After a brief negotiation, Pavlos Mihalis refused to lay down his weapons and meet Otto I. Then the fighting began.
As for evidence? What evidence was needed to wipe out bandits and rebels?
Two hours later, the battle was over. This elite Greek force had been utterly annihilated.
Pavlos Mihalis's army had indeed been exceptionally tough. Of its more than five thousand men, over half had to die before the rest chose to surrender.
To prevent himself from being captured and humiliated, Pavlos Mihalis first killed his two brothers, then shot himself.
However, the soldiers of the Austrian Empire had little respect for this bandit army.
On the contrary, based on what they had seen and experienced, they felt not the slightest sympathy for those Greek rebels.
The Austrian Empire's soldiers delivered the Mihalis brothers' corpses to the cities the brothers had plundered.
The purpose, naturally, was to soothe the people's fears. With public sentiment unstable in occupied territory, the cost of maintaining order would be far too high.
It was also meant as a display for the Ottomans across the river. This method of delivering a slap, then offering a sweet date, had always worked well.
Of course, under normal circumstances, no one would be willing to make such a sacrifice.
Borrowing the heads of friendly troops to stabilize public sentiment might be somewhat unscrupulous, but borrowing the heads of rebels came with no such burden.
After this battle, most Greek armies out plundering chose to return to their units at once.
Yet no matter how many excuses they had, it was difficult for them to regain Otto I's trust. At Franz's suggestion, Otto I carried out a sweeping purge of these armies' commanders, replacing every one of them with his own confidants.
As for those unwilling to return