On June 25, Vitus's army was less than thirty miles away from Lake Van.
At this moment, the cavalry detected the location of White Sheep Main Force, and the enemy was stationed at Erciş on the north bank of Lake Van, quietly waiting for the arrival of the Eastern Roman Empire army.
Vitus put down the report submitted by the cavalry unit, thoughtfully.
According to his understanding of Uzon Hassan, the enemy should have special arrangements and would not engage in a decisive battle with the Eastern Roman Empire's main force.
"There are many kinds of strategies, but with the level of chaos of the White Sheep Army, it is difficult for them to achieve certain difficult operations, and it is easy for them to be self-defeating."
The next day, Vitus left three thousand men to garrison the valley, and the remaining troops set off one after another.
During the march, a large number of cavalry were on guard outside. Their equipment and training level exceeded that of the nomads. When the numbers were equal, the Eastern Roman Empire cavalry had the advantage and could often achieve an exchange ratio of 1:2.
Once they encounter nomadic riders who far outnumber their own, the Eastern Roman Empire cavalry will temporarily retreat to seek cover from their own infantry.
On the periphery of the marching column, there are numerous company and platoon-level units. They come from the Mountain Infantry battalion and a few elite infantry battalions. They surround the marching column and form a relatively loose defense line.
These small square formations are flexible and equipped with lightweight Three-Pounder, which can bombard nomadic cavalry from a long distance and drive the enemy away from the 300-step range.
The nomadic cavalry is equipped with a small amount of Camel Gun, but the range of Camel Gun is not as good as Three-Pounder, and its effect is limited.
The enemy's intermittent attacks slowed down the entire army, and by four o'clock in the afternoon they had only traveled twelve miles.
The vanguard was the most elite Tuna Legion. They repelled the enemy cavalry and occupied a narrow oasis along the river.
Marcus recommends that the army spend the night here. Going further, the army will pass through several miles of barren hills, which are not suitable for camping at night.
Vitus accepted this proposal and asked the army to camp on a slope not far from the river to prepare for tomorrow's battle.
According to the statistics of the officers, from morning to night, our side suffered a total of 502 cavalry and 30 infantry casualties. The enemy's cavalry suffered even greater casualties, leaving more than a thousand corpses.
The main cause of enemy cavalry deaths was gunfire.
Eastern Roman Empire light cavalry use Sabre and bows and arrows to attack the enemy, and it is difficult to kill them with one hit.
If the nomadic cavalry wears armor, the killing effect of Sabre and bows and arrows will be even lower. It seems that the two sides are fighting lively, with yellow sand filling the sky and arrows raining like rain, but the actual damage is not much.
In comparison, Dragoons and musketeers are equipped with Matchlock. As long as they hit the enemy, even if the person hit does not die on the spot, they will not be able to survive for too long.
White Sheep Army has a limited number of doctors, who can only meet the medical needs of mid- to high-level officers. Ordinary soldiers often resign themselves to their fate, and those with gunshot wounds have a slim chance of survival.
June 27, early morning.
Vitus left some auxiliary infantry to garrison the camp and led the remaining 58,000 soldiers to march southeast.
There were no trees in the hilly area ahead, with some low shrubs growing scattered here and there. The army continued its formation from yesterday and slowly advanced.
The moment the army was about to leave the hills and enter the lakeside plain, the enemy appeared.
There was a slight tremor on the ground, and several black spots appeared on the top of the distant hills. Immediately afterwards, countless nomadic cavalry crossed the hills and swarmed towards the Eastern Roman Empire army's front line like a tide.
Seeing this, the light cavalry and Dragoons scattered on the periphery quickly retreated, and the infantry squad responsible for guarding outside the formation gathered together to form a spear phalanx of hundreds of people.
The nomadic cavalry learned the lessons learned some time ago and bypassed the front of the spear phalanx far away and outflanked the left and right wings.
Not long after, Tuna Legion at the front launched a wide horizontal formation. Behind them, Attica Legion also launched a formation, and each battalion-level square formation moved to the west to protect their own flank.
At ten o'clock in the morning, the main forces of the two armies appeared in each other's sight. The Rome army was located in the north, and the White Sheep Army army was located in the south.
Looking from a distance, in the White Sheep Army formation, some flag patterns have the Persia style, which are most likely the flags of a certain Persia noble.
Vitus rode a white horse to the front line, held up a telescope and sighed softly, "After eight hundred years, the war between Rome and Persia has begun again."
At this time, the engineers built a four-meter-high wooden platform. Vitus quickly climbed to the top of the wooden platform, and the view became wider.
There are no woods or rivers in the entire area, and there are some gently sloping hills on the edge, which are suitable for large-scale cavalry groups to deploy.
However, the enemy's army was disorganized. Their cavalry was loosely formed, their infantry was crowded together, and the formation was deployed very slowly.
Vitus decided to take advantage of this and launch the first attack.
"Give the order, Attica Legion will guard the west side, Tuna Legion and Konya Legion on the front will advance forward, Thomas's two Auxiliary Brigade will guard the east side, Wagon Fort will be deployed in place, and no unauthorized attacks will be allowed..."
