Mid-May in Northern Crimea was a time of pleasant weather. Under the bright sunshine, pastures were growing vigorously, and the land, softened by recent rain, felt comfortable and moist to the local nomads. "This is a good time for horse breeding," many Tatars thought. Meanwhile, at the Isthmus on the northernmost tip of the peninsula, the Tatar soldiers, exhausted from holding the line on the fortress, maintained a vigilant posture, but their bodies and minds were weary. Due to a surprise attack by the Theodoro Principality, they had received urgent military orders and were forced to stay alert, guarding day and night.
However, for several days, all they knew was that various regions were falling; they were completely unaware of anything else. To resist the surprise attack, they had moved their main forces to face the peninsula and were forcibly maintaining their full vigilance. But human bodies have limits, and this high-intensity defense was almost killing them from exhaustion. Fortunately, it wasn't summer yet; otherwise, if the stench from the "Corrosive Sea" nearby reappeared, they probably wouldn't be able to sleep.
"Hey, look, what's that?" A few archers with excellent eyesight on the fortress suddenly noticed a small contingent of soldiers appearing in the distance. "Could it be an enemy attack? Quickly report to the commanding officer!"
The commanding officer of these defensive works on the Tatar Isthmus was a brave, middle-aged Tatar noble named Ahmed Duoduo. After receiving a rough report, he immediately became fully alert and dispatched scouts to gather detailed information about the enemy.
"Could it be that the enemy's main army is pressing in?" After the scouts left, he nervously tapped his fingers. "No matter what, I must not lose against these Kafirs!"
After a while, by the afternoon, a few faster scouts returned first, reporting what they had seen: "Reporting, General, the enemy seems to be just a small contingent of less than 500 people? And their target doesn't seem to be us."
"Only a small contingent, that's good, the advantage is... No, no, no, even a small contingent could be elite soldiers." Duoduo, who considered himself quite knowledgeable about the Greeks, immediately recovered from his initial surprise and gravely issued new orders, "Be careful, hold your positions for now, and observe carefully."
"Yes, General," several Tatar soldiers acknowledged and left, beginning to closely monitor the small Theodoro unit.
Hours later—"Just ordinary peasant conscripts? What are these Greeks doing? And they're spouting blasphemous words against Allah. Have they lost their minds?" Duoduo, receiving the latest scout report, was utterly bewildered. He decided to personally climb the fortress's watchtower to observe the enemy.
Upon reaching the watchtower, he generally confirmed what these enemies were like: none of them wore heavy armor, a few had light armor, but most were unarmored. Although they were robust, their equipment seemed to be only that of ordinary militiamen or camp followers. They were all riding or leading some livestock, mostly pack horses, but also ox carts, likely transporting supplies and provisions. They appeared to be merely a logistics unit passing through, ready to leave at any moment.
Just then, he noticed that the two leaders of the opposing force seemed to have spotted him watching them from the Isthmus fortress. One of them, with a Crescent Sect-style beard, calmly met his gaze, while the other, a burly figure, laughed wildly and made some vulgar gestures towards the defenders.
"It seems to be just a small unit transporting military supplies. This level of protection perfectly aligns with my stereotype of Christians." Duoduo relaxed considerably, but looking at the burly leader opposite him, he couldn't help but get angry. "Does this guy guess that we're only holding the Isthmus line, so he's deliberately trying to provoke us on the transport route? He doesn't even look at his own strength or how many people he has. A mere contingent of 500 people, and they're so arrogant? Lawless!"
But he still forced himself to suppress his anger, not wanting to be blinded by rage and risk an accident. Just as he was advising his defending soldiers not to act rashly, the other side did something that made them utterly intolerable.
The burly man, seeing that the enemy had no reaction at all, looked triumphant. He clapped his hands and boasted something to his porters, who were about to continue their journey. Boast he did, but then, whether intentionally or accidentally, this guy allowed a few of his subordinates to retrieve a large banner, possibly captured from elsewhere, emblazoned with a quote from the Quran, from their supplies. He draped it over himself, showing off. As he flaunted it, he eventually became so excited that he took a torch from the other leader, threw the banner directly onto the ground, and used the torch to set both the banner and the grass on fire.
"These Kafir motherfuckers are crazy, aren't they?! How can we tolerate this?!" This was a desecration of their faith. The rage of all the Crescent Sect Tatar soldiers on the fortress was ignited just like the banner. Even Commander Duoduo was no exception. "If it were a large army, fine, but an ill-equipped contingent of 500 people is so arrogant? If they want to go to hell so badly, they should just say so!" Feeling his faith and dignity insulted, Duoduo immediately gave an order: "The main force will attack now and show these Kafirs, who don't know their place, what's what! There is no god but God! Allah is the greatest!"
"allah akbar!!!"
In less than half an hour, 950 of the thousand-strong garrison were dispatched, vowing to execute these audacious Kafirs on the spot. When the suspected logistics unit of Theodoro realized the enemy's fury, including the one with the Crescent Sect beard, most of them quickly mounted their pack horses, abandoned their provisions, and fled desperately to the rear. Only the burly man, looking at the swarming garrison, laughed wildly, and with a few dozen others, mounted their horses, readied their weapons, and prepared to cover the retreat, intending to fight them head-on.
"Hahaha, alright, these Tatars still have some guts after all!" No sooner had he spoken than he charged forward with a long spear on his pack horse, directly skewering an unsuspecting Tatar horse archer.
"Could it be a trap?" Watching the strong and brave Greek man fearlessly charge into their formation, Duoduo suddenly felt a pang of apprehension.
Fortunately, his worries seemed to be unfounded. After cutting down more than ten Tatar warriors, the Greek man, seeing his own soldiers continuously falling, patted his horse and, braving a shower of arrows, also retreated to the rear. However, the few surviving rearguards, including him, stabbed another dozen Tatar soldiers during their retreat.
"It's a waste of talent for such a person to be a logistics guard," Duoduo couldn't help but sigh inwardly, watching the Greek man, who had taken several arrows, still successfully escape. But he was immediately immersed in the joy of a great harvest.
"This is great! Food, military equipment, and livestock, all these provisions are ours now. What a great harvest!" One of his lieutenants cheered from the bottom of his heart while tallying the gains.
"Indeed," Duoduo said happily, "It's a good thing we took the initiative to attack this time. By the way, how long will it take to move all these supplies back to the fortress?"
"General, it should take two or three hours or more," the lieutenant estimated.
"Will it be too long?" Duoduo grew a little worried, but due to the traditional nature of Tatar nomads, he couldn't stop his subordinates, who had already started to become chaotic.
"Allah protect us, I hope the enemy doesn't arrive now." Just as Duoduo was praying inwardly, a scout rushed into the army, urgently reporting: "Reporting, General, it seems a large Greek army has arrived!"