than a thousand Red Hand horsemen, guided by the Bramson banner, whipped their horses, their hooves fluttering and galloping, their respective mounts with billowing dust behind their tails, hurrying further north.

This situation made the army of Danishmund, who had gathered together, very anxious, for there was a river south of Fort Germanico, which was a tributary of the Harris River, which was very open, gentle, and the bed was so low that it was easy for men and horses to wade through, and it seemed that the cavalry on the opposite bank was going to cross the meanders and stop the army in front of Germanico and prevent them from entering the Paphragonia hills.

Many of the Beys hurried to ask the Great Emir what to do, and Merrick waved his horsewhip and said angrily, "When the enemy cavalry moves, we will move, bite and overtake them, and if they dare to cross the river to fight, shoot them with your horned bows at the halfway crossing!" ”

Flying under the wolf's head battle flag, countless Danishmund's cavalry, including the Sagitus, were all swaying their horse's heads and manes and howling at each other, they kept looking to the right, and Gawain's red-handed cavalry was also galloping, and the two cavalry teams were sandwiched between the wide and muddy river, parallel, running, shouting provocatively, overtaking each other, the dust that was stirred up covered the sky and the sun, and the light of the armor and the brightness of the battle banner were completely swallowed up.

Merrick also followed with a large battalion, sweating profusely, and it was the heat of the season, and the tail of summer was slowly grazing the peaks of the plateau, and unknown wildflowers bloomed everywhere, shattering and flying everywhere under the hooves of horses.

After walking like this for about half a day, until night fell, the cavalry on the opposite side looked very tired and set up camp one after another, and soon Gawain's iconic Red Hand Seven Ridge Banner also appeared in Merrick's field of vision, "Our men and horses have also reached their physical limit, release the sentry horses to monitor the opposite bank, and the rest rest rest on the spot." ”

Then the Danishmund sentry cavalry was divided into four scattered groups, arranged in the right and left directions, forming a large hollow rectangle, while the great emir and the large battalion formed a temporary fence with the wooden forks they carried, and lay down on the ground with saddles or blankets in the "big rectangle" and rested - as long as it was after tonight, and to-morrow could enter the castle of Germanico without any problems, and even if Gawain succeeded in crossing the river, there would be nothing to be done to them. (To be continued.) )