But Manuel had no intention of actively calling for their surrender, and before the battle, he gave his army a strict order: "Anyone seen wearing Persian red wool felt taxi soldier, hit them hard! Before they surrender, there will be a reward of 10 ducats for each of their heads. If they don't surrender and resist stubbornly, then beat them until they beg for surrender!"
"Yes, Your Highness. Loyalty!"
So now, Klier and his nearly one hundred Janissaries were horrified to find that the enemy had no intention of calling for their surrender. Instead, like hungry tigers pouncing on their prey, they fiercely charged at them while maintaining their formation.
"Are these Christians crazy?" After finally blocking and counterattacking three spearmen, Klier felt his hands were incredibly sore from wielding his sword too much.
"General, let's surrender," one of his guards pleaded in fear. As soon as he finished speaking, he was accidentally knocked off his horse by several enemy light cavalrymen and then trampled to death.
"Surrender, surrender, we surrender!" Seeing his guard's tragic death, Klier, who had finally lost his will to fight, didn't hesitate. He ordered his taxi soldiers to lay down their weapons and raise their hands in surrender. At this point, this main force of the rebels was completely annihilated.
According to Manuel's statistics after returning to Mangup, in the decisive battle of Kalta, his side suffered approximately less than 500 casualties. The rebel army of four thousand men should have lost over three thousand, of which more than eighty-five percent were captured, possibly even more. The Janissary guest troops among the rebels were reduced from nearly one hundred to twenty.
Although most of the rebel main force was annihilated, a few stragglers managed to escape, such as the rebel general Wolol and his personal guards. After they fled into the city in disarray, the news of the defeat quickly spread throughout Mangup City in less than five hours, which greatly shocked the rebel high command.
"This is too fast?!" After learning of this, Raus, who had been dismissed from his post, exclaimed in horror in his mansion. Although he believed that the rebels would not last a month after his removal, the news of the decisive defeat came so quickly that it caught him completely off guard.
"What should we do now?" In the Mangup Palace, Isaac was at a loss, trembling all over, sweating profusely, and completely unsure of what to do. In the end, he even blurted out outrageous remarks in front of everyone, "Why don't we run away? If that doesn't work, surrender? My brother, he is very gentle and reliable, he would never…"
"Your Majesty, calm down!" Wolol was dumbfounded. He never thought that, at this point, Isaac would still harbor fantasies of a retreat. "Your Majesty, think about it, our uprising this time was so massive, not only spreading throughout the entire Principality, but also involving the intervention of Lithuania and the Golden Horde. Even if His Highness Manuel wanted to spare us, would his subordinates and the forces behind him agree?"
At his words, Isaac finally gave up the idea of directly surrendering the city. Having no choice but to firm his resolve, he began to discuss countermeasures with everyone. During this time, thinking of his agreement with the Tatars, he couldn't help but curse angrily, "Damn Tatars, their reinforcements should have arrived long ago, what are they doing now? If we fall, aren't they next?"
Isaac's words were not false, and the leaders of the Tatar rebels were also very clear about this. If nothing unexpected happened, the Tatar reinforcements should have arrived in Mangup last night or this morning to support them.
But as expected, an "accident" occurred—
"Mustafa Balin, do you know what you are doing?" Muhammad Shirin, who was under house arrest in the military camp, roared at Balin, who had come to visit him. After the mutiny last night, as one of the two major leaders of the Tatar rebels, he was taken advantage of and controlled by Balin. His trusted followers were either purged or defected to Balin, and the very few who were still leading troops outside were wanted and pursued, their whereabouts unknown.
"Doing the right thing," Balin replied calmly. As clan leaders of the three major tribes of Crimea, both of them were relatively young and of similar age, which gave Shirin a one-sided, subtle sense of trust in him as a peer.
However, that trust had now completely vanished.
As a clan leader, Shirin was still too naive, Balin thought. Although he was only slightly older than Shirin, as the clan leader of one of the three major tribes of Crimea, he was able to contend with the shrewd former clan leader of the Shirin tribe, Beijin Xilin, before last year, so he was naturally no ordinary person.
"What a joke, seizing power during wartime, this will allow the enemy to take advantage!" Shirin accused him incredulously.
"Enemy, are you referring to His Highness Manuel?" Balin smiled slightly, which made his usually calm and dashing face appear somewhat sinister in Shirin's eyes.
"Balin, you couldn't have defected to…"
"How can you say defected? I merely found the true monarch I should be loyal to."
"Balin, are you serious?" Shirin was dumbfounded.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Balin smiled gently.
"Why?"
"He is more decisive than you, no, more decisive than I imagined," Balin recalled the night he was pardoned.
"Olubey, that weak fellow is decisive? You must be joking, right?"
"His Highness simply dislikes solving problems in extreme ways. While this gentle style can easily lead to misunderstandings, it is certainly not weakness. A gentle monarch, once angered, can be even more terrifying than a furious and ruthless one."
"What are you talking about?" Shirin was utterly confused.
"You'll understand when the time comes," Balin looked at him with pity and comforted him, "Don't worry, for the sake of our past camaraderie, you will be safe and sound until you are sent to Bakhchysarai or Mangup."
Afterward, Balin ignored Shirin's questions and left the military camp directly. Next, he was going to incorporate the troops willing to switch allegiance to him and cooperate with the Lithuanian reinforcements to dismantle the remaining stubborn rebel factions. After he revealed his true stance, Olgierdovich, who had received a personal letter from Manuel in advance, immediately sent someone to contact him and discuss their next actions.
While Balin was assisting the Lithuanian reinforcements in clearing out the remaining rebels, Manuel's four thousand troops took approximately less than a day and a half to pacify the remaining rebel remnants in the subordinate towns of Mangup. After completing these tasks and ensuring the stability of the rear, Manuel led his army grandly towards Mangup in the morning.
"Thinking about it carefully, ever since the decisive battle of Kalta two days ago, I haven't encountered any decent resistance along the way. It seems the rebels have basically lost their fighting capacity," Manuel thought with relief, but he quickly calmed down, "However, by common sense, now is not the time to celebrate. Mangup is the capital of all Theodoro, and with the solidity of Calamita Fortress, the rebels will definitely hold this city and resist to the end. Fortunately, I was not unprepared; I brought various siege units and also had Teacher Falero lead the navy to prepare for a surprise attack at any time, making thorough preparations…"
Just as Manuel was contemplating how to attack the city, a scout suddenly rushed to inform him: "Your Highness, for some unknown reason, the defenders around Mangup are less than a hundred men."
Upon learning of this military intelligence, Manuel and his generals became vigilant. "My good brother, you wouldn't have prepared some ambush, would you? Or are you playing an empty fort strategy?" Manuel thought cautiously.
To ensure he wouldn't fall into a trap, Manuel sent out 250 vanguard troops to launch a probing attack. But less than half an hour later, this vanguard not only returned safe and sound but also happily told Manuel, "Your Highness, Mangup has now been recaptured!"
"Huh?"