Rewind the timeline two days—
After Theodoro's battle plan was laid out, they began to intentionally strengthen the coastal defenses around the city, luring the Kaffa Consul and his forces to choose the cape for their landing, whether intentionally or not. To ensure they could capture the enemy's main army, they dismissed all personnel, including soldiers, from these capes in the preceding days, creating the illusion of lax defenses.
The Kaffa Consul's side, as expected, took the bait, or rather, they had no other choice.
When the enemy attempted to land that night, Manuel was in charge of the Sugdaea region's coastline.
Upon discovering enemy scouts beginning their probes, he acutely perceived their approximate location and deliberately allowed most of the scouts to return, striving to create the illusion that Meganom Cape was utterly undefended.
At the same time, he sent a messenger to Falero, urging him to quickly bring the navy around.
To avoid alarming the enemy, Falero, upon arriving nearby, followed the pre-determined tactics: he anchored all his ships close to the shore, concealed by the night, and ordered all sailors to remain on high alert, ready to blockade at any moment.
When Manuel learned from the army's night-vision-capable taxi soldiers that the number of enemy torches had surged, he knew the time was right.
Under his command, his adjutant Aidian dispatched a messenger to Falero's anchored flagship, carrying only one word:
"Action."
As the signal arrived, Falero silently deployed the navy to encircle the enemy, then began firing cannons at the enemy navy trapped within their perimeter.
Upon hearing the cannon fire between the navies, Manuel ordered his entire army, ambushed in the deep forest, to attack.
Leading the charge were the Philaka Legion, spearheaded by Aidian.
Aidian, a Turk slave by birth, was not only exceptionally brave but also skilled in long-range firearms and crossbows.
After he fired the first shot, the rest of the army followed, firing at the enemy's positions.
As for how many would hit, that was left to fate; after all, beyond 50 meters, the accuracy of these crude early firearms was inferior to crossbow bolts.
But even so, these firearms achieved good results, as gunpowder weapons were, after all, gunpowder weapons, their power incomparable to cold weapons.
Thus, many in the chaotic enemy's rear ranks cried out and fell, and when the crossbowmen arrived, the taxi soldiers wielding crossbows began inflicting more precise damage.
If one were to ask why the enemy on shore hadn't turned to counterattack despite all this, it largely stemmed from the fear of the unknown.
In the impenetrable darkness of the night, although many held torches, it was not enough to ascertain the exact number of the Theodoro Army, leading them to subconsciously believe that the enemy greatly outnumbered them.
And while the Kaffa Consul's navy was, in fact, already at a disadvantage, to those on shore, their navy had merely been caught off guard; once they reacted, they would surely be able to withdraw.
So, escaping was definitely an option; foolishly staying on shore to defend against the enemy was not as good as returning to the ships.
However, Antonio Meazza knew the current situation of his own navy.
Given the Kaffa Consul's navy's current strength, he worried that if more enemy ships came to encircle them, they would be completely unable to escape.
And the crossbowmen behind them, and the units that seemed to be using cannons, appeared fierce, but in reality, they were merely taking advantage of their current disorganized state.
Only by restoring military discipline and then counterattacking could they successfully cooperate with the navy and reduce casualties.
But these conscripted troops, made up of farmers and citizens, simply wouldn't listen!
Antonio Meazza was on the verge of going mad.
"Please, listen to me! I'm still your superior, after all!"
But they only wanted to escape; some in the very back had even proactively surrendered to Theodoro.
When these prisoners of war were later interrogated, their explanation was: "Firing three crossbow bolts was enough to earn the Consul's pay."
Finally, Antonio Meazza gave up on restoring order.
He gathered the few hundred Liguria Knights he could find, preparing to charge towards Theodoro's position.
"We are clad in heavy armor; their crossbow bolts cannot harm us in the slightest.
And while the suspected cannons are powerful, their accuracy is simply terrible.
As long as our heavy infantry smashes through their forces, then the conscripts who are still fleeing can follow us…"
Before he could finish, a flashing lead bullet streaked across his face, hitting him directly on the crown of his head.
The surrounding knights tried to help him up, only to find that his head had been blown open.
That single bullet had killed Antonio Meazza instantly.
With the leading general dead, the entire army descended into complete chaos.
A few knight lords, upholding the spirit of chivalry, bravely charged towards Theodoro's position, only to run into the arriving enemy heavy infantry and cavalry, and were instantly cut to pieces.
Aidian, commanding at the front, saw the even more chaotic enemy and couldn't help but laugh, "It seems my shot just now hit someone important, otherwise how could they go from merely lacking discipline to being utterly disorganized?
It seems after this battle, His Highness will surely trust me even more."
As the Kaffa Consul's landing force completely collapsed, their navy was also in dire straits.
"Where exactly is the enemy?" Elvin roared.
"Sir, I don't know!"
"A bunch of useless good-for-nothings! No matter how many ships they have, they can't completely surround us; there must be a gap somewhere."
Just as Elvin was forcing himself to think calmly, several more decks of four-masted cogs were pierced.
Elvin looked up and around, noticing that the number of ships in the fleet was constantly decreasing, and there was no sign of the night disappearing.
"This won't do.
At this rate of losses, even if day breaks, it will only allow the enemy's cannons to target us more precisely."
Elvin thought anxiously, "We're almost at the tipping point!"
Finally, he gritted his teeth and made a difficult decision.
"All forces, retreat!" Elvin ordered the remaining few ships.
"But sir, those who have already landed…"
"If you want to save them, you can go to other ships and rescue them, but if we don't retreat now, the remaining taxi soldiers and sailors will either be captured or drown!"
"Yes, sir."
Ultimately, Elvin led the remaining warships in an eastward escape, counterattacking several Theodoro Navy ships along the way.
Meanwhile, the more than 1,800 ground troops who had already landed were either killed or captured; the entire force was annihilated.
Of the more than 3,000 soldiers dispatched, only over 700 remained, and this was the result of Elvin's desperate efforts to save them.
The navy's losses were also far from optimistic; the Kaffa Consul's navy lost six to seven-tenths of its naval power that night.
The next morning, Paolo Grimaldi, upon learning of the disastrous defeat of the landing operation, directly fainted in the town hall.