Blind as he was, he increased rather than diminished the severity of his
discipline, and insisted on rigid obedience to his commands. As an
instance of this we are told that, on one occasion, having compelled his
troops to march day and night, as was his custom, they murmured and
said,--
"Day and night are the same to you, as you cannot see; but they are not
the same to us."
"How!" he cried. "You cannot see! Well, set fire to a couple of
villages."
The blind warrior was soon to have others to deal with than his Bohemian
foes. Sigismund had sent forward another army, which, in September,
1421, invaded the country. It was driven out by the mere rumor of
Ziska's approach, the soldiers flying in haste on the vague report of
his coming. But in November the emperor himself came, leading a horde of
eighty thousand Hungarians, Servians, and others, savage fellows, whose
approach filled the moderate party of the Bohemians with terror. Ziska's
men had such confidence in their blind chief as to be beyond terror.
They were surrounded by the enemy, and enclosed in what seemed a trap.
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