As he walked, Cepes stared at Sophia not far ahead.

He didn't expect Sophia to insist on coming to the battlefield together, although her move couldn't help but lift the hearts of the Bucharest army and civilians after it spread, but Cepes was keenly aware that she was not actually there to cheer up the army or any other purpose, but purely to meet the Count of Montina as soon as possible.

Chipes wondered what kind of person the count was, and although he hadn't gotten to the point of thinking that no one in the world could match Sophia's obsession, Chipes was somewhat familiar with Sophia's somewhat grumpy personality.

Because of this, Chipes couldn't help but have a little more on his mind.

He was worried that the Count would have an effect on Sophia that he couldn't deal with, and if that was the case, things would be a little bad for him.

Cepes was constantly pondering what might happen next, but he wasn't worried about what might happen on the battlefield.

For as far as he knew, the army of the Ottomans crossing the Alger River was about 10,000 men, and the army of the Count of Montina was about 6,000 men, while his army was nearly 4,000.

In addition to the army he had left behind in Bucharest, a coalition of nearly 1,000 men sent by about a dozen nobles went out with him, who could be regarded as the staunchest supporters of Cepes, while the rest, though equally goodwilled, were more on the sidelines.

Tsepes was quite satisfied with the result, and both the supporters and the troops provided by those people thought that it was "just right".

He did not expect to defeat the Ottomans in this battle, and if he could, he only hoped that they would be forced to retreat under the pressure of his army.

After all, the Ottomans were obviously exhausted after nearly two days of fierce fighting, and the addition of a fresh force of several thousand men at this time was enough to shake the confidence of the most determined commander, so Tzepes believed that he only needed to make a strong offensive posture to force the Ottoman commander to retreat.

Gaining the enormous prestige of defeating the Ottomans while preserving his strength was the best that Cepes could think of.

Now he hoped that the Count of Montina would not be defeated too badly, and at least hold on more, so that he could consume more and contain the Ottomans.

Although he sensed the timing a little late, Sisugu was still very accurate in judging the direction of Bucharest's reinforcements.

Fearing that his flank and retreat might be exposed to the Ottoman army on the other side of the Alger River, Tzepes did not pass directly through the wetlands of the Bucharest Plain, but let his army advance south and then southwest along the Danube.

Xi Sugu's reaction was not unpleasant, but his order was still a little late.

The commander of the Ottoman left flank received reports of the discovery of the enemy almost at the same time as he sent someone to warn him.

The Ottoman left flank reacted quickly, but the unrest caused by the sudden appearance of the Bucharest army was difficult to control.

Seeing the Ottoman army from afar, Tzepes sensed Sophia's excitement and immediately told the people around him to pay attention to Sophia's movements, in case she did something stupid on impulse.

At the same time, Tzepes ordered the cavalry to launch an attack on the Ottoman flank.

Just as the Ottomans regarded the Anatolian light cavalry as their pride, Wallachia also had its own pride, the Wallachian mountain cavalry.

This kind of cavalry, trained on Wallachian mountain horses, has a peculiarity that belongs only to them, and the peculiar stride of striding forward with the hooves on the side of the warhorse that has been specially trained is the most obvious place for the Wallachian mountain cavalry.

So when the Wallachians roared to attack from the flank of the Ottoman left, the Ottoman commander immediately realized that this was the crisis that Sisukgu had just sent to warn them of the danger they might encounter.

It was just that the enemy appeared too suddenly, and the Bucharest army appeared almost at the same time as the warning received, which caused the unsuspecting Ottomans to panic in an instant, and the whole battlefield was instantly surrounded by the appearance of the coalition army.

When something unusual appeared on the Ottoman left flank, Alexander felt the strange slight change coming from the enemy position.

The Ottomans' previous fierce attacks came to a brief halt like a malfunctioning machine.

This change is not noticeable and cannot be detected without careful observation.

But Alexander was aware of these anomalies.

The attack on the enemy's left flank seemed to slow down, and as soon as the thought flashed through his mind, Alexander felt as if he had grasped something crucial, and although this sudden flash of inspiration disappeared, it was enough to tell him too much in a brief moment.

This was the moment that Alexander had been looking forward to, his eyes quickly turned to the right flank of the battle line, and seeing that the Genoese army, which had already become panicked, finally slowed down its retreat under the urging of officers and hunting guards, Alexander's heart suddenly beat faster!

