The Turk having gained the victory and made himself master of Caramania, perceiving that Ussun Cassano was hostile to him, by giving aid to Pirahomat, in the year 1473 determined to show him that he was not in the least afraid of him. This he had already done in the battle, but he resolved to do more, and make him feel his immense power. Therefore, the following spring, he made preparations for going in person against Ussun Cassano, ordering great musters of men to be made. And when the time for opening the campaign was come, in the above-mentioned year he crossed the Strait of Constantinople, with his whole court, into Asia. On arriving in Cappadocia he halted in a plain near a city called Amasia,[366] the residence of Baiesit[367] Celebi, the eldest son of the Turk. This plain is called Casouasi,[368] which, in our language, signifies the plain of the goose; it can support great armies, and has great resources of water and forage, as there are many towns round it. As this was on the route the Sultan intended to take, it was determined on as the rendezvous for the grand army. Having (as we have already mentioned) ordered all his generals and captains to be prepared, and at the appointed time, with everything in readiness, to appear in this place,—it was done as he commanded. But the Turkish monarch, knowing that this enterprise was of the greatest importance, determined to make all the preparations that the number of his men, the scarcity of necessaries, and the safety of his country and himself required. Therefore, of his three sons, he wished the two elder ones to come on this enterprise, namely, Baiesit the eldest, and Mustafà his second son; the third, by name Gien,[369] remained at Constantinople with good advisers to watch over the safety of his realm. The army being mustered and arranged in this plain of the goose, he resolved on the order it was to hold in the camps and on the road, and the means by which there might be no want of any necessaries or comforts.

It was first resolved to make five principal commanders, one of whom was the Turkish monarch at the head of his court, and other troops to the number of thirty thousand infantry and cavalry. The second was his eldest son, Baiesit, who had a following of another thirty thousand, with his position on the right of his father. The third was his second son, Mustafà, who also had thirty thousand men, among whom were twelve thousand Wallachians from the Basha of Wallachia, under a chief named Bataraba, and this column had its position on the left of the Turk. The fourth was the Beglerbeg of Roumania, named Asmurat,[370] of the family of the Palæologi; and, as he was young, Maumet Bassà was given him as an adviser, as he was the first, and considered the most prudent man of the whole empire of the Turk; he was a counsellor of the sovereign, as he had also been of Amurat, the father of the present monarch. This column was sixty thousand strong, comprising many Christians, Greeks, Albanians, and Sorians in their number; and this column had its post in front of the Turk. The fifth commander was the Beglerbeg of Natolia, named Daut Bassà, a man of authority and mature discretion. The column was forty thousand strong, including Mussulman infantry and cavalry, and their post was behind the Grand Turk; so that the Sultan, with his court, remained in the midst surrounded by the four abovementioned columns. And the commands were that they should pitch their tents, which are very numerous, according to their rank, but without disturbing the order of the march, or leaving their own divisions, arranging close together like a fortified place; but, that they should always leave roads for passage in the camp, and in the middle of each column a large space for a square, since in each column was a market for cooked foods, forage, and other comforts. There were besides in each column seneschals and marshals with full powers for keeping order and providing against disturbances. Each of these four commanders was obliged to send out sentinels and to keep guard in his division. Besides the five columns we have mentioned, there was also another of the Aganzi,[371] who are not paid, except by the booty they may gain in guerilla warfare. These men do not encamp with the rest of the army, but go traversing, pillaging, and wasting the country of the enemy on every side, and yet keep up a great and excellent discipline among themselves, both in the division of the plunder and in the execution of all their enterprises. In this division were thirty thousand men, remarkably well mounted, and as a commander they had given them a valiant chief named Maumut Aga.