slain. Many other leading figures in Ali's army were taken captive in the battle and revealed to Murad Pasha, Ali's explicit intentions to establish a sovereign state of his own based in Aleppo. Murad Pasha sent patrols to gauge Ali's strength and positions and on 24 October Ali, realizing the almost two-to-one disadvantage in strength, sent letters proclaiming his loyalty to the grand vizier and offering to meet him, which Murad Pasha rejected. The two armies encountered at Oruç Ovasi (the Meadow of the Ritual Fasting), a narrow area opening into a plain bound by mountains to the west and the Afrin River to the east. On the same day, Ali's forces charged against Zulfikar Pasha, whose forces absorbed the assault, before counter-charging. The day ended without a decisive victory for either side, though Ali's men had gained an advantage and demonstrated their strength. The following day Tiryaki Hasan Pasha put to use the imperial army's field artillery, hiding the batteries behind the slopes of Oruç Ovasi. He had the imperial infantry and cavalry feign a slow retreat, thereby encouraging Ali's sekbans to pursue them on the field and expose them to the fire of the hidden artillery. Ali lost significant numbers of soldiers in the artillery barrage, while Murad Pasha's Rumeli cavalry and reserve troops launched a counterattack with musket and cannon against Ali's remaining forces who could not see their commanders to due to the smoke of the artillery. The counterattack and lack of visibility of Ali or his commanders induced the sekban to panic and flight. Ali could not rally the largely undisciplined sekbans and they were pursued, many being slain, while thousands were captured by imperial troops. Ali fled eastward and Murad Pasha ordered mass executions of captive troops, few of whom were pardoned, and then ordered a pyramid of 20,000 skulls erected in front of his camp next to 700 captured rebel banners, including Ali's white standard. Despite the rout at Oruç Ovasi, Ali did not surrender. His Syrian allies Yusuf Sayfa and Fakhr al-Din did not participate with their forces, having returned to their local bases after Ali's Syrian campaign. Ali gathered his kinsmen in Kilis before proceeding to Aleppo and positioned hundreds of loyal soldiers with his kinsmen in the inner Citadel of Aleppo with two years-worth of food and supplies. Ali fled toward al-Bira with 2,000 men, hoping to link with the