Although Muhammad's military order initially confused his subordinates, they were a certain distance from the main battlefield and trusted the Prince's status as the Sultan's son.
After some commotion, they ultimately chose to follow Muhammad and lead their troops south towards the battlefield.
As Muhammad led these five thousand soldiers away from the battlefield for a while, the situation on the Edirne battlefield immediately reversed.
Without these five thousand men led by Muhammad, the flank protecting the Ottoman became quite vulnerable.
The remaining cavalry units found it difficult to protect their center while being part of the encirclement, which allowed the Bosporus Army to seize an opportunity.
"Break through their flank, defeat their cavalry, penetrate the Ottoman lines, warriors of Augustus and Lord Christ, success or failure depends on this one action!"
After realizing that an Ottoman unit with an unknown objective had truly withdrawn from the battlefield, Manuel immediately seized the opportunity and issued this military order, commanding the entire army to charge directly through this weakness.
Under such an impact, the much-weakened flank of the Ottoman was indeed broken through, as Manuel had wished, and it was a true breakthrough, not a feigned defeat to lure the enemy.
Before the soldiers beside the Caesar cheered and charged towards the Sultan's imperial carriage under the leadership of their monarch, Manuel knew that the most crucial moment of this battle had just arrived.
To ensure he could successfully clash with the Imperial Guard led by Murad II, the Caesar's mind raced for a moment before he made the following decisions: he ordered the Commander of the Tatar Legion to continue leading the Tatar Legion in pursuit of the scattered Ottoman Akıncı cavalry; Dimitrios, the Prince of Imereti, Georgia, who commanded the Monaspa heavy cavalry, and Atabeg Ivan II of Samtskhe, were to engage the disorganized Sipahi heavy cavalry, preventing their return to reinforce; as for the remaining infantry legions, they were to charge directly at the Kapikulu Corps of the Ottoman, with the assistance and command of the two Army Commanders.
"So, Your Majesty, you intend to..."
Hearing this, his Army Commander of Tauris, Tukharovsky, immediately guessed his thoughts and was greatly shocked.
"Exactly as you're thinking now, yes. I will personally lead my personal guards and the Philaka Legion to directly confront Murad's Janissaries!"
Having said this, the Caesar's eyes were filled with determination and resolve, "And, my commanders and generals, protect our artillerymen well. They are the key to continuing this battle to victory."
Knowing that their monarch's decision was made, the Bosporus generals on the battlefield said no more, only doing what they, as commanders, should do.
"Your Majesty, your command will be obeyed. Loyalty!"
Inside the Ottoman's central army, when Sultan Murad II learned that his fourth son had actually led his troops to flee the battlefield, allowing the scales of war to tip into an unpredictable abyss, he couldn't help but furiously draw his scimitar and slash the air, "Rebel! Kafir! Apostate pig! I knew this child of a Greek slave woman would one day become a disaster; I should never have let him live from the moment he was born!"
But his curses were useless in changing the current situation, so after cursing, the Sultan forced himself to calm down and think about how to alter the established facts.
Before he could finish thinking, his subordinates urgently reported the battlefield situation to Murad.
And upon learning that the cavalry units had mostly dispersed and could not help the central army complete the encirclement, the Sultan nearly fell off his horse.
However, upon learning that the main infantry force of the Bosporus Army was heading towards his central army, the Sultan, on the contrary, regained his composure.
"Is that Bosporus Caesar in the army?" Murad II asked this with an unusually calm tone, so calm it was chilling.
"Yes, according to messages from the vanguard, that Roman monarch is indeed in the army..."
Before he finished speaking, the Sultan interrupted him.
"That's enough."
After facing the most elite central army of the Ottoman for about one or two hours, the number of legions and soldiers in front of and behind Manuel grew smaller and smaller; correspondingly, the number of enemies blocking him also decreased.
Although it was not unrelated to the fierce fighting, it was more due to the mutual entanglement of soldiers on both sides, and fewer and fewer people could closely follow the Caesar.
And at this moment, Manuel, leading the Philaka Legion and his personal guards, clashed with the Janissary Imperial Guard of the Ottoman.
Upon seeing those familiar red hats and red turbans, the Caesar immediately recognized their identity and, without hesitation, seized the moment to charge the Janissaries with his armored cavalry, taking them by surprise.
Just as the reacting Sultan in his imperial carriage thought he could replicate the story of beheading the King of Poland at Varna, he found that the Bosporus armored cavalry did not head directly towards him, but instead continuously broke up the outer Imperial Guard, creating an opportunity for their heavy infantry to directly face the Sultan's imperial carriage and the Topkapi Corps' artillery.
After realizing Manuel's intention, to avoid having to face the enemy's infantry himself, the Sultan had no choice but to lead the Janissary Corps to block the armored cavalry, preventing them from completely scattering his elite Imperial Guard.
Under Murad's efforts, the Bosporus armored cavalry's offensive was indeed alleviated.
And at this moment, several gunpowder explosions were heard from the Bosporus central army's position, and soon several lead bullets shot towards the Ottoman central army's direction, directly piercing the armor of several soldiers.
"Are those Bosporus muskets!?"
Upon realizing what kind of firearms the enemy was using, the Sultan immediately reacted, ordering the Janissary soldiers to also pull out their matchlock guns and engage in a shootout with the Bosporus Army's musketeers.
But how could these matchlock guns, which were still from the time Murad first ascended to the throne, compare to the Bosporus's repeatedly improved matchlock muskets?
