Ivanco led the cavalry around from the west, where the Roman legions had set up a western camp around the hamlet, guarding the baggage behind them.

The dark night sky made it seem very quiet, the Romans did not have many troops here, and the battle at the main gate attracted everyone's attention, and when Ivanko's cavalry began to storm the area, only a small number of pikemen came forward to resist, and Ivanko was defeated in a short time.

"Don't fight with them, General Kaloyan is buying us time, let's go towards the village!"

Ivanko understood when he was assigned by Kaloyan, who planned to lead his men straight to the main gate to buy him time to attract the main force of the Romans, and now every second of delay countless Bulgarians would fall under the arrows of the Romans, and he had no time to waste on cleaning up the miscellaneous soldiers.

The Roman soldiers quickly gave up on the idea of resisting the enemy in the plains, and retreated to small villages, relying on the ancient Roman tortoiseshell formations in the narrow middle of the streets.

"Shoot! Shoot! ”

Ivanko led the cavalry team to shoot waves of arrows before they could get close to the village, but only a "clanging" sound was heard, and all the arrows were blocked by the curved square shield, and did not cause any damage to the Roman sword and shield soldiers behind.

"Draw your sword and charge!"

When Ivanko led the cavalry team to approach, he found that the center of the street was full of Roman tortoiseshell formations, and the sword and shield soldiers of the Roman legions had long been waiting for them, and they were ready to block the Bulgarians here.

The Bulgarian continued to spur the horses behind the horses' buttocks, which provoked the horses to scream so violently that their red eyes only knew that they had knocked over everything in front of them.

"Long live Bulgaria!"

Ivanko rushed forward first, and the Roman soldiers fell on their backs, and many soldiers fell directly to the door of the house, motionless, and the streets were gradually flooded with blood.

The cavalry charge was fierce, and the Romanesque tortoiseshell formation, even with its favorable terrain and strong defenses, was broken through three lines of defense by the Bulgarians in a row.

Ivanko's cavalry had come to a crossroads, he was already close to the last line of defense, and it was worth the cost if he could break through and burn the Romans' food and grass.

The centurion guarding the fourth line of defense was Sig, who had been stationed in Anatolia for many years to fight the Turks, and was experienced in cavalry charges, and he had already prepared for the Bulgarians to break their heads.

"The spears are lined up, the crossbowmen are followed, and the sword and shield soldiers are on standby!"

Roman soldiers with spears poured out from both sides of the road, half-crouched on the ground in three spear formations and pointed obliquely at the charging Bulgarian cavalry, the crossbows in the rear were already roaring, and the rain of arrows pierced the armor of the knights like flying locusts, and the Bulgarians fell to the ground one after another.

"Forward!" Sigurt would not let go of such a good opportunity, and immediately ordered the pikemen to advance, and the sword and shield soldiers followed, and the Romans' position was once again stabilized.

"Ahhh Death to those who retreat! ”

Ivanko saw that his knights were shot by arrows and fell to the ground, and the knights behind him began to tremble in fear and fright, and he shouted loudly to urge the soldiers to move forward.

At this moment, there was a rumbling roar nearby, and Ivanko turned his head to find that the Roman cavalry had gathered to fight his own troops, and now the Roman infantry in front had suppressed their way, and the Roman cavalry in the rear had come to cut off their retreat and would encircle them and annihilate them!

No, we can't fight any longer, Ivanko already has no hope in his heart for this surprise attack, the Romans have been prepared for a long time, and I am afraid that they will have to return in vain with heavy losses!

"Retreat! Let's get out of here! ”

Ivanko's order granted amnesty to the Bulgarian knights, who had been caught in a bitter battle, turned around and retreated back the way they had come from the western gate of the Third Army.

Failure! Shame on the Bulgarians!

……

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……

The next morning, the city of Staraya Zagora was bleak, and the city echoed with cries, and the soldiers who followed Kaloyan and Ivanko, many of whom were natives of Staraya Zagora, did not return this time.

"Kaloyan didn't come back? Are you sure? Do you see clearly who he died in battle? ”

Returning to Staraya Zagora, Ivanko could not believe his ears, their commander Kaloyan was killed in battle, and in a single raid, they not only lost 2,000 cavalry, including Kaloyan, but also lost their original determination to fight.

When Ivanko looked down on the old Zagora from the castle in the inner city, he saw an old woman crying in the street to a knight, and her mourning voice was clear even to himself standing on the castle.

"My son is dead in battle! But he must have contributed to the freedom and independence of Bulgaria, right? Isn't his death heroic! ”

The mother was hoarse, holding a Bulgarian knight by the collar on the chest with both hands, begging for comfort.

The knight was the robes of the mother and son, and this time they followed Kaloyan in the battle against the main gate of the Roman Third Legion, which can be described as the total annihilation.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! This time, we followed General Kaloyan to attack the Romans, and almost all of the soldiers, including General Kaloyan, were killed.

Only I, a coward, ran back, and we didn't kill a single Roman, and our army was bleeding in front of the Romans' camp, and the soldiers died worthless! We failed! ”

"Ahh

The mother who had lost her son could not control herself when she heard this, and she squatted on the ground with her head in her arms and wept bitterly, while her son's robe, the knight, stood there and knelt down together for a long time and wept bitterly.

Ivanko stood on top of the fortress, a gust of wind blew, and suddenly he couldn't help but shed tears, he crouched alone in the corner and cried.

The Romans were not only defeated in this war, but also lost countless Bulgarian lives and a good general.

……

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……

Emperor Alexios stood at the foot of the Mushara peak, a peak of 2,925 meters above sea level, and behind the Sofia Plain, where the homeland that had nurtured Bulgarians for hundreds of years, he would conquer this peak like the Emperor Napoleon conquered the Alps and establish a great cause not inferior to that of the French lion!