The day the Turks launched their attack, no one expected it.
That day was originally a very lucky day for the Crusaders, so they discovered a big lake, a real big lake, not the small puddles they had seen before. The lake was enough to meet the water needs of the entire army, and also allowed them to
Fill all water bladders and buckets.
Surrounding the lake are many green plants that are rare in this desert, which makes the place more alive.
The Crusaders who saw the lake couldn't control themselves at all. They rushed directly to the lake. Many people lay down directly by the lake and began to drink water without any scruples, venting their desire that had been restricted some time ago.
And the more extreme people rushed directly into the lake, letting their whole bodies fall into the water, immersed in the cool lake water, and enjoyed the luxurious treatment in this land.
Seeing this, Vasiliko rarely did anything. The appearance of this lake made him uncontrollably relax. Recently, the problem of water storage has also troubled him. Now he finally found a place that can hold all the containers.
The lake was full and he relaxed.
The soldiers of the Varangian Guard also thought of rushing into the lake to party. The captain of the guard's water restriction strategy also included these soldiers, but Vasiliko restricted them. The Crusaders did not matter, but his subordinates must maintain order, even if
It’s a rare carnival in the lake, and you have to go in groups.
The news about the discovery of water sources in front quickly spread to the back, so the crowds flocked to more and more people. Many teams that originally needed Vasilko's constant urging to arrive on time ran very fast after hearing that there was a lake ahead.
Party in the lake.
Now the nameless lake has become a carnival place, people are enjoying this rare way, and there are even people with musical instruments playing their instruments, making the whole atmosphere more joyful.
However, as the number of people increased, problems began to arise. More and more people were attracted to the lake. The lake soon became overcrowded, and there were also some complaints among those happy voices.
He was beaten and scolded, and because of this, the Varangian Guard Captain felt something was wrong.
It was just when he felt something was wrong that Turkic cavalry emerged from behind the hillside of the lake. At first there was one figure, then two, three - until countless. They appeared from the ridge, dressed in typical nomads' clothes.
They all wore clothes and held bows and arrows in their hands.
Not only Vasilko, but also some people in the lake and those who were rushing to the lake saw the appearance of the cavalry, and panicked sounds began to occur.
"Blow the horn, the enemy is coming!"
Vasiliko immediately realized that this was a trap, and the panicked trumpeter also blew the horn, but it was too late, as the first wave of arrows had already fallen from the sky.
The heavy rain of arrows hit the still dazed crowd mercilessly, and then many people met their deaths in ignorance. They did not know what was going on when they were killed.
Compared with these deaths, the panic caused by the arrow rain was even more fatal. Just as the guard captain once worried, this army composed of wild boars immediately became chaotic. They began to get ready to move and were about to charge in disorder.
After the second and third waves of arrow rain fell, the situation developed in an uncontrollable direction. The Turkic cavalry fired arrows in an orderly manner along the lake, and then they pulled out their scimitars and rushed into the crossroads like evil wolves.
The wolves of the army, the so-called Crusaders fled in all directions and died under the arrows and swords of the Turks.
But this is an army of faith after all. There are never a few fanatics in the army. Soon, fanatics who shouted "only the will of the Lord" and "kill the infidels" stood up. They bravely
He met the Turkic cavalry and fought with them without caring about his life.
The few warriors in the Crusaders also joined the battle. Vasiliko saw Walter leading his knights to bravely rush into the Turkic army formation, and saw the hermit Peter encouraging the believers around him to join the battle.
Go in.
Although the efforts of these people have alleviated the trend of the defeat, the defeat is still ongoing. If nothing is done, the end of this crusade will only be a matter of time.
The only one who can break this fate is Vasiliko's Varangian Guards. From the beginning of the attack, the Varangian Guards formed a shield wall, and then only a small group of Turkic horse archers attacked them. They circled the Varangian Guards.
Ji's shield wall kept firing, but it caused no casualties.
The captain of the guard immediately divided the team into two teams, one team was handed over to his brother-in-law Grigory, and the other team was led by himself. Grigory's team went to save the defeated Crusaders, while Vasiliko faced the Turks.
Array attack.
The captain of the guard knew very well that the only way to break the current situation was to attack, and standing firm would only kill him. Although it seemed silly for the infantry to attack the cavalry, there was no other way at the moment.
The battle was indeed as Vasiliko expected. Facing the impact of the Varangian Guards, the Turks who had not yet entered the close combat retreated while shooting. The greatest result of the Varangian Guards' efforts for a long time was only to kill a few.
Ten guys who ran slower would have incurred huge equipment losses in this process, and many of them had their armors covered with arrows.
But they successfully repelled these Turks, and Vasiliko's desired tactical goal was successfully achieved. Without the reinforcements here, the situation of the Turks who were fighting in the lake immediately changed.
The lake has been dyed red with blood in a series of battles, but the blood used to be from the Crusaders, and now it belongs to the Turks. The Turks have no advantage in facing the Varangian Guards, and the Varangian Guards deal with them skillfully.
The old rivals, the Turks, faced the fate of being broken into pieces. The light cavalry faced the Varangian Guards in the melee and was defeated.
Seeing that the Turks were becoming more and more embarrassed, the so-called Crusaders who had been frightened and fled began to fight against the infidels. The situation was instantly reversed, the prey became hunters, and the Turks finally collapsed after paying huge casualties.
The Christians did not pursue much, because it was too difficult to pursue an all-cavalry army, not to mention that they could not pursue them after experiencing a fierce battle.
The Crusaders cheered over the corpses of the Turks and the lake that had turned into a lake of blood to celebrate this victory, but their cheers did not last long because the casualties they paid this time were too great.
Vasiliko was busy with post-war statistics from the beginning. He had to know the casualties caused by this battle as soon as possible so that he could evaluate the next battle.
On this day, the Crusaders camped beside this lake that had undergone a fierce battle. The blood also dissipated under the flow of the lake, but not many people were willing to go to the lake because there were corpses everywhere under the lake, and those who took the water could only dare to
Get water in areas not affected by the fighting.
The report of casualties made the guard captain look extremely solemn. In today's battle, this team of nearly 50,000 people lost 10,000 people, yes, a full 10,000 people.
More than half of these 10,000 losses were wounded, but for the Crusaders who lacked medical treatment, this was basically equivalent to death. Only a very small number of people could carry it through and return to the Crusaders.
As for the other half, everything from being killed to being captured to even escaping can't be counted.
The Turks did not just attack at the lake. In fact, they launched attacks everywhere in the team. There were not many reliable fighters there, so it turned into a direct massacre.
Had it not been for the victory in the battle on the edge of the lake, the Turks would have retreated one after another after seeing that the main force was repulsed, otherwise the casualties would have been even greater.
Vasiliko was very troubled when he got these casualties. How could he have done this? He had to pay such a huge number of deaths. His Varangian Guards only suffered only a hundred casualties in the whole battle.
However, the morale of the Crusaders was not greatly affected. The leaders of the Crusaders were still full of confidence. In their view, such casualties were completely acceptable. The Eastern Expedition would have been a cruel war.
Okay, they are all mentally prepared for high casualties or even the annihilation of the entire army.
Well, there is nothing wrong in saying that, and there is good news now, that is, in the next few days, they will be able to reach the city of Konya and enter a relatively wealthy area.