The next day, after morning visits to comfort the dignitaries revising and adapting the legal code, Manuel changed into a military uniform and rushed to the Calamita Fortress before noon, the place he had arranged to meet his generals the previous evening. He was to make several important decisions regarding the Autocratic State's military affairs in front of them. After granting Serenus his new appointment yesterday, he specifically sent someone to inform his generals, arranging a military meeting at the Calamita Fortress, next to the Mangup city walls.
By noon, after all attendees had arrived at the Calamita Fortress terrace, Manuel stood at the head of the table, clapped his hands on the linden wood table, and informed the generals of his current tentative decisions: 'Given the current situation facing the Autocratic State, I hereby propose several temporary decisions: First, for the sake of self-sufficiency, I intend to establish an institution for researching firearms, to be named the Directorate of Military Industry; its responsible official will be called the Director-General of Firearm Production, following Roman naming traditions for official titles, and the current person in charge has not yet been decided. Second, according to my personal research, the Autocratic State's current firearms require some improvements. Please look—'
At this point, Manuel leaned against the table and took out a simple diagram of his firearm improvements from his in arms. 'First is the forging material for cannons. Due to previous limitations in funding and materials, most old cannon barrels were cast from wrought iron. However, during the conflict with the Crimean Khanate, we observed that these iron barrels often overheated after firing a few shots. While this is related to the nature of firearms themselves, based on practical experience, adopting other materials could effectively alleviate this situation, such as brass or iron-tin alloy.'
'Next is the issue of cannonballs. Stone-throwing cannons are cheap, but their quality is somewhat brittle. But since Panticapaeum now has a relatively abundant iron ore supply, the original stone cannonballs should be gradually improved.'
'There's one more thing,' Manuel said, gently tapping the table to emphasize the importance of what he was about to say. 'That is to calculate the trajectory, weight, and the ratio between the cannonball and materials for each practice of related firearms, and to list them concretely in a numerical table, to be called a 'Cannon Table.' While ensuring confidentiality, these tables should be compiled and sent to the aforementioned Directorate of Military Industry. Before the Directorate of Military Industry is established, the matter of the Cannon Table can be put aside, but once it is established, the above requirements must be met.'
'Finally, practice the use of matchlock guns and other firearms more. These are my decisions for now. Are there any objections?' With that, he quickly scanned the attending generals.
Manuel's decisions, in essence, were aimed at further improving the firearms used by the army. As for these decisions he made, most of the generals were utterly confused, only feeling that their Caesar was so professionally skilled and seemingly very formidable in this regard.
After a while, Army Commander Tukharovsky timidly asked, 'Your Majesty, what about our cavalry? Heavy cavalry!'
'Well,' Manuel felt a black line appear on his face, 'Let's put that aside for now. There's no helping it; even with control over the entire Tauris Peninsula and parts of the mainland, our Bosporus's war potential still can't compare to the medium to large-sized states in Anatolia. To cultivate a formidable standing cavalry army would require continuously pouring money and manpower into it for at least ten years to see any progress. And that's just for regular cavalry units, let alone heavy cavalry corps. So, for now, except for the Philaka Legion, which will cultivate a 75-man heavy cavalry unit, other plans will be put on hold.'
'In short, cultivating effective heavy cavalry units is still a quite troublesome matter at present. So, let's start with firearm units. To enhance military strength, it's better to be realistic,' Manuel explained these reasons to the generals he had summoned.
'I see,' Tukharovsky sighed, still fantasizing that one day he could lead iron-clad Holy Knights to charge on the battlefield. After all, in the eyes of a noble-born general like him, leading a cavalry charge was the romance of war.
If Manuel knew his inner thoughts, he would definitely be speechless. Romance? Was how miserably the French Knights who charged the Turks at Nicopolis died last time being ignored?
Patniko, on the other hand, had no strong feelings. After all, during the Theodoro period, they were able to snatch chestnuts from the fire from Genoa, a major Mediterranean power, largely thanks to the firearm units that Manuel had prioritized even as Crown Prince. Therefore, he wholeheartedly supported Manuel's decisions.
Most generals, like Patniko, expressed their approval of their Caesar's intention to strengthen firearm units. However, Tukharovsky still asked reluctantly, 'Your Majesty, are we really not building cavalry?'
'Of course, we will build cavalry, but for now, the focus is temporarily on firearm units. Cavalry, especially heavy cavalry corps, is a long-term plan for Bosporus,' Manuel replied, then mentally added, 'like the Tatar cavalry corps.'
'But Your Majesty, we don't need to be in such a hurry to build up the army, do we? After all, we should have a long period without war ahead of us,' Patniko voiced his doubt.
'I don't want our Bosporus to become like Trabzon one day, relying on the strength of allies or suzerains to exist. Look around us, which one is not a formidable foe?' Manuel smiled helplessly.
As for Trabzon, which he mentioned, after several failed foreign wars in the 14th century, it completely gave up on military development and neglected its armed forces. Its survival to this day, to put it nicely, is due to excellent diplomatic maneuvering and alliances. To put it bluntly, it 'sold' its princesses to Muslim and Caucasus states for protection, and also relied on its rich treasury to scatter money everywhere to hire mercenaries. To be direct, Trabzon's military was even worse than the Eastern Roman Empire, which was barely surviving in Constantinople.
Another major reason was that Manuel had already quietly begun to formulate plans to attack Trabzon. As long as the Ottoman did not pose a threat to them, the Autocratic State's foreign wars would not cease.