The Byzantine commander of Laodikeia on the Lykos perhaps felt guilty over the affair of count Bernard and afraid of Louis IX and the French. He therefore (?) emptied Laodikeia of food, so that the French army, despite its wealth and power, could at first find none. The action was the more wicked, as the man knew that no further food would be available for the next fortnight, as the army went on to Attaleia. Louis, as always, consulted very widely, but nobody could solve the problem; the army scoured the whole area, but found few people with food. After wasting a day in this search, he set out, with enemies both in front and behind his army. He found many corpses from the army of Otto of Freising, and then had to face the forces which had killed them