Hundreds of years ago, the Empire had rarely seen such a tragic positional decisive battle.

Although the Greek army led by Latius and Thomas successfully ambushed the Ottoman vanguard, when the Ottoman cavalry was about to be killed by the imperial soldiers, the Ottoman infantry suddenly arrived on the battlefield. Latius's original plan was to completely surround the Ottoman army that was pursuing out of the city and kill all of them, but unexpectedly, Murad only left 500 people to symbolically defend the city and used all the remaining troops.

The Roman legions were soon overstretched, and a bloody battle broke out between the two sides in a small lane made of infantry.

In today's field battlefields with cavalry as the main force, large-scale infantry battles are too rare.

At this time, the strength of the main army of the Ottomans was finally revealed.

The Ottomans, who were inferior in numbers, closed the gap in a very short time, and the Greek peasants obviously did not have rich experience in battlefield fighting, because some of the peasants were arranged by Latius as bait to lure the Ottomans, and at this time, the front-line peasants were quickly killed by the Ottomans.

The Ottomans, on the other hand, were front-line infantry with heavy armor of the Sultan's Guards, a mixture of chains and pieces of iron, who frantically wielded their scimitars or long-handled battle axes to quickly cut the poorly armed Greek peasants in two.

The first front has been pulled to pieces, leaving behind the vast majority of the corpses of Imperial soldiers. The fighting power of the Sudanese Guards in such battles is extremely terrifying.

"Latius ......"

Thomas pulled the war horse under his crotch and slashed left and right with his long sword, barely reaping the lives of the two Sultan's guards, and had to retreat to the rear army because of the rapid counterattack of the Ottomans.

"Latius...... The disadvantages are too obvious. ”

"I know." Latius stood on a slightly raised slope and observed the battlefield, the Morean soldiers in the front row had almost lost all casualties, the small advantage of the Imperial army in numbers had long since turned into a disadvantage, and even, an encirclement around the Imperial legions was slowly forming.

It was the most unstructured field operation that Latius had ever commanded. There is no flank support, no ranged support, only the most primitive and brutal fight between infantry and infantry!

There were corpses everywhere, severed limbs everywhere, blood staining the entire trail red, then covered with new corpses.

"We must keep our army to defend Greece and the Moreah. And I'm sure there must be more Ottomans on the way. If their reinforcements arrive, then there is a good chance that we will be wiped out! ”

Latius did not speak.

In the second line of defense, the regular army of the Imperial Legion finally stabilized the situation temporarily, although the battle damage of the two sides had reached the point where it was impossible to look at it directly, but now this kind of hand-to-hand firefight, there was no possibility of retreating at all.

The remaining Imperial hussars were still harassing the Ottomans' second-line troops. The Sultan's own soldiers had a lot of experience countering cavalry, but the other ordinary soldiers of Thessaloniki were not as strong in combat, and the cavalry could still deal considerable damage.

It seemed that the Ottomans had decided to kill, and the leading Ottoman generals had no intention of taking a step back. Their purpose was clear – to make the Greek coalition forever history.

"Lord Sultan, you overestimate those Greeks."

The Sultan, who had received the report of the war on the fast horse, delivered it to Murad II with his own hands. Murad II gave him a cursory look, but his face was still serious.

"It's been three hours...... Where are our reinforcements? Why, from Edirne to now, we have not received any news! ”

"Lord Sultan......"

"Answer me!"

……

"Duke Latius! We need reinforcements! ”

"Duke Latius!"

The Greek legion's front had gradually fallen, and the encirclement had become a semi-arc. Although the Sultan's own soldiers also lost more than half, the Greek legion of nearly 10,000 people was less than 4,000 at this time!

"Prince Thomas...... I have ordered the mobilization of all the defenders of Athens and Thebes...... Although there are not many of them...... We're going to hold on, and at least when reinforcements arrive, we'll have a chance to keep some troops and withdraw to safety. ”

"Why is this happening?"

"It has to be said that the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Legion ...... It's no longer the empire it used to be. The Ottomans, on the other hand, grew stronger...... The Empire's army must change. ”

……

"Vasika, how long has it been."

John, hiding behind a boulder, glanced at the sky.

"Your Highness...... About twenty-one hours. ”

After a long day of ambushing in the jungle near the city of Edirne, John was convinced that Murad II was adamant that the Imperial garrison would not be able to capture Thrace, and that he had placed all his defensive focus on the city of Thessaloniki in Greater Greece!

If this conjecture is true, then the Great Greek coalition will face great pressure from the main Ottoman army of more than 20,000.

I'm afraid that the total number of troops deployed in the whole of Greater Greece is no more than that!

"Vasika! Assemble the army. ”

"Your Highness...... Are we going to help General Giovanni in the siege? ”

"Rapid March...... Discarding all unnecessary baggage, carrying half a day's rations, we went...... Thessaloniki! ”

"Thessaloniki?"

"If Edirne's army goes out to attack Greece, then this place will soon be wiped out from the map!"

The Phoenix Legion, led by John, marched at incredible speed towards Thessaloniki. Such a march is a test and even torture for everyone's endurance, including the foot strength of the war horse, John knows very well, and there may even be people running alive and dying halfway, but he knows better that Great Greece must not fall.

They bypassed the inner city of Edir, from the dense forest to Thessaloniki, this journey took a whole day, only seven hours passed, they had reached the end, and at this time, outside the city of Thessaloniki, there was only a mess, the corpses of Ottoman and Imperial soldiers were everywhere, but on the city walls, there seemed to be only a few hundred defenders, looking in horror at the Phoenix Legion that appeared from nowhere.

This defender is probably only enough to maintain order, and for the Phoenix Legion, it should not take more than half an hour to break through the city gate.

The city of Thessaloniki, which the Empire had been longing for, is now at your fingertips!