Around the time Serenus intended to share this anecdote with Arno, Manuel reluctantly ended his "intense battle" with Barbara.
"Hmm, doing this kind of thing in a room that isn't the bedroom is quite thrilling," Manuel said with a happy smile, wiping her body slightly with a silk scarf.
"It's still a bit shameful to do such things in the room where you handle official business," Barbara said, lowering her head shyly while putting on her dalmatica.
Manuel nodded thoughtfully at this. After they both were dressed, he suddenly grabbed her wrist and said with a smile, "Now then, may I invite Her Highness, the Catherine of Bosporus, to inspect the subordinates with me, the Caesar of Bosporus?"
"Ah?" Barbara was a bit bewildered, but seeing the smile on Manuel's face, she quickly understood his meaning. She could only give an exasperated laugh before readily agreeing, "You really are… Alright, alright, let's go together then."
Then, as they went to visit Arno, the Finance Minister of the Autocratic State, they were surprised to find Serenus's mouth wide open. At that moment, Arno, who was in front of Serenus, saw Caesar Manuel and his wife arrive, and his face instantly changed. Feeling that something bad was about to happen, he quickly opened his mouth, trying to stop Serenus's wild talk, but was silenced by Manuel's sharp gaze. He could only close his mouth and wait for the unfortunate fellow in front of him, who was skilled at courting disaster, to face his doom.
And when Serenus excitedly waved his finger and shouted, "She humiliated His Majesty until he begged for mercy on his knees; she must have been treating him as a sex…", the couple finally couldn't hold back. They burst into gentle laughter and interrupted him in unison, "Damn Serenus, why do you have such a vivid imagination!" And when he turned to see the couple, seeing his embarrassed expression compared to his earlier animated one, Manuel suddenly felt an urge to punch him in the face and see if he would still act so crazily.
However, Manuel suppressed this urge. Instead, after comforting Arno and other key financial officials, he gently smiled and "invited" Serenus into his office. After Serenus apologized profusely, he finally put away his gentle smile and returned to the main topic.
"Alright, let's get to business. So, what brings you to me this time?" Manuel asked with a calm expression, looking at Serenus, who was humble-faced from his mistake.
"Hmph," Serenus let out a long breath, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I have come to you this time to submit a report on the Caucasus region."
"Oh?" Manuel's interest was piqued, and the anger that had arisen from his nonsense was suppressed by curiosity. "Let me see it." After all, one of the tasks Manuel had specifically given Serenus was to help analyze the eastern situation of Bosporus.
As soon as he finished speaking, Serenus deftly pulled out the not-so-thin report on the Caucasus situation from his embrace and respectfully handed it to Manuel. Manuel, seeing this, did not decline but directly took it and began to read it carefully.
"Under the guidance of the Holy Father, I am honored to present this Caucasus military intelligence report to His Majesty, the Caesar, who is favored by the Holy Father…"
Manuel quickly flipped to the next paragraph, because according to the custom of his era, the late Middle Ages, the first paragraph of official documents and even private letters from European Christian countries were either brief or lengthy prayers or blessings to God. After all, even Manuel himself adopted this style when writing public documents. "I should correct this at an appropriate time, after all, ink costs money," he thought.
However, starting from the second paragraph, he was somewhat surprised by its quality. "The Eastern Europe situation is not complicated; it all boils down to how to seek one's own interests among the three major powers: Poland, Lithuania, and the Golden Horde. Currently, due to Your Majesty's military achievements, the expansion of the Autocratic State north of the Black Sea has recently reached the limit that Lithuania can tolerate. One can even hear anecdotes about this from the Slavs on the way here. …Therefore, in my humble opinion, the top priority is to shift the focus to internal affairs."
Upon reading this, Manuel suddenly felt an urge to burst into laughter on the spot. Of course, he knew that the optimal short-term solution was to focus on internal affairs and curry favor with the Kingdom of Lithuania and the Golden Horde, which had not yet further disintegrated. But if that were the case, wouldn't Bosporus still become large chicken feed for the Ottoman in the future? Moreover, under the influence of the butterfly effect he had caused, if he were to stop now, it might not even take until 1475, but rather another ten or twenty years, for the Bosphorus Despotate to fall into the Ottoman's sight due to some chaotic situation, and then its reign would happily be shortened by twenty or thirty years.
Although Manuel thought this, he still chose to carefully read the rest of the report. "But if one chooses to expand territory and spread the Gospel, the Caucasus region, including Pontus, should meet Your Majesty's needs…"
Seeing this, Manuel became slightly interested, as he was indeed greatly interested in the Caucasus region. Although this area was currently not as significant in his eyes as the Pontus region, for the Bosphorus Despotate, which had very limited expansion directions, the less prominent Caucasus region indeed caught his eye. Although from a strategic position, the Caucasus Mountains were slightly inferior to his beloved happy homeland, the Tauris Peninsula, the silk dye resources there were indeed much richer than the Tauris Peninsula, which currently only had iron and fishing salt, if one didn't count the peninsula's current slave trade.
And the second page made Manuel praise it in his heart even more. The second page had a map of the inner and outer Caucasus, with the relevant forces in the Caucasus and even Eastern Armenia marked on it. And the brief supplement on the third page made Manuel's eyes light up, "In my humble opinion, the Pontus region, as a former Roman territory, should be given priority. Although the Empire of Trebizond, which rules that region, is relatively weak, it has many allies including the White Sheep Turkmen Dynasty, the Janik Beyliks, the Kandar Beylik, and the Principality of Samtskhe, and should not be underestimated… Following that are the small orthodox Christian states along the Black Sea… The unique existence of Hamam Mushen should also not be ignored… Your Majesty is urged to consider the above carefully."
The quality of this report was truly beyond his expectations. "It's very close to the direction I envisioned. Hmm, it seems he does have some skill to be recommended to me by Constantine."
Looking at the black-haired young man in front of him, Manuel scrutinized Serenus with a new gaze, somewhat admiringly. However, thinking of what this fellow had just done, he still secretly cursed him with a smile in his heart, "What a talented person, but unfortunately, he has a mouth."