Less than half an hour after Tukharovsky gave the order, several large breaches appeared on the walls of Bakhchysarai due to the bombardment.
This filled Hussein, who was commanding on the city walls, with an innate fear. "How did these Kafir do it? Firearms are powerful, but they shouldn't be *this* powerful."
He felt utterly helpless as he watched the cannonballs continuously flying from Theodoro's position towards the Bakhchysarai city walls.
But the fundamental principles of a Tatar grand noble compelled him to hold this city.
Thinking of his status and position, as well as his unwillingness and stubbornness, he decided to continue defending the city. "To be scared witless after a few cannon shots and surrender in less than a day? How would I explain that to my father then!" Hussein thought.
However, if he knew that his father had already died in an ambush battle where the Khanate attempted to retake the Tatar Isthmus, his expression would surely be quite something.
But these trivial matters did not affect the Theodoro Army at all.
After the artillery had continuously bombarded for a period, Tukharovsky, realizing that the enemy showed no signs of retreating, was not overly bothered by it.
If the enemy defenders surrendered after just a few bombardments, then these defenders would not be worthy of defending the capital of the Crimean Khanate.
As for how to deal with their refusal to surrender, of course, it was to continue bombarding; there was no need to waste manpower on such stubborn, cornered enemies.
Holding this thought, Tukharovsky happily ordered his soldiers to completely encircle the city, and after letting the artillery rest for a while to avoid misfires or burst barrels, he continued to bombard the city walls.
Although he thought this, given the current situation, if he could take over the city relatively peacefully, Tukharovsky would not mind accepting it peacefully.
After three days of continuous bombardment, he estimated that there should be some discordant voices within the city, so he sent a few muslim Tatar soldiers to venture to the foot of the city, attempting to persuade the defenders of Bakhchysarai to surrender.
Unfortunately, after only three days of siege, the defenders led by Hussein still held relatively firm beliefs and unrealistic fantasies.
Clinging to these thoughts and ideas, he mercilessly ordered the archers on the city walls to shoot at the persuaders from below the city, even though those who came to persuade them were "brothers" of the same lineage and culture.
The result was that Tukharovsky, at dusk that day, looked at the surrendered soldiers brought back by the frontline officers and fell into contemplation. "Did our army kill too few? Well, no hurry, a day or two won't make a difference.
First, let's try to figure out the enemy's true strength. Oh, right, I'll write a letter to His Highness, ask for his opinion, and also ask if he can send some fanatical muslims to me." Having made this decision in his heart, Tukharovsky slightly modified his original battle plan.
Over the next few days, for about half a month, the Theodoro Army still did not launch a large-scale siege, but merely persistently bombarded the walls of Bakhchysarai with artillery daily, bleeding the Crimean defenders.
Hussein's response to this was to actively repair, or more accurately, mend, the bombarded city walls.
But each time Theodoro bombarded the walls, the defenders would lose some effective strength; it was fine for a while, but after half a month, Hussein had painfully discovered that he had few fully intact soldiers left.
Furthermore, the population in the urban area was less than ten thousand, so even if he forcibly conscripted, he wouldn't be able to gather many effective militiamen.
"General, morale in the city is low now, I'm afraid…" After Hussein informed his deputy of his idea to conscript the city's populace, the deputy worriedly conveyed this to him.
"Invite the mullahs in the city," Hussein finally said, his head aching. "I'll try to persuade them to preach in the mosques and boost the morale of the soldiers and civilians in the city."
Meanwhile, in the Theodoro position outside the city, Tukharovsky, having received a personal letter from Manuel, looked towards Bakhchysarai and pondered the contents of the letter, beginning to consider how to put Manuel's suggestions into practice.
About three more days passed, just as Hussein was summoning the mullahs in the city to the mosque to explain the stakes to them, a messenger soldier suddenly rushed into the temple and reported to him: "General, this is bad, Theodoro seems to be attacking the city."
"What? Quickly, take me to the city walls!" Hussein's heart skipped a beat; he hastily stopped his work and had someone take him to the city walls.
Less than two hours later, around noon that day, when he arrived at the city walls, he was astonished to find that the Theodoro Army, which had been quiet for the past half-month, had actually begun to approach the city walls.
And in front of them were hundreds of unarmed civilians.
These civilians were all dressed in typical muslim attire, mostly in ragged clothes, with gaunt faces and no spirit.
They were not willingly marching but were being driven by the Theodoro soldiers behind them, forced to advance.
"This, this, this… what a cruel tactic," Hussein, as expected of a city commander, immediately understood what these civilians were about. "These Christian are truly malicious, actually using the tactics we often use when plundering!"
The fact was exactly as he thought; these muslim civilians had been "recruited" by Theodoro in the past few days, with the purpose of using them to breach the city walls.
Of course, Tukharovsky, who was commanding Theodoro's central army, believed that the enemy would certainly not be so foolish as to willingly fall for it.
For this, he had specially mixed in some "little surprises" for these civilians.
Indeed, although the defenders of Bakhchysarai were indignant at Theodoro's methods, under the severe circumstances, they all restrained their anger and instead aimed their arrows at their own compatriots, preventing the city from falling because of them.
After learning of the Bakhchysarai defenders' response, Tukharovsky smiled approvingly.
When these muslim civilians were close to the defenders' firing range, he clapped his hands and laughed loudly, ordering: "The time has come, come on, drive these followers of the Crescent Sect to their compatriots."
As he gave the order, the frontline soldiers began their work.
The Theodoro soldiers drove these muslim civilians towards the foot of Bakhchysarai, while they themselves stopped behind.
If it weren't for the continuous roar of artillery from Theodoro's position, those muslims would have no idea what the other side was doing.
The first batch of muslim civilians who reached the city walls were mercilessly shot by the muslim soldiers on the walls, but at this point, Hussein was surprised to find no signs of the Theodoro Army catching up to take advantage and attack the city, which made him wonder.
And after the second batch of civilians died at the foot of the city, the soldiers on the city walls, also noticing that the Theodoro Army made no forward movement, felt a pang of compassion for the civilians still rushing towards the city, influenced by guilt and piety.
By the time the third batch of civilians reached the foot of the city, many had already put down their bows and arrows, giving up on shooting.
Even so, the Theodoro soldiers still showed no signs of approaching the city walls.
This confused Hussein's thoughts. "What exactly do these infidels want to do?" As he pondered, some pious soldiers had already volunteered to let these civilians in.
Hussein reacted ambiguously, hoping to hold out until night before making a decision.
But until nightfall, the Theodoro Army showed no signs of advancing, and some superstitious defenders had already informed the mullahs in the city, hoping to use the religious scholars to exert pressure and force Hussein to concede.
Finally, to avoid unrest among the soldiers and civilians in the city, Hussein was forced to give in.
Late that night, after confirming that the Theodoro Army would not attack under the cover of darkness, the Bakhchysarai defenders opened the city gates and let the remaining hundred-plus civilians into the city.
The next morning, after learning that the Bakhchysarai defenders had let the remaining muslim civilians into the city, Tukharovsky's face showed an inscrutable smile. "Soon, this city will collapse," he whispered in a voice no one could hear.