Receiving the General's command, the White Sheep Army continued to besiege the thousand or so Christian soldiers they considered prey.
With the removal of caltrops and other barricades, and the relentless pressure of arrows, these Christian soldiers, still maintaining their defensive posture, were steadily retreating, as if they would collapse at the slightest charge from the Horse Archers.
But just as Abdul was about to order his cavalry to prepare for a charge, unusual movements from the small hills on both flanks caught his attention.
"Sir, there seems to be movement in the woods on those hills on both sides," his Deputy General, noticing these anomalies, reminded him again, hoping their General would recognize the threat within.
"There's nothing to worry about," Abdul, who had fought numerous campaigns with the White Sheep Sultan, was not unfamiliar with such tactics, though he wouldn't call them commonplace.
He loudly declared, "They're just using some soldiers as bait, hiding their main force, and waiting for us to come before attacking all at once.
Hmph, if it were a strong enemy like the Mamluk, I'd pay attention.
But they're just Christians; don't think too highly of these opponents.
As soon as our Horse Archers counter-charge, they'll cry and scatter like a flock of birds."
Hearing their General's confident words, many soldiers in the White Sheep Army cheered enthusiastically, even infecting the few Deputy Generals, who closed their previously murmuring mouths and continued leading their troops to attack the encircled enemy.
Abdul's guess was more than half right; Manuel was indeed personally leading his troops, hidden in the woods on the right hill, waiting for the opportune moment.
However, the White Sheep Army's reaction genuinely surprised him.
"They don't seem entirely unaware of our presence here.
Are they truly indifferent to the strength of our army?
Even if the Greeks' combat effectiveness is generally poor, isn't this too arrogant?"
Thinking this, Manuel's brow first furrowed tightly, then relaxed.
After confirming that the White Sheep Army's forces were concentrated around the caltrops and the "bait," Manuel formally gave the order for the artillery hidden on his hill to open fire.
Upon receiving his direct command, numerous stone projectiles immediately shot from the small cannon barrels, directly hitting the unprepared White Sheep Army.
Shortly after the stone projectiles were fired from the right hill, the Bosporus, ambushed on the left hill, also ignited their cannons under Tukharovsky's command, firing a deluge of stone projectiles towards the White Sheep Army.
Facing such a reaction from the enemy, the White Sheep Army, lacking experience in dealing with firearms, was momentarily flustered, and their siege of the enemy within the caltrops was forced to slow down considerably.
"Damn Greek pig herders, I'll have Azrael seize you!"
Abdul, whose mount was almost hit by a stone projectile, exploded in curses on the spot, and his Ghazi Warriors also broke down, their shouts and curses incessant.
But the Bosporus Army's artillery showed no signs of stopping.
About three or four minutes later, after one of his Deputy Generals was knocked to the ground by dust and stones splashed up by a stone projectile, Abdul, with his considerable battlefield experience, finally deduced that the enemy's stone projectiles seemed less threatening than his initial impression.
These firearms' projectiles were more for disrupting their vision and movement; although their lethality was not low, their accuracy was truly not commendable.
It seemed that a flexible cavalry charge could easily break them.
Understanding this, he regained his confidence and immediately ordered the remaining combat-ready cavalry to mount up, preparing to use the Turk's most skilled cavalry tactics to crush these cowards hidden in the hill's woods.
As for the primary target, "Let's start with the right flank, which dared to fire the first shot at our army."
Thinking this, he curled his lip into a smile and personally led his valiant Turkmen cavalry to charge towards the right hill.
"They're really charging at me," Manuel's heart rate accelerated with a touch of tension upon realizing the enemy's blade was pointed at him.
But his accelerated heartbeat was not due to fear, but excitement.
Because this enemy action played right into his hands!
At the same moment the White Sheep Army shifted its movement, he immediately ordered the elite Tatar cavalry, who had long been prepared, to advance, and under the double cover of continuous artillery fire and a considerable number of spearmen, they moved out of the woods to engage the enemy.
Yes, the artillery's true role was to cover their own forces and weaken the enemy, not to act as the main combat force.
This was also the most effective role of artillery in field battles in the early 15th century.
Manuel was not a fool; how could he make artillery of this period the main force?
Just as Abdul, full of confidence, charged towards the hill with his Horse Archers, many clad in leather armor, enduring the artillery fire, a unit of light cavalry, clad in chainmail, suddenly emerged from the hill's woods.
Dividing into two wings, they covered their spearmen and directly charged towards the White Sheep Army.
This enemy move made Abdul burst into laughter on the spot.
"Hahahahaha, are these Kafirs fools?
They're actually using their ridiculously unskilled cavalry to charge us head-on?
Dream on!"
With that, he immediately ordered his Horse Archers to employ the mounted archery tactics that Turkmen riders excelled at, intending to make the enemy fall in droves before they even reached them.
Under the valiant Turkmen mounted archery tactics, some enemy cavalry were indeed hit in vital spots and fell to the ground.
But to his surprise, more enemy soldiers drew their bows and returned fire with mounted archery skills that surpassed their own.
"This, this is impossible?
Greeks, Christians, Kafirs, how can they use mounted archery?"
Seeing many of his Ghazi Warriors fall under the enemy's mounted archery and artillery fire, a Deputy General of the White Sheep Army was stunned speechless, involuntarily halting his advance.
He was then struck in the throat by a sharp arrow fired by a keen Tatar cavalryman, dying on the spot.
Abdul was also greatly alarmed; his previously confident mind felt as if cold water had been poured over it, his thinking ability temporarily offline.
After a moment, after his blade clashed with an enemy's, he belatedly realized, "This, could this be Tatar cavalry?
Impossible, why would hired Tatars need to come south of the Black Sea?"
Well, he seemed to have misunderstood something; the Tatar cavalry he was facing was a standing cavalry force personally funded and assembled by Bosporus Caesar Manuel.
Thus, under the suppression of artillery fire, the Turkmen Horse Archers, whose skill level was originally similar to the enemy's, were utterly suppressed by the mounted archery tactics of the Bosporus's Tatar cavalry.
It was not until nearly an hour into the engagement that the Bosporus Army's artillery slowly ceased fire.
The White Sheep Army finally breathed a huge sigh of relief, then wearily plunged into close-quarters combat with the Tatar cavalry.
Just as they thought the tide was about to turn, they discovered that the enemy's spearmen were already upon them.
Yes, the reason the Bosporus Army's artillery ceased operation under Manuel's command was that their own infantry had reached the front line, and there was no need to continue using artillery for redundant cover, lest friendly forces be accidentally injured.
At this point, seeing so many of his men, Abdul had already lost his original confidence and immediately ordered a retreat back to the city to cut losses.
It was just that he seemed to have forgotten that the previously besieged enemy forces were still behind him on the left hill.
As the White Sheep Army retreated, these two contingents of the Bosporus surged forward almost simultaneously, joining with the Bosporus Army led by Manuel to encircle and annihilate this White Sheep Army of over two thousand men.
Initially, under the command of Abdul Aziz, the White Sheep Army was able to put up a meager resistance.
But after their General was struck down by a stray arrow, the battle quickly devolved into a slaughter of the Turkmen and Kurdish soldiers.
This slaughter continued until that afternoon.
After the last of the White Sheep Army soldiers surrendered, the Bosporus Army finally won the battle, and led by captives and guides, they grandly entered the city of Erzincan at dusk, declaring that the city had henceforth fallen into his hands.