"So, you're here to find your biological younger brother? Is that the reason for your visit, Your Excellency?" After hearing Jaqmaq's general account, Manuel finally understood the reason for this Mamluk, who held a not-insignificant position in Cairo, coming here, and the cause of the incident on the street.
"A Circassian slave general, I seem to recall something." After asking this, Manuel tried to recall his memories, searching for specific details, but he couldn't remember anything about the person and had to give up.
And when he came back to his senses, Jaqmaq, standing opposite him, nodded cautiously after some thought.
An hour and a half earlier, he had finally accepted the proposal put forth by those militiamen on behalf of their monarch, and was invited to Theodosia Palace, where he was personally received by Caesar Manuel. After careful consideration, he revealed the purpose of his visit. The Ligurian slave trader who was pushed out to take the blame was politely escorted away by the "Watchers" Force and was currently being interrogated about his specific dealings with Jaqmaq.
As for the group of people he had secretly made a pact with earlier, apart from that Ligurian slave merchant, he now knew nothing about the others. Since that was the case, Jaqmaq had no choice but to try his luck and reluctantly seek help from the local monarch. Although he would owe the other party a favor, if this matter could be resolved as a starting point, and with his connections, he could facilitate an alliance between the Mamluk Sultanate and Bosporus, it would be quite worthwhile.
And for Manuel, this was also a good opportunity to develop his personal relationship with him and expand his intelligence network. Being familiar with history, he knew that after Genoa acquired colonies along the Black Sea, the Mamluk Sultanate approached these Latins to stabilize their slave supply. But after he took this place, he had been waiting for people from the Mamluk Sultanate to come and discuss slave trade matters, but they never came. Previously, he was preoccupied with war, so he didn't give much thought to this matter. But times were different now; if Cairo didn't send anyone over soon, he was almost ready to send people there himself.
Now, a high-ranking official from the other side had come to him on their own initiative—what an excellent opportunity! Given this, Manuel received Jaqmaq from Cairo very humbly and patiently answered several of his questions:
"May I ask, where is Dawlat Berdi, the Tatar prince who once ruled the Crimea region, now?" Jaqmaq asked impatiently.
"After losing the war for Crimea against Haji Giray, he fled inland and has long since disappeared," Manuel replied.
"What about the Shirin Family? Especially their patriarch, Beijin Xilin."
"They were dealt with according to the law here for participating in the post-war rebellion on the peninsula," Manuel said vaguely at this point.
Having gone through many years of political struggle in Cairo, Jaqmaq roughly guessed what the Shirin Family had done and their fate. However, this was none of his business; he only felt they were a bit unlucky, and had a slight, insignificant regret, but that was all.
"What about those Ligurian merchants from Genoa? It was because the Grimaldi Family was behind them that I sought them out."
"Most of them should have, um," Manuel almost said "expelled," "returned to Genoa proper for various reasons after the war ended."
"…"
Seeing the other party's silence, Manuel felt a little guilty. However, his face remained as humble as before. After a few polite words and formally agreeing to the other party's request, he quickly sent people to investigate Chahir Saif al-Din Jakmak's information.
During this time, Manuel kindly hosted Jaqmaq and his entourage, and quickly wrote to Suleiman Karamanoglu, who was currently residing in Mangup, briefly informing him of the general situation and asking him to come to Theodosia as soon as possible, "to take this opportunity to introduce Your Excellency to this Mamluk high-ranking official, to aid in his future restoration." In the second to last paragraph of the letter, he specifically emphasized the purpose of his actions.
Soon, after a thorough investigation by Manuel's direct 'Watchers' Force, in less than two days, Manuel personally received the exact information about Chahir Saif al-Din Jakmak from Badars, the commander of the 'Watchers' Force, in his office at the palace.
"Chahir Saif al-Din Jakmak, a Circassian from the Alan region, his elder brother was captured and sold into slavery to the Mamluk Sultanate at the beginning of this century, subsequent fate unknown." Manuel read to this point and added a new annotation: "His brother, Yusuf ibn Aziz al-Din Jakmak, later became a Mamluk and held important positions in Cairo."
After adding this sentence, he continued reading, "He was supposed to be 'sold' to Cairo in 1430 to become a Mamluk, but was delayed due to frequent warfare on the Tauris Peninsula at that time, and was finally conscripted into the army at the end of 1430 due to the Crimean Khanate's shortage of troops. Because he had received military training beforehand, he won several battles and showcased his military talent, after which he was heavily favored by Haji Giray. However, in the decisive battle in central Kuba in 1432, he was killed by the combined forces of Theodoro and the Golden Horde while leading the charge, and his body is currently unaccounted for."
After reading this brief report, Manuel recalled the scene at the time and finally remembered the general appearance of that Circassian slave general. Coming back to his senses, he suddenly felt his scalp tingle, "Ah, he's really dead?" Things seemed to have gotten a bit out of hand.
"Yes, Your Majesty, and he was trampled to death on the spot by our own men," Badars added, twisting the knife.
"This…"
Manuel felt cold sweat breaking out on his face.
"What do we do now?" Manuel was a little flustered; telling the truth was definitely not an option. If he told Jaqmaq that his brother was dead, and died at their hands, let alone fostering a good relationship, they should first try to avoid an international incident.
Seeing this, Badars, who was beside him, blurted out, "Why don't we let both brothers die in a foreign land…"
"Shut up! Why are you still so thoughtless in this regard, even after becoming the commander of the 'Watchers' Force?!" Manuel felt his blood pressure skyrocketing.
Killing Yusuf Jakmak too, and making it a double murder, sounded satisfying, but if the matter leaked, Bosporus could truly forget about large-scale slave trade with the Mamluk Sultanate. It was possible that the Mamluk Sultan in Cairo, upon hearing that his subject was killed by infidels, might impulsively order the Abbasid Caliph residing in Cairo to declare "Jihad" against Bosporus. In that case, the young Caesar might be captured and enslaved, forced to sell his backside in front of a group of bearded Muslims…
The thought of such a possibility made Manuel feel a desire to vomit.
He immediately stopped his wild thoughts and took half a second to force himself to calm down. "No, no, no, I need to think of something else."