Since the beginning of February, Alexander I, the King of Georgia besieged in Tbilisi, grew increasingly agitated.
For the past half-month, Bosporus repeatedly ordered artillery cover for an endless stream of pagan cannon fodder, conscripted from who knows where, to launch meaningless, uncoordinated assaults on the city walls.
Although the defenders repelled these attacks without exception each time, they still suffered significant losses due to the intensity and power of the Romans' artillery.
Alexander naturally knew this was an overt tactic by the enemy, aimed at forcing the defenders onto the walls to increase their casualties.
But knowing was one thing; Georgia had no effective countermeasures.
Previously, to resist Timur and the Black Sheep Dynasty, they had indeed purchased and self-produced a small batch of small cannons, but their short range and low power meant they posed no threat to the medium and large artillery Bosporus had arrayed below the city.
Rather than displaying them for the enemy to mock and to lower their own morale, it was better to keep them in storage as they were now.
Therefore, neither the defenders nor the attackers had seen the Georgian defenders bring out any cannons.
As time went on, due to the gradual shortage of supplies within the city and the increasing psychological pressure on the city's military and civilians, internal conflicts gradually escalated.
Although the Bagration Royal Family used every means to suppress potential unrest, the conscription of citizens, using both soft and hard tactics, to fill the gaps in the city wall defenders further widened the rift between the military and civilians.
In contrast to the anxiousness, the Bosporus Army besieging Tbilisi outside the city walls maintained an orderly ease.
Although Manuel was eager to immediately capture Tbilisi and march his army to Kakheti to repel the Black Sheep Dynasty, he also did not want his elite soldiers to suffer unnecessary casualties in this certain-victory siege.
So he chose to continue the patient siege, using the pagan and culturally foreign cannon fodder to continuously deplete the defenders' strength, and also dug a trench to prevent the enemy from finding an opportunity to break out.
After more than half a month of such days, nearly two months after the siege of Tbilisi began, Manuel believed the time was ripe to take Tbilisi, after confirming that the defenders showed clear, unfeigned signs of fatigue and significantly reduced numbers.
On an evening in late February, even though there was still uncleared snow on the Tbilisi city walls, the defenders no longer had the spirit or energy to clear it.
Exhausted by the enemy's harassment and feigned or real assaults, they now only wished to finish their watch quickly, hand over their duties to the next shift, and hurry down to rest.
It was under these circumstances that a young soldier only lit the torches on the city wall for illumination after it had become completely dark.
But just as he lit the torch, the soldier suddenly saw the enemy again sending men up ladders, attempting to assault the city wall.
"Is there no end to this?" Thinking the Romans were sending men to their deaths again, he quickly lit one torch and then, scared, ran and jumped to retreat to the inner city wall, while also notifying other defenders he encountered along the way.
However, the defenders at this moment did not yet know that the scale of this assault was completely different from previous ones.
Thanks to the timely report from the young soldier, the Bagration family's commander quickly learned of the situation.
He immediately climbed the city wall, intending to repel the enemy's attack as before.
But just as the commander reached the city wall and tried to direct the overall situation, in addition to the torchlight, a faint candlelight suddenly appeared in the enemy's position at the west city gate.
Before long, these candlelights became clear and distinct.
Evidently, the entire Bosporus Army had lit tallow candles, illuminating the siege units that had already reached the city walls.
For a moment, some defenders even involuntarily immersed themselves in this beautiful scene, twinkling with the light of death, because to them, these candlelights seemed like stars shining above the clouds.
But soon they could no longer be immersed, because in the next moment, these few soldiers, who were first captivated, were hacked down to the ground by the enemies who had ascended the city wall, falling unconscious.
"No, no, when did they start attacking the city!?" Realizing that the enemy was continuously climbing the city wall, the commander, who finally noticed that their scale and tactics were different from before, broke out in a cold sweat, his brain racing to find a relatively reasonable explanation.
The answer was simple: as soon as it got dark, the Bosporus Army quietly approached the city from all directions.
They slowed their pace as they crossed the moat, making the poorly illuminated enemies think it was just the wind.
Coupled with the cover of obstacles woven from branches in front of them, the defenders completely failed to notice that danger was already close.
After the engineers had set up sturdy ladders for the siege units, they immediately drove the cannon fodder units to climb up and down the ladders, paralyzing the enemy and disrupting their judgment.
Thus, the true main forces, the Filakas Imperial Guard and the peasant militia, successfully reached the parts of the city wall that were about to be breached.
As they approached the breach, they waited for the signal of candlelight from the support units, preparing to launch the real attack.
As the commander was stunned and pondering this, the Bosporus artillerymen had lit all the cannons, firing at the enemies on the city walls.
Then, as the defenders were caught off guard and in chaos from the bombardment, Barbaro led the Filakas Legion to quickly climb the city wall first.
Even if the Georgians were about to retreat in the face of the cannons, when they saw the Imperial Guard climbing the city wall, the commander still ordered the defenders to turn around and, leading a unit, fought bravely on both flanks.
But his resistance was futile.
The Grand Company peasant militia, still climbing the ladders, encouraged each other and followed closely, ascending the city wall.
In addition, the archers and artillery supporting the siege units fired very intensely, and with the drums and shouts from the positions supporting them, the morale of the attackers was terrifyingly high in comparison.
"Damn Romans, Holy Father, I will never..." The commander, who had just cut a bloody path with his scimitar, was cursing and trying to rally his other units when he crashed into a Filakas detachment led by Barbaro Talostos.
Before he could react, Barbaro swiftly swung his sword forward, cleaving off half of his head.
At this point, the defenders were completely doomed.
After this siege battle lasted for nearly two hours, the Bosporus Army successfully gained control of the Tbilisi city walls.
Then, the Tbilisi city gates were wide open, and the Bosporus and its vassal armies, who had been waiting impatiently below the city, immediately poured into Tbilisi like a tide.
That night, after several small-scale street battles within Tbilisi, the Bosporus Army successfully took control of this capital, which held immense significance for the Georgians.
From then on, Tbilisi fell, and Manuel was only one step away from officially controlling all of Georgia.