Ioannes Doukas the kaisar, ruling through Michael VII especially in the military sphere, sent his younger son Konstantinos quickly out of Constantinople as strategos autokrator at the head of an army against Romanos Diogenes. He collected troops from the provinces along the way, recommended by imperial letters, and thought that he had mustered a mighty force. Upon arriving near Amaseia, he first organised his troops for skirmishing tactics and devised indirect ways of either seizing Diogenes or driving him out of the city