Opening his eyes with difficulty, Otto pushed away the dead body pressed on his body, and the rich smell of blood wafted between his noses.

The battlefield that has fallen silent is a source of despair, and the war dead are scattered all over the forest, and there are different ways to die.

Some of them had their brains shattered, and they were hit by the maces of the Hungarian hussars and died in an instant.

Some of them died by swords, and the corpses had huge slash marks on them, which were very conspicuous and cruel.

Everyone who lay down here was his countryman, an Imperial soldier from the Thracian Military District, the Xantsi Brigade, but now all of them had fallen to the ground.

The sound of sobbing could be heard in the distance, and Odo struggled to hold himself up, and staggered away, he must see if there were any survivors.

Six people were half-seated on the ground, gathered around, choking and wailing.

"Great!"

"There are still people alive!"

From afar, Otto saw clearly that those people were all soldiers of the Xanthi brigade, and he couldn't wait to speak, the joy of surviving, the joy of seeing his comrades.

"Are you alright?"

"All alive, alas!"

Excited, Odo didn't notice anything unusual, and he rushed up to hug them excitedly, wanting to share the joy of life with them.

After a while, Otto suddenly remembered someone and immediately asked.

"How is General Nikephorus?"

"He's fine, he just lost his head!"

The surviving comrades responded indifferently to Otto's question, calming him down completely.

It all stemmed from that battle not so long ago.

The Xanthius Brigade and the Patras Brigade of the Peloponnesian Military District, as well as the Durazo Brigade of the Delacium Military District, were sent by the Thracian Military District.

This mixed division consisted of 4,500 men, with the brave and warlike Thracians as the main force of the Chinese army, supplemented by two other brigades.

This was originally Theodosius's kindness, which dismantled the integrated division sent by the Thracian Military District, with the Xanthi brigade as the backbone, and the other two weaker brigades as auxiliaries.

The intention of the Imperial General was to balance the forces of the two flanks, hoping to use the Thracian bravery to lead the other troops to fight.

But it was precisely this that buried the most combat-ready Ksensi brigade of the Thracian Military District.

The Hungarian hussars, though suddenly appeared, launched a whirlwind charge.

Undeterred, the Xanthi Brigade formed a sturdy spear formation, followed by the sword and shield soldiers of the rear team.

At the rear, the archers of the Dulazo brigade were responsible for long-range strikes, and the Patras brigade covered the right flank.

However, to everyone's anger, at the beginning of the battle, before the Magyar cavalry could rush to the front, the Durazo brigade fled.

The unambitious commander led the flight, and the rest of the Durazzo brigade immediately collapsed in morale and the whole army collapsed.

This brigade was all temporarily captured and filled by peasants, and had no military experience at all.

The general of the Durazo brigade, who knew this, immediately took the lead in fleeing.

Without the cover of long-range archers, the Ksansi and Patras brigades could only stand alone against the Hungarian attack.

Although the Magyars' light cavalry was weakly armoured, their fighting will far surpassed that of the peasants, and the rain of arrows shot the pikemen in the front row.

Another consequence of conceited armament was that the equipment was uneven, and even the Thracians were only a few equipped with chain mail, and the rest were leather.

The battle was bad, but the Thracians fought with useless courage to fight on the front line and firmly hold the flank of the Third Army.

General Nikephoros fought many battles in the formation, cutting down the Magyars' cavalry.

But the experienced Hungarian army was keenly aware of the shortcomings of the imperial army, and the stubbornness of the Patras brigade was far inferior to that of the Thracians.

The Hungarians, who turned their heads, easily defeated and drove Patras' brigade away, leaving them in the desert.

At this point in the battle, the Xanthi brigade was completely desperate, with only 1,500 soldiers, but facing nearly twice as many cavalry.

Bloody battles, fierce battles, Thracians interpreted the honor of the imperial army with courage.

No one surrendered, no one fled, and the battle continued until the last moment.

The battle was going on until the last moment, and there were no Thracians standing on the battlefield.

Fortunately, the Hungarian army had no intention of completely annihilating the Xansi brigade, and they were not determined to do so.

The Magyars left in a hurry without cleaning up the battlefield, leaving dead bodies everywhere.

In this battle, there were very few Thracian survivors, and the Xantsi brigade could almost be removed.

"Those cowards!"

Odo's hateful scolding, his inaction towards his allies, and even his escape, he was resentful.

The comrades are buried in a foreign land, how can the soldiers who are still alive go back and explain to their fathers!

…………………………

The Imperial Border Guards led by Pseros quickly crossed the dense forest, and they marched quickly, approaching the battlefield.

Suddenly, the sharp-eyed soldiers saw a group of Imperial soldiers running towards them, their weapons dragged and their looks of frustration all showed that this was a defeated army.

Border guards intercepted them, and Pseros needed to replenish his forces.

"Where's your chief?"

"It's me, my lord!"

Squeezed through the crowd and walked out alone, with a frightened look and some flattering smiles.

A humble gesture, if it was peacetime, Pseros naturally did not hesitate to smile.

"Tell me, why did you quit?"

The sharp eagle eyes swept over the defeated soldiers present, and no one dared to look at him, and the lowered head gave Poseros an answer in his heart.

If you escape, you must pay the price!

Raising his hand, several soldiers pounced like wolves and took down the officer who had just spoken.

"Let go of me!"

"Let me go!"

Knowing that the situation was urgent, Pseros did not have the leisure to deal with this officer slowly, and he also took advantage of the situation to absorb this defeated army.

Blood flashed, heads fell to the ground, and the defeated soldiers were all stupefied, they lacked understanding of the harshness of the Imperial army's military law.

The emperor did not have the extra heart to pay attention to these decaying peasants and soldiers, and the military judges were not stationed.

So much so that after Pseros enforced battlefield discipline, all the deserters were stunned on the spot.

Pointing his sword at him, spinning slowly, the cold voice of Pseros slammed into the hearts of every Imperial soldier.

"Escape, die!"

Slowly, the defeated soldiers all fell to their knees, their dull eyes, and they could only express their surrender with the most primitive actions.

Driven back into battle, Pseros quickly figured out what the defeated army was made of.

Most of them were soldiers of the Durazo brigade, who were pure deserters, and the officers who had been corrected by Pseiros were their leaders.

A small number were the defeated soldiers of the Patras brigade, who had been scattered by the Magyars.

So only the Xanthi brigade is still fighting?

I'm afraid it won't last long!

A decision was quickly made in his heart, and Poseros lined up on the spot, and the defeated soldiers were on the front line with swords against their backs.

The officer of the Imperial Army spoke: "

Listen up!

You deserters!

You are sinners of the Empire, and you deserve to be put to death here!

But now I'm giving you a choice!

Died here, or was I executed on the spot?

Take your pick! ”

Each defeated soldier stood silently in place, but his eyes were desolate, and he could still win the imperial pension if he died on the front line.

If they are executed as deserters, then they will have nothing but an infamous death.

Let's fight!