At this time, he was even more nervous than when he was almost broken out of formation by the Ottoman army.

Alexander kept his eyes on the right flank, even though the shadow of the Anatolian light cavalry appeared again on the central front at this time, but his eyes were always firmly fixed on the east.

Finally, he noticed a change in the positions of the Ottomans.

The Ottoman cavalry, which had been trying to attack deep on the right flank, had almost completely stopped by this time, and their infantry was rapidly moving to the flank of their position.

"They're organizing the defense, that's right, the Ottomans are moving on the defensive!" Alexander excitedly turned back to the people around him and shouted, seeing that the others didn't seem to understand yet, Alexander pointed his sword into the distance and repeated loudly, "Don't you see, the Ottomans are moving into a defensive formation, because someone is attacking them!" ”

The Montina officers were stunned at first, but when they saw that the two armies on the right flank of the front were indeed in a rather strange state of "disengagement", and that some of the Ottoman troops who had been wedged into the Montina position were stopping their attack and even beginning to shrink their formations under the orders of the Ottoman army, they finally understood the meaning of Alexander's words.

"Bucharest people, it's the Bucharest army that has come to our aid!" Someone quickly guessed the truth, regardless of whether this guess was correct or not, and in just a short time, cheers rang out over the entire Montina position: "Reinforcements are coming!" We are saved! ”

Shouting and cheering everywhere, the retreating army involuntarily stopped, while the troops still putting up desperate resistance began to fight the Ottomans even more brutally, encouraged by the exciting news.

Even more daring troops, such as the Balkan Regiment, rushed straight out of the positions they had been desperately defending, and unexpectedly launched a counter-charge against the Ottomans.

And the situation in the eastern part of the entire front also changed dramatically with the entry of the Bucharest army into the battle.

With the Ottoman army's left flank having to divide its forces against the enemy from the direction of the lower Danube, Sisuggu immediately felt the pressure of this change.

The frontal Montina army was continuing to shrink its ground, or rather, they had almost completely abandoned the Danube line on their left flank.

But if it had been before, it might have made Xi Sugu happy, but now he tightened his eyebrows.

Sisuggu understood that Alexander had dared to abandon the Danube line so boldly because he knew that he could not have the extra forces to threaten both wings of the Montina at the same time.

To make matters worse, as the scouts kept probing, he already knew by this time that it was the Grand Duke of Wallachia who was attacking his left flank.

There was no Ottoman general who didn't know that Vlad III, who was known as a stabbing man, even if his head ended up hanging on the gates of Constantinople, Vlad III was still a nightmare for many Ottomans.

As the son of Vlad III, Chipes naturally attracted the attention of the Ottomans, not to mention that he was arguably the staunchest opponent of the Ottomans in the entire Balkans.

Sisugu was both proud and helpless about his hindsight, especially when he heard that Chipes' army was about 4 to 5,000 men, and he had to face up to the possibility that he might lose the battle for the first time.

Retreat in the direction of the Alger River?

This idea only flickered before Xi Sugu vetoed it.

It's not because he can't face defeat, Xi Sugu is not a person who would rather take risks for the sake of fame, he will try to make the situation favorable to him every time he fights, and if the situation is unfavorable, he can choose to retreat without caring whether it will damage his reputation.

But this time was different, Xi Sugu felt that there was no need to retreat, or that he couldn't retreat.

Although the Alger River is not one of Europe's most famous rivers, its size is not to be underestimated.

It was hard for Xi Sugu to imagine what the consequences would be if he retreated at this time.

Nearly 7,000 Montina generals in front and about 5,000 Bucharest troops in the flanks formed a pincer offensive, while the Montinas could quickly concentrate their forces to attack him by taking advantage of the more favorable interior operations that their front had formed.

As a result, his army would be flanked by the enemy from both north and south directions.

Xi Sugu quickly deduced the disadvantages that retreating would bring him, but what would happen if he didn't?

The Ottomans turned their heads slightly, and their eyes were fixed on the other side of the Alger River.

Sudan's nearly 70,000 troops are on the other side of the river, which is impossible for anyone to ignore.

How much courage and determination did the Bucharest people really have to fight a frontal field battle with the Ottoman army?

Thinking of this, Xi Sugu ordered the attack to be stopped, and at the same time he gave the order to switch to defense on the spot.

The Ottoman soldiers retreated like a tidal wave, and many of the small Ottoman forces that had been too late to retreat because they had penetrated deep into the Montina position due to the heavy onslaught became the victims of the rapidly changing situation on the battlefield.