Soon, the matchlock gunners, whose range and firepower were inferior to the matchlock muskets, were defeated, and this action by the Ottoman instead created an opportunity for their enemies to continue advancing.
In the end, even the Sultan's mount was hit by a stray bullet from an unknown direction and died on the spot, forcing Murad II to walk on the battlefield.
And at this moment, the Sultan, protected by his personal guards led by the Imperial Guard Decurion Kodija Hazar, suddenly encountered that familiar figure in a purple-black cloak, riding a white warhorse, and his muscles grew even more tense.
At the same time, Manuel, not far from him, also noticed the other party.
At this point, the Caesar was also forced to be some distance from his Philaka Legion due to the fierce fighting on the battlefield, protected only by his personal guards led by his Commander of the Guard, Badars, with no other retainers.
Before Manuel could react, a roar came from the Ottoman artillery position, and the stone projectile fired landed squarely in the empty space between the two monarchs, with flying stone fragments hitting Manuel's warhorse, directly throwing the Caesar to the ground a distance from his personal guards.
Murad on the opposite side was no better; a subsequent stone projectile fired from the Bosporus artillery position, although it did not kill anyone near him, caused the Sultan, who was dodging flying earth and stones, to become separated from his Imperial Guard.
When the Caesar and the Sultan picked themselves up from the ground, they suddenly realized that their respective fated rivals were less than a few meters away, and although their retinues were still within shouting distance, they could not directly reach them.
And then, they made the same decision in unison—
"Hold back the Ottoman Janissaries!"
"Hold back the Bosporus armored retainers!"
With a command from the two monarchs, to save their respective kings, the two opposing teams of personal guards, after a moment of hesitation from their leaders, chose to lead their subordinates to entangle with the enemy, preventing them from rescuing their respective monarchs.
And after scanning the battlefield for less than half a second, Manuel and Murad drew their longswords and scimitars and dueled on this battlefield.
What a ironic yet fated moment it was, when the monarchs who would determine the future of two nations, two peoples, two civilizations, and even two continents, thus faced each other on the battlefield, dueling with their swords like Western Europe knights in the High Middle Ages.
However, compared to the elegance of knights, the Caesar and the Sultan's fight was significantly more bloody and brutal.
Because they knew deeply that this duel they were forced to undertake was not for honor, but to take each other's lives!
In less than a few minutes, this battle between monarchs entered a fever pitch.
Murad's offensive was particularly fierce; having received strict military training since childhood, he was extremely skilled in using a scimitar, while Manuel, opposite him, was clearly inferior by a considerable margin, not only failing to inflict serious damage on the Sultan but even having Murad find his weaknesses several times, almost getting struck in vital areas.
Fortunately, Manuel on the battlefield was as slippery as a loach, often dodging a fatal blow in the second before Murad could strike him.
Even so, under continuous dodging, Manuel, whose stamina was increasingly failing, also showed signs of fatigue.
Under another flurry of blades and swords, although Murad's fatal blow was firmly parried and blocked by Manuel's sword edge, he was also gasping for breath, looking as if he would soon be at the enemy's mercy.
Seeing the Caesar in such a predicament, his Commander of the Guard, Badars, immediately cried out, wanting to break through the encirclement to reach his respected monarch, but he was strictly guarded by Kodija, the Janissary Imperial Guard officer of Murad.
This Turk officer was tall and slender, with dark red eyes as fierce as a leopard, showing no fear in a death match with the enemy, firmly blocking the path of Badars and another personal guard.
Glancing behind him, Manuel understood that he could only rely on himself.
Knowing he was at a dead end, the Caesar gripped his sword hilt tightly, and taking advantage of Murad's momentary slackness as he approached, he forcefully thrust the sword's point towards Murad's heart.
But to the Caesar's desperate strike, the Sultan merely sneered cunningly, then nimbly dodged the blow by sidestepping.
And as Manuel, off balance from the unexpected miss, nearly fell, Murad drew his scimitar and slashed at his rival's wrist.
Manuel truly could not dodge this blow; he could only immediately extend his right arm forward, relying on the armguard on his arm to avoid the tragic fate of having his right hand cut off by the enemy.
This emergency action indeed prevented his right hand from being severed, but the violent collision of the armguard and the scimitar caused him immense pain, and he subconsciously released his longsword.
And at the moment the longsword fell to the ground, facing Murad who wanted to swing his blade to press his advantage, Manuel, with an agile roll, once again dodged a fatal blow.
Looking at his opponent, who had rolled more than ten Greek feet away and was covered by his cloak, Murad's sneer became even more cruel, with a hint of mockery.
He knew that his rival, now disarmed, was a lamb to be slaughtered.
It was all over.
Murad exhaled a heavy breath, then confidently strode towards his rival,
"It's over, my rival, are you ready with your last words?"
"Hmph, you're the one who should be preparing your last words," Manuel's face also showed a cold, mocking sneer.
The Sultan, believing his enemy was just bluffing, quickened his pace.
Upon reaching Manuel, he raised his scimitar, preparing to strike at his rival's neck,
"Stop pretending, Manuel, the victor is me!"
"No," Manuel, with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, instead showed a relieved and confident smile.
Wrapped in his cloak, he pulled it off before Murad's blade could descend, revealing what he had been concealing: his right hand held a quick-fire pistol, already loaded with powder and a lead bullet before the battle, and the moment it was revealed, it was immediately aimed at Murad's head.
"I am the winner."
Before Murad could react, as soon as the words fell, he pulled the trigger on his right hand, letting the powerful recoil surge into his palm.
And the single lead bullet in the barrel shot out at this moment, heading straight for Murad II's glabella.