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.  But under Ziska’s orders they made a night attack on the foe, broke through their lines, and, to the emperor’s discomfiture, were once more free.

On New Year’s day, 1422, the two armies came face to face near Zollin.  Ziska drew up his men in battle array and confidently awaited the attack of the enemy.  But the inflexible attitude of his men, the terror of his name, or one of those inexplicable influences which sometimes affect armies, filled the Hungarians with a sudden panic, and they vanished from the front of the Bohemians without a blow.  Once more the emperor and the army which he had led into the country with such high confidence of success were in shameful flight, and the terrible example which he had vowed to make of Bohemia was still unaccomplished.

The blind chief vigorously and relentlessly pursued, overtaking the fugitives on January 8 near Deutschbrod.  Terrified at his approach, they sought to escape by crossing the stream at that place on the ice.  The ice gave way, and numbers of them were drowned.  Deutschbrod was burned and its inhabitants slaughtered in Ziska’s cruel fashion.

This repulse put an end to invasions of Bohemia while Ziska lived.  There were intestine disturbances which needed to be quelled, and then the army of the reformers was led beyond the boundaries of the country and assailed the imperial dominions, but the emperor held aloof.  He had had enough of the blind terror of Bohemia, the indomitable Ziska and his iron-flailed peasants.  New outbreaks disturbed Bohemia.  Ambitious nobles aspired to the kingship, but their efforts were vain.  The army of the iron flail quickly put an end to all such hopes.