Even though the decision had already been made, Posadas still wanted to struggle for his idea: "Your Highness, why? Wouldn't it be more convenient to simply slaughter the Tatars and then we move in ourselves?"
Manuel said, "Posadas, that is an extremely drastic action."
"But Your Highness, isn't that quite normal and reasonable in our era?"
"Then I'll be direct," Manuel said, suppressing his irritation and forcing a patient expression as he explained, "I don't like to slaughter cities, nor do I like to be slaughtered."
Upon hearing this, Posadas sensed Manuel's true attitude and quietly closed his mouth, no longer speaking.
After nearly a week of preparations, by late October, Theodoro had finally gathered its forces, ready to launch a decisive strike on Bakhchysarai to ensure the complete capture of the Crimean Khanate's capital.
As Theodoro gathered its forces and marched towards Bakhchysarai, Hussein Shilin, the third son of Beijin Xilin and the General of the Crimean Army garrisoned in the capital, stood on the city walls, watching the Theodoro Army converging with anxiety and fear, feeling utterly exhausted.
"Damn Kafirs!" he roared, slamming his fist against the city wall, his mouth twisted and his eyes nearly bursting.
It was no wonder he was so angry and furious. Hussein's position as the General of Bakhchysarai was originally arranged by his father, Beijin, through his connections, not only for his safety but also to enhance his prestige and increase the Shirin's influence within the Khanate, as a General to defend the capital.
They had never expected that the Principality of Theodoro to the south would dare to take such a risk, intervening in the war between Crimea and the Golden Horde, trying to snatch chestnuts from the fire. As a result, the capital's General, who was supposed to be a leisurely position in the rear, inexplicably became a frontline commander, facing the swords of infidels.
As mentioned before, the unprepared towns of Northern Crimea almost all fell under Theodoro's rapid advance and fierce offensive. Even Bakhchysarai, the only city still flying the Crimean flag, was in fact spared more because the Principality wanted to save manpower and resources, deliberately adopting a strategy of encirclement without attack.
Even though Theodoro encircled but did not attack during this period, the Principality was not without gains. After most of Northern Crimea was occupied by Theodoro, due to the enemy's intentional or unintentional pressure, the Khanate's defenders were forced to withdraw their forces into the urban areas to preserve their strength. In other words, the Tatars abandoned the suburban areas.
Since the Crimean Army abandoned the suburbs, Theodoro was not polite. Generally, as soon as the Crimean Army retreated from the suburbs, the Theodoro Army would arrive to control them. This back and forth resulted in the Crimean Army having fully withdrawn into the urban areas, barely holding Bakhchysarai under Hussein's command, shortly before the Crimean Khanate attempted to retake the Tatar Isthmus.
Now, Bakhchysarai's good days were also coming to an end.
Due to the current population of the Crimean Army's controlled area, namely the urban area of Bakhchysarai, not exceeding ten thousand, it became quite difficult for the Khanate's defenders to replenish and recruit troops. Coupled with the scarcity of supplies caused by months of blockade and encirclement, the Crimean Army became the absolutely disadvantaged party.
Under such an absolute disadvantage, Hussein had no choice but to mobilize everyone in the city, equipping them with usable or unusable weapons. These people even included many elderly, weak, and sick.
Just as Hussein was doing his best to arm all the city's military and civilians. Inside the Khan's palace in Bakhchysarai, three women, along with their servants, were looking after their children, while trying their best to maintain order in the Khan's palace.
"Mama, I, I want to help too," a little girl with remarkably outstanding looks and temperament clenched her fists, pursed her lips, and tried hard to show a resolute expression.
"Allah above, Aisha, be good, don't be afraid, don't worry, just leave these things to Mama and your aunts, okay?" A young woman whose face was quite similar to Aisha's quickly hugged her daughter, preventing the child from getting hurt out of "sensibleness."
"Okay, okay, Mama," Aisha finally gave up.
Just as the young woman was about to continue stabilizing the situation in the Khan's palace, Aisha, out of fear and worry, asked her mother:
"Mama, what will happen to us in the end?"
The young woman couldn't answer her directly, so she could only manage to comfort her, "It's okay, Allah will protect us."
"Okay, okay," Aisha was still a child after all, and she could only let these adult matters be.
As Giray's wives and children were doing their best to maintain their safety and stability, as well as that of their family and servants in the Khan's palace, Hussein gathered three thousand men, with mixed feelings of joy and worry, to defend the city walls.
What was the joy? The joy was that the city's populace still had morale; at least these three thousand troops were proof. So what was his worry? The worry was that he simply didn't have enough equipment to arm the soldiers, at most he could use most of them as cannon fodder.
And to make matters worse, when the vanguard of the Theodoro Army appeared, another group of people took the opportunity to sneak out of the city. Why say "another"? Because when Theodoro had previously encircled Bakhchysarai without attacking, there had already been many instances of soldiers defecting.
Hussein's pressure was not limited to this. When Theodoro's five-thousand-strong siege force appeared before him, he almost fainted on the city wall: "Bakhchysarai is already an isolated city, why do those Kafirs still send so many people? To gain experience? This is too much, too much!"
Alas, the worst was yet to come.
On the morning of the day after the main army arrived at Bakhchysarai, after receiving real-time on-site information within a few hours, Tukharovsky, the General of the Siege of Bakhchysarai, analyzed it seriously for a while, then immediately decided to use artillery to bombard the walls of Bakhchysarai at the first opportunity, aiming for a quick victory.
"It's time to give these Tatars a little firearms shock. My order is, aim at the city wall, prepare to fire!" Tukharovsky commanded.