After more than a week of preparation, in the early evening of May, the Theodoro Army officially dispatched four thousand troops, moving by both land and sea, to seize Henichesk.
This time, they not only intended to capture the village, but also to firmly hold it in their hands.
These four thousand men, at first glance, might not seem like many, but what they didn't know was that most of these land soldiers were veterans Manuel had selected from the wars of the past few years.
Although their individual combat capabilities were still not as strong as those fierce Tatars, they were already the most experienced group in the Principality.
"I'm looking forward to the Tatars' reaction when they realize their opponents aren't so easy to deal with," Manuel, clad in armor and mounted on his warhorse, thought with a cold sneer, then mentally reviewed the specific intelligence regarding Henichesk.
He had long been intimately familiar with the geographical intelligence, so what he was now reviewing in his mind was primarily intelligence concerning the enemy's military deployment in the area.
According to military intelligence, due to the Theodoro Army's repeated raids in the Yedishkul region, many areas there had become barren.
Henichesk was slightly better, but not by much.
As previously mentioned, the majority of the several thousand original permanent residents had either been captured or fled for various reasons, leaving only over a thousand people in the area.
This greatly increased the cost for the Crimean Khanate to defend the area.
However, to prevent the Theodoro Principality from advancing north again, Giray had no choice but to station five hundred Tatar warriors in Henichesk to monitor and defend against the Principality.
According to Giray's plan, while they should still resist if possible, these five hundred soldiers were primarily for surveillance.
Their main purpose was to reach Adamakha when the Theodoro Army mobilized heavily, in order to quickly gather troops from the south and even the center to intercept or even counter-attack the Theodoro Army.
It is regrettable to say again, although the Theodoro Army's intelligence system did not uncover his plan, Manuel and his generals had, through deduction and speculation, roughly figured out the purpose of his deployment.
Manuel had naturally planned how to prevent Giray from achieving his goal.
After completing his review, Manuel looked at the relatively clear night sky and the faintly visible crescent moon, and couldn't help but smile as he extended his left hand towards the moon hanging in the sky.
However, he quickly calmly lowered his hand and turned to order his generals: "The time has come, prepare to take Henichesk."
"Yes, Your Highness, Loyalty!"
After Manuel issued this military order, the four thousand soldiers, under the command of their generals, began to encircle Henichesk.
Their primary target was the five hundred Tatar soldiers stationed in Henichesk; as the most powerful fighting force in the village, they certainly had to be dealt with first.
To eliminate them swiftly and safely, Manuel had formulated an outflanking tactic early on.
Unlike common tactics, the most important aspect of this encirclement was speed.
Because Henichesk, as a coastal plain, actually didn't have many places for concealment; the few shrubs and buildings that could offer cover were all in Tatar hands.
Therefore, the Theodoro Army could only take advantage of the night and the temporary advantage of both land and sea to try and seize their target like lightning.
To ensure stealth, Manuel deliberately reduced the number of torches in the army, dyed their uniforms the color of night, and had soldiers with good night vision lead the way, advancing with the torches on the Tatar watchtowers as reference points.
The march was mainly divided into three routes: the southern route started directly from the narrow, tide-affected path, the western route specifically went around the right side of the "Rotten Sea," and the eastern route was directly and swiftly transported to the enemy's watchtower blind spot by naval transport ships.
If anyone else had seen it at the time, they would certainly have thought the Theodoro Army was making too much of a fuss, being so cautious just to fight a garrison of 500 men.
However, if Manuel had heard this question, he would have readily admitted that they were right: "To ensure success, this is necessary."
He explained this to his generals during a military meeting in March.
Now, it was time for the test.
When he could clearly see the faces illuminated by the enemy watchtower's firelight from the rear, he involuntarily clenched his palms.
While Manuel was secretly clenching his palms, the Tatar soldiers on the watchtower were almost completely unaware.
Months of peace on the border between the two nations had numbed most of them, reducing their vigilance against a Theodoro Army attack to an extremely low point.
"Ali, when do we get to switch shifts?" a restless Tatar soldier asked impatiently, wiping his horn bow.
"Stop making noise, I'm hungry.
Ibn, can't you save some energy?" the soldier called Ali retorted to his colleague with little interest.
"Alright, alright, I won't ask, then.
By the way, what's that down there?
Why does it look like something's moving?" The soldier called Ibn gave a small yawn and leaned towards the edge of the tower.
This leaning proved to be critical; as soon as he approached the edge of the tower, a sharp arrow pierced directly through his glabella, causing him to freeze in place before falling off the tower.
Seeing that something was wrong, but not detecting any abnormal phenomena, Ali was at a loss for what to do or say, so he, trembling and as if possessed, also approached the edge alone.
Soon after, he was shot dead by a crossbow bolt and also fell beneath the tower.
This was because the Theodoro Army soldiers, acting as vanguards, had already reached the base of the watchtower, raised their bows and crossbows, and fired arrow after arrow at the lax Tatar soldiers on the watchtower, quietly sending these unprepared Tatars to their deaths, one by one.