"Your Highness, for five hours at most, must withdraw to Constantinople."

Giovanni whispered as he led the garrison past John. The attack on the Thracian region, according to the plan, was not the focus of this offensive in the first place, and it would be an absolute windfall if Burgasburg in Thracesia could be taken...... Or a miracle!

Naturally, John knew it. Moreover, the Phoenix Legion was commanded by Vasica, and the seasoned Wallachians would not make impulsive and risky decisions. By his side, there is also the most powerful secular knight Morey, who should not be in any danger.

The strength of the entire Phoenix Legion is definitely not something that ordinary Ottoman legions can fight against, once the Ottomans choose to divide their troops to support, then a small number of Ottomans may even be annihilated in the case of an ambush. It's like the Teutonic Forest......

Under the cover of twilight, the light infantry had already hidden in the grass beside the forest path, they were the initiators of the ambush, and then the heavy infantry and heavy cavalry concealed at the far end of the road, and then the two sides fought, and the light cavalry and archers attacked and fired. Vasika was in the midst of the light cavalry sequence, confident that he could command the battlefield while trying to take the head of the Ottoman generals.

This was certainly the best plan, and if Murad was really stupid enough to divide his forces to support Thrace and Thessaloniki, then John could really assert that the Ottomans were running out of popularity.

The siege of Burgasburg was launched in the middle of the night, and the defense of Murad II in the Thracian region was apparently not as important as in Greater Greece. However, Burgas still had a regular garrison of 3,000, which was still a tough bone to gnaw for a garrison of only 8,000 men. Fortunately, Giovanni did not have any psychological burden, and while the Burgas defenders were still defenseless, the legion was already within a few hundred meters of the castle.

After the entire legion was completely exposed to the moonlight, the Ottomans on the city walls finally reacted. Alarm bells and Giovanni's unintelligible language were sending a message at breakneck speed—a terrible siege was coming.

"My pagan friends, you're too nervous too." The scene in front of him made Giovanni want to laugh a little. It may really be that the Eastern Empire has been cowering in Constantinople for too long, and the defenders of Burgasburg, who are not on the front line of the Crusaders, have not reacted at this time, and they will be surrounded by the troops of the Roman Empire.

"Archers, crossbowmen, march forward."

The crossbow was a weapon that played a strange role in the history of medieval warfare. Europeans, who admired chivalry, were extremely afraid of this weapon that could penetrate thick plate armor, and there was almost no threshold for the use of this weapon, and it could quickly have formed combat effectiveness. This made the noble lords very angry.

So with the intervention of the Church, the crossbow bolt was forcibly withdrawn from the European medieval battlefield. However, because wars against the infidels (especially the Ottomans) became more and more frequent, the pope had already relaxed the decree that any attack on the infidels must be just, sacred, and the crossbow arrows were finally legal again.

Of course, John and Giovanni soon became heavily armed with crossbow arrows in the garrison and the Phoenix Legion.

"Concentrate on the city walls!"

The accuracy of the crossbow arrows had a huge advantage at such a distance, and the garrison corps, which had the superior number of people, immediately suppressed the city walls. Crossbow bolts can even pass through battlements, killing infidels behind the walls.

Immediately afterward, the rain of arrows thrown in a high arc made the Ottomans feel even more threatened. The number of defenders on the city walls was small, and most of them were still inside the city. And the archers who remained on the walls could hardly launch an effective counterattack. The garrison, pushing siege equipment, quickly approached the city wall under the cover of their own crossbowmen.

The thin rain of arrows and the occasional falling stone on the walls simply did not pose much of a threat to the Imperial soldiers.

Giovanni was even a little puzzled that things could go so smoothly, not to mention why the defenders of Burgasburg were so sluggish. It had been a day since they had set out from Constantinople, and the reinforcements from the inner city of Edir had not moved.

Unless His Royal Highness the Crown Prince breaks his oath and is still blocking...... Either the Ottomans intended to abandon Thrace - this possibility is almost nil.

……

Just two hours earlier, Mohammed, who had been fidgeting in the city of Edirne, had received the last thing he wanted to hear.

Next door, in Constantinople, there's a new move. Their troops, early in the morning, moved rapidly to the northwest. Almost without any thought, Mehmed II had already counted some errors in his father's judgment.

The Pope was convinced by rumors of the Ottomans' weakness, and Murad II was equally convinced that the Eastern Roman Empire was running out. For Greater Greece, it was the last struggle. Therefore, Murad II had already gone to Thessaloniki with a large army, preparing to recover Greater Greece and even launch an offensive on the Isthmus of Corinth.

Mehmed II had already advised his father, and the counterattack to his impulsive assault had taught him that the Eastern Roman Empire was a far cry from the cowards who had only cowered back a few years ago. The addition of fresh blood has raised their tactical level by countless notches.

Although, in order to prevent accidents, Murad II left Muhammad an army of 8,000 men to move at will, plus the defenders of the inner city of Edir, a full 15,000 men. However, Muhammad also knew that the standing garrison could not be moved at will, but the 8,000 men given by his father had a chance of winning in front of the Roman garrison, which was a great unknown.

It's a long decision. Thrace was already in danger, and it was risky to rush into the army......

"Your Highness, the troops that the Sultan has transferred to Great Greece are still on the way, can we make them ......?"

"It's too late. Even if we had caught up with that force, and by the way had obtained my father's consent, those damned Greeks would have already set up an ambush and completed the siege, and by the time we arrived, Thrace would have already ......."

"Then, the Sultan has an army of more than 20,000 people, and it should not be a problem to regain control of Greater Greece......"

"Take Great Greece? If he could capture it, his father should have led a large army directly to surround Thebes or Athens! Instead of just taking more than a thousand personal soldiers to Thessaloniki to set up a defensive line! ”

“……”

"Father is scared! Father was scared! Mehmed II suddenly stood up from his seat on the carpet in a fit of fascination, and even kicked the table in front of him with the delicate meal away, "The Greeks have no fewer soldiers in Epirus and Morea than we do!" Father gave up the offense and chose the defense! In front of a country that is already weak! Father actually chose to defend! He actually felt that my Ottoman army could not defeat the same number of Greek wastes in a frontal war! ”