However, he immediately discarded this idea completely. "Forget it, forget it. After all, a civil official should act like a civil official. There's no such precedent in the history of the Roman Empire. Let the army shout slogans like 'Loyalty'."
After understanding this, Manuel abandoned this delusion and instead sat back down in his original seat, took out a report on military systems from the table, and began to write furiously with pen and paper, preparing to push for further reforms of the military system. Although he had previously, during his time in Theodosia, loosely divided his army into three parts: the Philaka Legion as his personal guard, the City Defense Force based on peasant-soldiers with cultivated land, and the common conscripted militia found everywhere. But due to the limitations of his authority before his enthronement, these three divisions only existed within the legions in the Theodosia region. And among them, due to his status before coming to power, he only dared to name the peasant-soldiers, who were the main force, as the "City Defense Force" to deceive himself.
But now that he had become Caesar and officially taken power, it was time to extend this army organization to all directly administered territories of the Autocratic State. Anyway, after dealing with the rebels, his land holdings had gone from slightly sufficient to quite abundant. Allocating a portion to lease to small farmers to cultivate elite peasant-soldiers was more than enough. As for the number, he would temporarily expand it to four thousand. And the name could no longer be the old "City Defense Force," which only implied defense, although he hadn't yet decided on the new name after the official reorganization.
There was also the Philaka Legion. As his direct legion, the 500 men before his enthronement were clearly not enough. Considering the current scale of the Autocratic State and the degree of autonomy within the country, Manuel personally estimated that expanding the Filaka to 1,000 men would be most appropriate. Given this, he planned to divide the legion into four battalions, with one cavalry battalion, one archer and musketeer battalion, and two infantry battalions. To manage the expanded Philaka Legion, which would number a thousand, relying solely on the original two adjutants, Aidian and Vladimir, would likely be insufficient. To fill the vacancies, he decided to promote two military officers with meritorious service to serve as deputy legion commanders, or battalion commanders, to fill the gaps.
"However, to expand to a thousand men, the previously prepared reserves might be a bit insufficient. The important thing is that the short-term loyalty of the new reserves cannot be guaranteed." Writing to this point, Manuel became somewhat troubled, "Moreover, all the soldiers of the Philaka Legion are converts to heresy. Although I deliberately made it so, too many people of the same faith gathering together will cause problems. Perhaps I should make some small arrangements in management." Thinking of this, he fell into contemplation. Half a moment later, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration and a bold idea, "Let Suleiman shine? And it also happens to be a good way to use Filaka soldiers to keep an eye on him."
This might be a good idea. Although finding a suitable reason seemed a bit troublesome, in Manuel's eyes, these were not problems. "Finding excuses, no, explaining, is something I am very good at." Then, he smugly took out another piece of paper and wrote down various elaborate reasons for temporarily assigning Suleiman Karamanoglu to the Philaka Legion.
After writing to his heart's content, Manuel immediately began to consider the third part, which was the reform and innovation of the conscript system.
Among the three types of armies he discussed in this classification, the conscripts were the most numerous that could be mobilized, and also the weakest in combat effectiveness. Even those drawn from Theodosia, which had monthly routine military drills, were no exception. Before modern times, unless it was a special mountainous region like Switzerland, a national militia system was difficult to implement. Furthermore, excessive conscription would lead to economic disruption, so Manuel had largely given up on significantly improving the combat effectiveness of the conscripted militia. His next plan was to further reduce the proportion of conscripts in the army, at least to the extent that a normal battle would not require the use of conscripted militia.
Achieving this goal did not seem difficult; it only required reducing the conscription of civilians during wartime. While it was easy to say, putting it into practice was not so simple. If this situation were to be achieved, then peasant-soldiers would have to become the primary fighting force. For peasant-soldiers to become the primary fighting force, then regular training, excellent military equipment, and even an outstanding leadership would all be indispensable.
Hmm, writing to this point, Manuel suddenly stopped, his mind turning. Had he forgotten something?
The moment his mind began to review and ponder, he suddenly tapped the table with his right index finger, "Oh, and those noble private soldiers! I was careless!"
Noble private soldiers, as the name suggests, naturally referred to the household retainers and soldiers that the various nobles in the Autocratic State were allowed to possess privately. After the civil war, the remaining noble forces throughout the Autocratic State had been put in their place; even combined, they could not contend with him. Therefore, after the enactment of the troop restriction order, these private soldiers would definitely be greatly reduced in number on the surface.
Even so, Manuel did not intend to let go of the remaining value of these nobles. Sustainably draining the nobles was an essential skill for him as a monarch.
"Although their number of private soldiers has been restricted, don't they still have private land? If they have land, don't they have tenant farmers and serfs? Doesn't that mean they have soldiers again?" Thinking of this, Manuel excitedly rubbed his hands, "It's too wonderful, simply excellent cannon fodder."
Such excellent cannon fodder, ah, no, vanguard troops, it would be a terrible waste not to use them.
To this end, Manuel intended to make subtle changes to the legal code, establishing a limited and controllable right for nobles to conscript soldiers during wartime, a right quite common on the European continent today. Of course, to avoid foreseeable problems, nobles would need his written permission as Caesar to exercise their right to conscript soldiers.
And the troops obtained by the nobles through conscription would not be commanded by the nobles themselves, as was the old custom of this era. Instead, they would be integrated into a medium-sized legion, commanded by a general dispatched by Manuel, as Caesar. As for whether the commander would be parachuted in or selected from capable nobles, it would depend on Manuel's mood.
As such, the combat effectiveness of this legion would likely not be very commendable. However, Manuel was not worried about this. Anyway, this legion was just for cannon fodder during wartime, and to take the blows for the peasant-soldiers and the Philaka Legion during retreats, that was all.
As for the number, it would temporarily be estimated at around a thousand. With the addition of this legion, even without counting the troops provided by the three continental governorates and the ordinary conscripts in the directly administered territories, the Bosphorus Despotate under Manuel's rule, in ideal circumstances, would be able to field over 6,000 fully functional taxi soldiers.