A silence fell over the entire hall after Manuel finished speaking.
It was a long while before his cabinet members, after careful consideration, reacted and repeatedly affirmed his words.
Tukharovsky then cautiously inquired, "So, Manuel, when do we make our move?"
"Don't rush," Manuel said, lowering his voice, "Time is on our side until next year." He then explained his preliminary plan to them.
Although his cabinet members initially lacked confidence and interest, after Manuel's encouragement, they quickly abandoned their original views and began to seriously discuss the matter with their Caesar.
After roughly deciding on the direction for the special military operation, the meeting concluded.
This meeting was silently classified as confidential by Manuel and his cabinet, carefully kept from others, and outwardly, everything remained normal.
If there was any difference to be noted, it was that a few legions quietly complained that their training tasks seemed to have increased recently.
The following July, as usual, was hot, rainy, muggy, and irritable.
To escape the summer heat, often accompanied by heavy rain, Manuel specifically moved to his palace in Theodosia in the middle of the month to handle state affairs.
It was precisely because of this that he was very fortunate to witness an anecdote that subsequently occurred in Theodosia.
In late July, Theodosia welcomed a long-unseen guest.
Although this person was a rare visitor, he had deep roots in the area.
To be precise, he was a Circassian born on the northern shore of the Black Sea, sold to Cairo from Kaffa, which was then part of Genoa, and is now Theodosia.
Yusuf Jakmak, already quite old, arrived on a luxurious four-masted sailing ship, leading a Crescent Sect-style merchant fleet, intending to return to the old place to procure young and strong Circassian slaves for the Sultan and himself.
This was to replenish the forces lost by the Sultanate during its attack on Cyprus, while also strengthening his own faction.
However, these were merely pretexts; his true purpose for personally coming to the peninsula this time was to "buy" his brother, Chahir Saif al-Din Jakmak, to Cairo, allowing the two brothers to share wealth and honor, and incidentally bolster his own influence within the military.
It should be noted that five years prior, he had returned to this slave port under the guise of purchasing slaves for Sultan Barsbay, precisely for this reason.
Shortly before purchasing slaves, he had indeed managed to contact his younger brother and had arranged with the local Tatars to treat Chahir well while training him.
For this, he had secretly sought a local Latin intermediary, securing guarantees from Prince Dawlat Berdi, who governed the Crimea region at the time, and Beijin Xilin, the chief of the Shirin tribe, and had spent no small number of ducats.
According to the original plan, the brothers should have been reunited in Cairo in 1430, two years prior.
However, due to a series of sudden wars on the peninsula, he was forced to put this plan on hold.
It wasn't until March of this year, after hearing that the related military operations in Crimea had completely ended, that he obtained an opportunity from Sultan Barsbay to return to this place, re-establishing contact with a Ligurian slave trader who had acted as his intermediary, attempting to complete the final step of their reunion.
Jaqmaq's true purpose was, of course, unknown to others; his ostensible goal remained the procurement of high-quality slaves for the Sultan.
To emphasize this, the sailing ship he traveled on was specially arranged to be luxurious and conspicuous, to display the wealth of the arriving party.
Although they were almost attacked by pirates from the Knights Hospitaller and the Kingdom of Cyprus along the way, fortunately, the fleet's defenses were well-prepared, and they had also hired Turk fleets of the same lineage and Venice fleets for escort when passing through the Gulf of Alexander and the Aegean Sea, thus overcoming all dangers.
When this fleet arrived at the port of Theodosia, their generous spending and the opulent attire of the buyer quickly drew attention and were spread by busybodies.
However, he paid little mind to these things.
After purchasing a batch of Circassian slaves, he sent his servants to find a Ligurian merchant.
Before finding this person, he specifically paused, beginning to scrutinize the old place, which had become somewhat unfamiliar.
"Does the old place have a new owner?" he wondered.
As mentioned earlier, by a considerable coincidence, Manuel was in Theodosia at this time.
He was currently in his palace, lightly dressed, enjoying the coolness of the room.
It must be said that this palace, converted from a consulate built by the Genoese, had an excellent geographical location; not only was it warm in winter and cool in summer, but it was also at a suitable distance to effectively control the city.
The only drawback was probably that if the commotion in the city was too great, it would also reach here.
In the afternoon, Manuel was sipping cool and delicious iced wine, reviewing reports on covert operations, and muttering to himself.
While doing all this, he completely ignored the faint clamor coming from outside the window.
"Excellent, if this continues, most of the elders of the Adyghe Principality should side with us," Manuel remarked, making a commendatory note on the report after reading it.
After he finished annotating these reports, he tried to stand up and stretch, and playfully chat with his wife.
However, before he could do so, the sounds from outside the window finally caught his attention.
"What's happening in the city? Is someone causing trouble?" Manuel became alert; he was very aware of how the Genoese had stumbled in this city.
To prevent his rule in various cities from being overthrown by external forces, he had formally established the system of legion garrisons, so that troops could be dispatched at any time to suppress local rebellions.
"No, Manuel, it just seems a muslim has come to purchase slaves, but he appears unable to find something else he wished to acquire," Badars said, handing him a new file.
"Oh, that kind of thing happens here every day, doesn't it? What's the big deal?" Manuel added nonchalantly.
"This Muslim's attire and entourage suggest he might be someone of high office or a noble."
"Who is this? It couldn't be the Ottoman royal family, could it?" Manuel snorted coldly.
"Hmm, it seems to be a dignitary from Cairo," Badars replied thoughtfully.
A dignitary from Cairo, a Mamluk high-ranking official? Upon realizing this, Manuel immediately jumped up, but remembering his status, quickly regained his composure, "It must be an important official sent by the Mamluk Sultanate to purchase slaves.
Go confirm it quickly; if it's true, then swiftly invite this person to the palace in my name as Caesar."
Meanwhile, Yusuf Jakmak tried his best to suppress the panic in his heart, questioning the Ligurian slave trader he had found, "Where is Chahir? Where is my brother?!"