The entire army stopped pursuing and retreated slowly.

This was the order issued by Justinian, but the Byzantine cavalry officer who was victorious in front of him found it unreasonable.

It was only a matter of time before the defeat of the Venetian defense line, but at this time the Byzantine soldiers who wanted to expand the results of the war received instructions like Justinian, which was really puzzling.

"Mr. Justinian, this is a great opportunity! With one move, we can defeat the Venetians."

"Please give us some more time, Lord Justinian."

The Byzantine rider who retreated from the front still begged Justinian unwillingly, but Justinian was unmoved.

"I have already said, retreat! Violators are engaged in military law." Justinian's face showed a cold face and refused the request of these young and strong officers without hesitation.

"But……"

"Don't let me repeat the second time - retreat!"

Under Justinian's decisive words, the Byzantine officers who had clearly gained the upper hand were worth ordering the troops to retreat and give up on their pursuit. Although they were the personal guards of Grand Duke Anastasius, they strictly kept their oath and did not disobey Justinian's orders at all.

On the other side, Maximilian, who organized the defense, also discovered that the momentum of the Byzantine army's offensive had slowed down. However, he did not breathe a sigh of relief like his subordinates who had survived the disaster, but showed a completely opposite expression.

"Strike, the whole army attack to stop the Greeks from escaping!"

Damn it!

Maximilian, who was roaring in his heart, never expected that the enemy commander would suddenly realize his intention. In fact, although Maximilian's army was indeed not prepared for this raid, it was not so vulnerable. luring the Byzantines to the second line of defense was actually a countermeasure that the Venetians had prepared before. Once the enemy was lured into the trap, the defenders of the other two camps would attack and give the Byzantine army a fatal blow from behind.

However, before the other two camp guards at the mountain pass came, the Byzantines had already noticed this and retreated early, so their previous losses would be in vain. Such Maximilian would never be allowed to send his troops to attack regardless of everything to restrain the Byzantine retreat plan.

But what greeted the Venetians was the rain of arrows, and behind the temple were Turkish light cavalry and light archers. The powerful firepower suppressed the Italian soldiers who had just rushed out of the camp scattered and fled.

It happened that at this time, the Venetian reinforcements on both sides came late, and they immediately rushed towards the Byzantine army that wanted to retreat, but Justinian had already prepared for this. The Byzantine officers who saw the arrival of Venetian reinforcements also changed color at this time. They did not expect that the Venetians had left behind. If Justinian had not asked them to retreat in advance, the small space in the camp would be catastrophic to be attacked from front and back by the enemy.

But even so, a large number of enemies that appeared at this time still doubled their pressure, but Justinian's face was still calm.

"The left-wing infantry lined up and broke the rear. The archers suppressed the enemy and looked for an opportunity to retreat. Don't be fond of fighting!"

"Salouus, you take your heavily armored cavalry to attack the enemy archers, and do not allow them to harass the army and evacuate."

Justinian held up a horse whip and shouted, and the expression on his face seemed to be able to deal with all the changes easily. This behavior also made the originally panicked Byzantine army stable.

The officers who followed Justinian's command also immediately reacted and dispatched the army according to the order of the young man in front of him.

Such a move was completely beyond the expectations of the Venetians. In their opinion, the Byzantine army has always been an army with a large number of loose military disciplines. When it was surrounded, the imperial army composed of peasant soldiers could easily be defeated. Just like more than a year ago, outside the city of Constantinople, Alexa III led an army of more than 80,000 people to fight the Crusaders and collapsed.

But now the small and pitiful Byzantine army was completely different. The Balkan mountain people formed archers and quickly occupied both sides, while the spearmen around them ensured that the cavalry would not come to attack. The militia archers crossed and shot waves of arrow feathers towards the simple-equipped Albanian cavalry. The Albanians, who were not wearing either men or horses, paid a huge price instantly.

"It's over!" There were wailing everywhere. These cavalrymen were just bandits who joined the Venetians for money. Therefore, the Albanian cavalry, who had no stoic spirit, quickly lost the courage to fight and rushed backwards. Some people kept falling into the ground by arrows or sitting down on the war horse and being shot to death and fell to the ground.

On the other hand, the Italian infantry, dominated by the infantry, performed even more firmly. They were professional soldiers composed of carefully selected civic classes in the towns under Venice. Due to their wealth, they could afford good armor and weapons.

Facing the heavy armored cavalry under Justinian who used Latin charges, the soldiers immediately formed a square formation with spears and shields to protect the crossbow archers behind them.

When he saw a spear like a forest, he posed a huge threat to the Byzantine cavalry. A cavalry accidentally stabbed his man and horse on the spot. He was stabbed hard by more than a dozen spears and died on the horse's back. His war horse also fell in a pool of blood in a whine.

But this did not scare away the heavy armored cavalry of Byzantine. Although they were the private guard of Grand Duke Anastasius, they were the orphans left by the armored cavalry after Emperor Manuel's military reform, and they had innate pride.

As the commander of the guard, Saleus roared and ordered the adjutant beside him to blow the trumpet. The heavy armored cavalry, who was ordered to turn the horse's head, adjusted the formation again and used the pig's mouth formation to launch a final charge against the Venetians from the slope.

Under the dark night, only the dim fire light illuminates the view in front of you, but the heavy sound of horse hooves is like the sky and the earth is broken, making even the Venetians who did not see the situation clearly felt the horror of the enemy cavalry.

I saw countless cavalry rushing down like iron streams. Even though every Venetian bravely raised the sharp spear in his hand, the cavalry like a wormwood still stabbed hard on their fragile flesh and blood bodies first, and then it was smashed into pieces by the moving wall formed by the cavalry side by side. Suddenly, the infantry composed of Venetians were immediately penetrated by the cavalry. Either they were trampled by horse hooves or killed by the cavalry who were chasing. Venetian soldiers fell down in groups, and howled endlessly.
Chapter completed!