The Ottoman troops retook some cities that had surrendered to John Palaiologos, and Kantakouzenos allowed the troops to plunder the cities, including Adrianople, thus it seemed that Kantakouzenos was defeating John Palaiologos, who now retreated to Serbia.[1] Emperor Stefan Dušan sent Palaiologos a cavalry force of 4,000[1] or 6,000[2] under the command of Gradislav Borilović[3][2] while Orhan I provided Kantakouzenos 10,000 horsemen.[1]Also bulgarian tsar Ivan Alexander send unknown number of troops to support Palaiologos and Dušan.