As the order was conveyed to various ministries, the Rome army's formation changes suddenly accelerated, and the sounds of drums, whistles, and shouts came one after another.
At 10:30, the two frontal legions advanced. Each legion had six infantry battalions, adopting a formation of four in front and two in back, with a combat width of nearly two kilometers.
The summer was dry, and the weeds withered and turned yellow. Tens of thousands of soldiers walked quickly, urged by the sound of drums and trumpets, and dust and mist filled the sky.
The White Sheep Main Force in the south were still adjusting their formation. In order to buy time, they dispatched a large number of cavalry in an attempt to delay the Rome army in the front, but unfortunately had little effect.
When the two sides were a thousand steps apart, many small carts were launched in front of the White Sheep Army. Each cart was equipped with a small-caliber artillery. The caliber was about between a one-pounder and Three-Pounder. There were more than 200 artillery carts in total.
"Using small artillery to replace the insufficient number of muskets, is this Uzong Hassan's response? But where is his New Army?"
Vitus stood on the high platform and talked to himself.
Looking at the enemy's entire front line, they did not see any Firearms Corps, but only cold-weapon infantry armed with swords, guns, and crossbows, and nomadic riders in chaotic formations.
A rough estimate puts the number of enemy troops at more than 50,000, half of which are cavalry. These chaotic nomadic cavalry are spread out widely, causing the entire front to stretch for more than eight kilometers.
Vitus has no idea of attacking in other directions. The enemy's army is disorganized. As long as the infantry on the front is defeated, the left and right wings will naturally collapse.
Time passed, and the frontline troops were only 600 steps away from the enemy. The infantry stopped advancing, and Artillery bombarded White Sheep's line with Nine-Pounder Cannon and Six-Pounder Cannon.
The small cannon produced by White Sheep did not have enough range, so what came in handy were the sixteen Field Gun assisted by Mamluk. They were at a disadvantage from the beginning when they faced off against the large number of Rome Field Gun.
Bang! Bang!
Not long after, White Sheep Army's sixteen Field Gun were suppressed and destroyed one after another.
After dealing with the large-caliber artillery, Rome Artillery shifted the target to the small artillery. There were so many of them that it was difficult to clear them all at once, and the battle was temporarily in a stalemate.
At 11:20, Vitus saw the enemy troops advancing in the southeast direction with great momentum, and wanted to attack Thomas's troops.
Ten minutes later, he received a report from the cavalry unit:
An enemy force detoured back behind the hills in the northeast of the battlefield, numbering nearly 20,000. The cavalry was well-equipped, and the infantry took the form of a mixture of spears and muskets. It should be the enemy's New Army.
Vitus guessed what Uzon Hassan was thinking. The opponent's target was the weakest Thomas unit, attacking from the north and south, trying to defeat this weakest unit, and then attack Vitus's central army.
"Unfortunately, you don't have enough time."
As the small artillery of the White Sheep unit suffered serious losses, the two legions in the center of the battlefield resumed their advance, and the skirmishers at the front were exchanging fire with the enemy.
Suddenly, Vitus noticed the loose formation on the edge of the enemy's formation, most of which were conscripts with poor equipment, and made an immediate decision.
"Shoot all Rocket towards the east side of the enemy's main force. After the bombardment is over, Heavy Cavalry Brigade and Second Light Cavalry Brigade will attack immediately!"
In this battle, the Rome army carried 1,200 light Rockets, with a maximum range of one mile, suitable for use in the field.
Under the cover of the auxiliary infantry, fifty carriages came to an open space one mile in front of the enemy's position. Artillery placed a bracket on the ground so that Rocket aimed at the sky at a 45-degree angle.
"Light the fire!"
After receiving the officer's order, Artillery ignited the fuse at the tail of Rocket.
The moment the fuse burned out, orange-red flames were ejected from the end of Rocket, then screamed and flew into the distance, leaving a skewed white trail in the blue sky.
In just five minutes, thousands of Rocket flew towards the White Sheep Army.
Among them, most of the Rocket deviated from the target, some landed in the open space in front of the formation, and some shot at nearby enemies. Only more than 200 Rocket hit the target area.
Bang!
The gunpowder on Rocket's head exploded violently, and the broken iron shell spattered in all directions, killing and injuring nearby White Sheep conscripts.
"Cataphracts, move forward!"
Although the equipment and tactics have changed greatly, Heavy Cavalry Brigade still continues the ancient name of "Cataphracts". They formed a three-row horizontal formation and marched quickly following the commander's flag.
On the way, due to the desperate obstruction of the White Sheep cavalry, the formation and marching rhythm of the heavy cavalry were affected, and some heavy cavalry were entangled by the enemy.
"Ignore them and charge!"
The commander made a prompt decision and led the remaining heavy cavalry to charge. Those White Sheep conscripts had not yet reorganized their formation, and were attacked by the heavy cavalry in a panic. The entire army suddenly collapsed, and the survivors fled in all directions, spreading the panic to more friendly forces.
