drawn from Transylvania. Many knights and Hungarian aristocrats joined, one of them being Stefan Báthory, bringing 500 cannons and other heavy siege equipment. The Moldavians, being fewer in number and seeing that the Hungarians were determined to wage war, started to evacuate the population close to the border and blockade routes with felled trees. Battle The Hungarians departed in the middle of October and reached the realm of Moldavia at the beginning of November, using a passage near Bacău. On 19 November, the Hungarians arrived at the Trotuș River where they met some Moldavian resistance, but Corvinus, to ensure the "loyalty of his troops, avoids a pitched battle and limits his efforts to surprise attacks and ambushes, yet is himself prevented from foraging or doing further damage." The town was destroyed and the Hungarians headed for Bacău, which they also burned down; then they continued to Roman and stayed there between 29 November and 7 December. According to a chronicle, Stephen sent envoys to negotiate a peace treaty, but the two factions could not agree and the war continued. Roman was put to flames and the Hungarians killed everyone they encountered, "without considering their sex, age, or looks." After three days of marching and more pillaging, they reached Baia where Corvinus met with a Hungarian nobleman by the name of Sythotus, who revealed to him the Moldavian position, their numbers (12,000), and their plan to attack before dusk. The Moldavians were encamped further north, between Moldova River and Șomuz creek. Corvinus ordered the city to be fortified with "ramparts, ditches and a ring of wagons", as the men were told to be prepared for battle and guards were sent to guard strategic points. A peculiar report mentions that Stephen himself was captured by the Hungarians on 14 December, but that he convinced them to release him. On 15 December, when dusk was approaching, Stephen sent smaller detachments that set the town on fire from three different places: thereafter, noise and confusion set in. Stephen ordered his men to dismount and soon after they launched their attack and made battle until dawn. Descriptions of the battle say that the fire made the night equally light as the day. The two armies started to butcher each other at the gate of the city; then the fighting continued onto the streets "with such a wrath, that nothing could be seen as more horrible