Completely abandoned in the rear of the enemy's position, these completely encircled small groups of Ottoman soldiers had to gather in groups or more as Montina's army began their counteroffensive, relying on the terrain around them to resist desperately, while frantically searching for a miracle to get them out.

But such an opportunity was obviously not so easy, and the small Ottoman forces were wiped out by the rising Montina army, and for those musketeers who would have crimson figures at the sight of the enemy forming a dense formation, and then followed by a burst of heavy fire followed by the Montina army slashed with swords and spears, the Ottomans could only let out a terrible curse before dying.

Alexander had by this time mounted Pagasus again, and beside him, the chasseurs, who had been withdrawn from their positions, were hastily regrouping under the command of the officers.

"My lord, we can keep fighting." A chasseur was a little dissatisfied with being removed from his position, and in addition to the honor, the rich booty and the rewards that could be received in his hometown for military exploits made all the chasseurs have an extraordinary enthusiasm for battle, which even made many other troops feel incredible.

In particular, the mercenaries, such as Pisa, were incredulous at the huntsmen's almost frenzied pursuit of battle.

"Of course I know you can still fight, but I need you to rest now," Alexander's eyes were always on the Ottoman army that was gradually forming a defensive line from west to north, and to Alexander's surprise, he found that almost all the heavy forces of the Ottoman army were pressed on the side leading to Bucharest, and the right flank near the direction of the Alger River was surprisingly weak, which made Alexander secretly surprised, "This man really has a lot of appetite." ”

"My lord, the Ottoman front is in our favor," Busako, who had always cared about Alexander's safety, could not help but exclaim with joy as he looked in the direction of the Ottoman position, "If we send troops now, we can cut off their connection with the line of the Alger River." ”

"Very interesting suggestion," an unfamiliar voice came from behind them, and as he turned to hear the voice, Alexander saw a man on horseback, dressed in armor, accompanied by several knights, riding towards them, "If you do that, you will be slaughtered by the Ottoman army on the other side of the river in the next moment." I'm sure you must not be the Count of Montina, or your army would have been chopped to pieces by the Ottomans. ”

Busako's face turned red all of a sudden, although he knew that he was not a general, but he never thought that he would be ridiculed so much for the first time he opened his mouth to make a proposal.

"I'm the Count of Montina," Alexander looked at the other man, guessing his identity, and then raised his hand slightly to greet "Count Montina, Alexandre Giulian Gombray." ”

"I have admired your great name for a long time," the other said, also raising his hand on his horse, "I am Tzepes, Grand Duke of Wallachia," and continued with a pause, "the protector of Princess Sofia Alessandra Valleologo." ”

Hearing Cepes's words, Alexander's eyebrows raised slightly imperceptibly, and then said, "Grand Duke, it seems that you have other opinions on the deployment of the Ottomans?" ”

"Or is it the opinion of all of us," he said, glancing at Alexander, and then his eyes turned to the Ottoman line, "This Ottoman general is very clever, he actually used the method you used before, Count, to abandon one side and concentrate our forces on the other side of the battle line, and we really have no way to deal with him, isn't it, we can't risk attacking his left flank, because that would be tantamount to exposing ourselves completely to the main Ottoman forces on the other side of the river." ”

"So there's only one thing we can do right now." Alexander nodded slightly.

"While the main forces of the Sultan are not ready to attack us, we should choose to retreat at this time." Chipes nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it's time to retreat," Alexander whispered, he turned to look at the battlefield behind him, looking at the battlefield strewn with corpses everywhere, Alexander finally let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you very much for coming to the Grand Duke, thank you very much." ”

At about 2 p.m. on April 5, 1499, after nearly a full day of fierce fighting, the armies of both sides broke away from the battle.

The combined forces of Montina and Bucharest began to retreat eastward along the banks of the Danube.

The Ottoman army, on the other hand, retreated to the line of the Alger River.

The Battle of the Alger River, with a total of nearly 20,000 troops from both sides, had a clear advantage over the Ottomans at the beginning, but the situation changed dramatically after the arrival of reinforcements from Bucharest, and finally ended with the voluntary disengagement of each side after paying a heavy price.

Throughout the campaign, the main Ottoman army, commanded by Sultan Bayezid II, remained on guard along the left bank of the Alger River without sending a single soldier.

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