"Rush over! Keep chasing!"
After breaking through the first front line, the heavy cavalry still retained a certain impact. The brigade commander observed for a moment, avoided the melee infantry in the south, and led the team to rush towards the crossbowmen formation in the southeast...
Behind Heavy Cavalry Brigade, more than two thousand Tatars cavalry served as the second echelon. These light cavalry waved Sabre, rampaging through the enemy formation, trying to prevent the enemy from blocking the gap.
Attacked by the cavalry and Field Legion at the same time, the morale of the White Sheep Chinese army dropped rapidly, gradually forming a chain collapse affecting tens of thousands of people.
The combat effectiveness of these levies was very low and they were dispensable. However, such a large army dropped its weapons and collapsed backwards, causing an extremely serious blow to the friendly forces.
The nomads who were recruited were the fastest runners. Seeing that the situation was over, the remaining Black Sheep nobles and Persia nobles decisively gave up their oath of allegiance and led their troops to retreat.
On the east side of the battlefield, White Sheep Army is still attacking Wagon Fort and the spear phalanx of Thomas.
The two Auxiliary Brigade under Thomas are equipped with a large number of firearms. Armenia First Auxiliary Brigade was formed before the war and has the same training level as Rome Frontier Army. The other Auxiliary Brigade comes from the Frontier Army and the guard soldiers.
Although they are auxiliary troops, their combat effectiveness is not weaker than New Army, which Uzon Hassan has high hopes for.
On the front, Thomas has deployed three Wagon Fort in advance, which is enough to resist the White Sheep miscellaneous army from the south.
On the northeast side, Thomas placed multiple spear phalanxes and used artillery and muskets to shoot at White Sheep New Army. Our side had a slight advantage.
When the artillery on both sides overheated and needed to cool down, the White Sheep phalanx advanced. Their spearmen were all wearing plate chain armor, holding spears more than four meters tall in both hands, and they were poking at each other with the Rome spearmen in gray Plate Armor. The situation was chaotic, and it was difficult to tell the winner for a while.
"Why are they still holding on?"
Uzon Hassan did not want to believe that his elite troops were on par with the enemy's auxiliary troops. He preferred to believe that these troops were not Auxiliary Brigade, but Tuna Legion in disguise.
"Invest two more battalions and three thousand cavalry, and we will definitely crush the other side!"
Before Sultan could finish his words, a rider ran over in embarrassment and conveyed to him the bad news of the collapse of the Chinese army.
The officers were in an uproar and persuaded Sultan to retreat:
"Your Majesty, the main force of our army collapsed too quickly. Even if you defeat these troops, Vitus's Chinese army still has more than 10,000 people. We have no hope of making a comeback."
Is this the end?
Sultan took off his iron helmet, which had been burned by the sun, and stared blankly at the battlefield in front of him. Our own army was entangled by the enemy and was unable to make a breakthrough. The sound of gunfire and shouts of killing came one after another.
Further west, the purple flag of Vitus is looming in the dust and fog, and numerous infantry phalanxes are clustered nearby.
Not long after, the hot wind carried the dust and blew by. Sultan's mood gradually calmed down and his whole person became relieved.
"Oh, I knew these conscripts were unreliable."
Having said that, Sultan had someone blow the horn and order the frontline infantry to break away from the battle.
There were very few Rome cavalry on the east side of the battlefield. Even if White Sheep Army retreated backwards, the Rome infantry did not dare to disband the formation and could only watch the enemy gradually move away.
Soon, Vitus received news from the east side of the battlefield, and his reaction was dull.
During Battle of Sakarya and Battle of Konya, Thomas observed the entire process of Vitus's troop deployment. Although he did not study as hard as Romanus, he learned at least 50% to 60%.
With the current quality of Thomas, it is still far behind Border Defense General, and it is more than enough to be Legion Deputy Commander.
Even if Thomas cannot withstand the enemy's offensive, the Chinese army still has Hermes Brigade, Auxiliary Brigade, cavalry, and Wagon Fort stationed by service personnel, which is enough to last for a long time.
The overall situation has been decided, Vitus's worries disappeared, and his whole person seemed to have been relieved of a heavy burden, and he sighed in his heart:
"If it were me commanding White Sheep Army, we still wouldn't be able to win this battle."
From beginning to end, all Uzon Hassan could rely on was New Army and more than 10,000 cavalry, and the remaining troops could only be used to fill the scene.
This time, Uzon Hassan put the miscellaneous troops in front, and the result was that the miscellaneous troops were defeated in a short time.
If Uzun Hasan had put his elite troops on the front and let miscellaneous troops undertake the offensive tasks on the flanks, the situation would not be much better.
The miscellaneous troops lack firearms, are at a disadvantage during the shooting phase, and do not have the courage to charge against artillery shells and lead bullets. There is a high probability that they will be in a stalemate on both wings.
At that time, Vitus can change his tactics and deal with the flanks first, and then slowly deal with the enemies in the front.