CHAPTER XVII: Trouble in the East.

The Mongols are in the rivers of the Rus, most possibly in the Great City of Kiev. They have sieged on it and sacked it, almost of the inhabitants there are dead. I'm afraid that they will advance into Hungary and Bulgaria, but due to Justinian's marriage with Ivanka the alliance still held strong. While the Cumans on the other hand, they migrated peacefully in our lands, from Thracia to Anatolia, most of them are employed on the frontier or a soldier to protect the lands.

During the year of 1241, near Legnica we met a certain man named Jeremus who was a Greek like ourselves but he serves an Eastern Warlord named Shen Lian, they disguised themselves as the Mongols or the Great Horde to be exact, he commands thousands of men, wearing lammellar armours, their horses are armoured like the cathaphracts of the ours, but more thicker. Such encounters with them will prove very difficult to survive without losing a dozen men.

So, I convinced Jeremus to tell his master that defecting to the Eastern Roman Empire will be worth it. But then Shen Lian arrives with his household cavalry. He seems to know our language but spoke in Latin, and he said: "Salvete, miles Romae." I was in shock when he said Romae, as he did knew that we did not hold the former capital of the Roman Empire, but only the city which Constantine founded, then I replied to him, "Vereor ne miles Romae tamen ipsi Romani sed Im 'Maximus Domesticis Imperii." That meant as the Megas Domestikos, or the overall commander of the Eastern Roman Armies.

He shrugged, Jeremus told me that he is not convinced that I was the Megas Domestikos of the Empire because of my clothing, since I wore a cloak that covers my whole armor, but then I ordered my Saint Lazarus Knights to personally remove my disguise and theirs also to reveal our true identities. The Knights' crests in their surcoats shocked Jeremus and as well Shen's household troops. As they heard tales of the Devil with the Cross that assumed to have travelled around the world, killing everyone in his way. But I explained that it was just a myth to spread horros, they are quite convinced as Jeremus translated to them.

The Battle of Legnica has started, Shen Lian's and his war party of thousand troops defect to our side. We helped the Polish to at least to halt the Mongol's advance. The Mongols are 8 thousand strong according to my reliable scouts, I personally gave the Polish Duke advice on how to counter their tactics, since they are quite similar to the Persians and Saracens.

According to Shen Lian, they often use the feigned retreat tactic. With his help I managed to tell the Polish Duke and his allies what to do if they did the tactic:

To counter this tactic, it was important for the opposing force to maintain discipline and not chase after the retreating enemy blindly. Instead, the pursuing force should have maintained a formation, advance cautiously and be prepared for sudden enemy counter-attacks.

Another important strategy would be to use reconnaissance to gather information about the enemy's position and movements, and use this information to anticipate and plan for any potential traps. Additionally, building mangonels could be used to keep the enemy at bay and limit their ability to launch surprise attacks.

It could also be useful to have a reserve force ready to deploy, in case the enemy's retreat was a trap. The reserve force could be used to reinforce the pursuing force, or to launch a counter-attack on the enemy if they were caught in an ambush.

I did not have my own war party at that time, since I was only sent by Justinian to hold diplomatic relations with the Mongols, but Christendom is under attack, and I must interfere without his permission. I only had my Saint Lazarus Knights and a Tagmata of mixed Varangians and Hospitallier elites.

The Battle started when the Silesian cavalry initiated combat with the vanguard of the Mongol army. After the Silesians were repelled, the cavalry of Greater Poland, led by Sulisław, and the cavalry of Opole then attacked the Mongols. The Mongols retreated, but I ordered Sulisław to halt any pursuits against them as they will be seperated from us, he agreed and regrouped into their original formation.

They attempted to use the smoke to hide their movements, but I ordered my few archers to loose fire arrows to reveal their location, in result they actually worked it revealed their locations I ordered again my archers to loose their arrows and my infantry by throwing stones or slings. While the Polish Infantry stood their ground If the enemy used cavalry to charge us, without my Cuman horse archers, I can't pepper them with arrows to force them to retreat.

The Polish Duke and his allies are being impatient as I see the look and their behaviors on their body, so I led my men into a slow march into the center of the Mongol Army executing the phalanx method and guided by smaller spearmen units, and the enemy cavalry charged and soon one by one they were impaled by my unit's menaulion, they also attempted to pepper my infantry with horse archers but thankfully, Miezko's Opole army repelled them leaving the Mongol cavalry helpless and soon Shen Lian's personal cavalry charged at the remaining Mongol cavalry and soon the battle was on our favour, with the Mongols on the run I personally pursued them for hours until we gave up.

The Battle of Legnica was won by us, without Miezko's help, my army would soon crumble in will led into a massacre, the next month we sheltered in the Polish lands still fearing that the Mongols will return, however they did not. So I returned to the Eastern Roman lands with the Mongol loot and the Eastern Warlord Shen Lian, hoping to bring another ally to the Empire.