Let's rewind to when Jaqmaq sent people to find the Ligurian slave trader he had previously contacted.
At that time, Jaqmaq was keenly observing the long-unseen port city, noting the changes it had undergone in the past five years.
According to his servant's inquiries to local citizens, in 1430, two years prior, the city's owner had changed to the Principality of Theodoro, the predecessor of the current Bosphorus Despotate, and its name had been changed from the familiar Kaffa to Theodosia.
Although Yusuf Jakmak received a good Crescent Sect education after becoming a Mamluk, he still couldn't immediately figure out the origin of this name.
"Could it be an ancient Greek name for it?" he finally reasoned, convincing himself.
His guess, however, turned out to be a lucky one, as it was indeed the case.
At the same time, he also noticed that there were many more Eastern Orthodox slave traders at the port than before.
"It seems there are more Greek Eastern Orthodox slave traders now," Jaqmaq mused.
It was well known that during the old Kaffa period, the Genoa authorities placed many restrictions on Eastern Orthodox and Greeks engaging in the slave trade to protect the interests of local merchants.
When Theodoro captured the city, Manuel, who governed there, naturally abolished such unfair practices and supported the local slave trade industry.
Furthermore, Jaqmaq also noticed that on the city streets not far away, there were far fewer beggars than when he visited five years ago, and even the city's appearance was much cleaner.
Upon asking, he learned that ever since Theodoro captured Theodosia, the local government had implemented a simple poor relief act, providing wages to capable vagrants, allowing them to work in exchange for aid, or persuading them to join the army after training.
They also encouraged monasteries to provide relief to women and children.
Although these measures were currently limited to the city, they were better than ignoring the situation.
As for the city's cleanliness, it was related to a new regulation issued at the beginning of the month, which strictly prohibited citizens from dumping household waste onto the streets and encouraged them to collect and bag it for daily collection by dedicated personnel from the city's grassroots, who would then dispose of it at designated sites outside the city.
"For the Christians of Eastern Europe, these are remarkable initiatives," Jaqmaq said, stroking his long beard with appreciation upon hearing this.
This level of urban governance had surpassed many countries he had seen, and even in his Muslim world, only Lower Egypt and the Levant, and the Baghdad area before the Mongol conquest, could achieve such things at this time.
The information he subsequently learned from local inquiries directly astonished him.
According to local Greeks, Theodoro was elevated to the Bosphorus Despotate because it had allied with the Golden Horde and defeated the former Crimean Khanate in a war that ended earlier this year, seizing large tracts of land and thus ruling the peninsula.
This made Jaqmaq feel somewhat unbelievable.
He only knew that the Golden Horde had successfully suppressed the rebellion in Crimea, but he did not know that this once obscure small state had gained such immense benefits in that conflict.
Due to the previous conflicts in the region, the Mamluk's understanding of its specific affairs was still lagging.
Even Jaqmaq, as a confidant of Sultan Barsbay and a high-ranking official of the Sultanate, lacked detailed knowledge of it.
"What a remarkable achievement for such a small state," Jaqmaq quickly and keenly sensed the hidden implications.
Perhaps he could try to use this opportunity to talk with their high-ranking officials, discuss a few trades, and thereby gain favor with the Sultan, and also raise his standing among the Mamluks in Cairo.
He believed that, given his status, their monarch or ruling officials could not ignore him, even though, as a Mamluk, he was not well-versed in such commercial dealings.
However, these were merely bonuses for now, as his main purpose for coming to the peninsula this time was to purchase slaves and pick up his younger brother.
He had originally intended to buy a few Slavic slaves of good appearance, but because the Bosphorus nominally prohibited the sale of Eastern Orthodox slaves, the price of Slavic white slaves also soared, exceeding his original budget, so he had to give up.
However, the price of Roman Catholic slaves had dropped significantly, which might not be bad news for the Sultanate.
Speaking of which, that Ligurian should have arrived by now, right?
Thinking this, Jaqmaq grew anxious.
That year, to ensure Zahir immediately became a Mamluk upon arriving in Cairo, Jaqmaq had not brought him over at that time, but instead contacted local Tatar nobles and Genoa merchants, first having him undergo preliminary training locally, and then bringing him to Cairo by "buying" him.
This ensured that he could formally gain public approval, making it easier to promote him and strengthen his faction's power.
"In any case, Allah willing, I hope Zahir is safe and sound," Jaqmaq truly wished at this moment that he had directly brought his brother to Cairo that year, instead of having him train as a slave soldier locally before being "bought" over.
Who knew that this place would continuously suffer nearly five years of warfare?
Although maritime trade might not have been affected last year and the year before, until this year, Cairo still believed that it should not take too great a risk and had not sent people to make large-scale slave purchases as usual.
As a result of the delays, he finally only managed to contact one Ligurian involved in the matter.
Now he could only pray that his brother, Zahir Jakmak, had not participated in the related conflicts in Crimea.
When the slender Ligurian slave trader, dressed in a black and grey damask doublet, arrived, Jaqmaq impatiently asked him about his brother's whereabouts.
He only received a response that could be described as passing the buck: "Sir Zahir was taken to the Tatars not long after, and we do not know his specific whereabouts.
Sir, I was merely sent to inform you of this…"
"What?!" Jaqmaq felt like he was about to faint from anger, and his panicked mind immediately prompted him to have his servants secretly surround the man, questioning him like a Mamluk soldier: "Where is Zahir? Where is my brother?"
"I don't know, sir…"
Just as he was about to press further, several formally dressed "Watchers" Force, appearing as militiamen, suddenly appeared beside them and humbly inquired, "Hello, are you the lord from the Mamluk Sultanate?"
Jaqmaq turned around cautiously, only then realizing that many curious citizens were already watching them.
"Damn it, I've always been so cautious, how did I lose my temper now?
It wouldn't be good if some scandal broke out in a foreign country and reached the Sultan in Cairo."
Considering this, he quickly put away his aggressive, soldier-like demeanor, gracefully motioned for his servants to stand down, and returned a greeting in accordance with Crescent Sect customs: "Yes."
"Could we please invite you to the palace for an audience with our esteemed Caesar?"