Although these conditions were not generous, for King Sigismund, they were enough to make him agree to the request from Bosporus.
Seeing Mana's overt joy, and wanting to smoothly introduce another important request entrusted to him by Manuel, Mana deliberately brought up a matter as a pretext, "Emperor Sigismund, I wish to make an unwelcome request on behalf of my Emperor."
"Speak," King Sigismund, in a good mood, waved his hand, allowing the other party to speak freely.
"Emperor Manuel has heard that there is a group of unruly Eastern Orthodox within your country. Emperor Manuel hopes that if Your Majesty has no other way to deal with them for the time being, you could send them all to our country, giving Your Majesty some peace."
Although Mana's words were quite subtle, King Sigismund immediately noticed the hidden meaning. "Hmm, you and the Emperor behind you mean for me to send those failed rebels from my country to yours, to populate North Tauris? No matter what, they are still my subjects. Sending them abroad would be an abdication of my responsibility as a monarch."
"He rejected it, so direct," Mana thought to himself, "Fortunately, this was within his expectations, as this wasn't Manuel's primary objective for him." However, his expression did not relax in the slightest; instead, he deliberately put on an earnest look. "But these rebels, remaining within Your Majesty's borders, are not only detrimental to your rule but also pose a risk of renewed rebellion. Given this, it would be better to hand them over to us, and I am only referring to peasants and serfs."
"I take back my previous assessment of you," King Sigismund sighed internally, while doing his best to warn the other party, "Even if they are peasants and serfs, my answer remains the same as before. Let me remind you all, as the King of Lithuania, although I like to bypass cumbersome parliamentary procedures when making decisions, if I were to do something that harms the interests of the country and my family, the parliament and its nobles would not let me off the hook."
"As expected, after all, population is a resource, and even more so, a source of tax revenue. Such things certainly cannot be given to others casually," Mana shook his head internally. However, he was still very clear that such a request would not be granted under normal circumstances, but fortunately, it was just a cover.
Thinking of this, Mana calmly presented the true task Manuel had entrusted to him. "Since Your Majesty says so, then fine. However, I cannot return empty-handed. Therefore, I hope Your Majesty can grant me another request."
"Tell me."
Mana bowed cautiously and requested, "If Eastern Orthodox commoners flee from our two countries' border areas into our country, we hope your country will waive any pursuit of them."
"Ah? If you refuse to hand them over, then even I wouldn't be able to do anything, would I?"
"But Your Majesty, if you could preemptively agree to this, it would be better than implicitly denying it with reluctance."
"Fair enough, indeed." Is this the true goal of these Greeks? King Sigismund smiled inwardly. According to his stereotype of Greeks, there should be small-scale serf escapes in the southern part of the kingdom soon.
"But this has nothing to do with me. Let the local Rus nobles worry about such problems. If their complaints to me become too loud, then I'll just verbally warn Bosporus. Compared to their attitude, a vassal who stands with me is more valuable." After weighing these thoughts internally, King Sigismund smiled contentedly and agreed to the other party's request.
Thus, Manuel's diplomatic mission to Lithuania achieved its objective.
As the delegation led by Mana embarked on its return journey, Manuel, seated in Bangup Palace, summoned the new person sent to him by Venice, Carlo di Giovanni de Medici, hoping to extract some information from him and test his abilities.
What awaited Manuel, however, was a string of incredibly boring pleasantries.
"Can you get to the point, instead of just spouting nonsense about your brilliance and distinguished family background?" Although Manuel's expression remained earnest and approachable, he actually felt his ears were about to grow calluses.
"Perhaps I should arrange him into the tax department later; it seems that's all he's good for." With this thought, Manuel intended to cut the conversation short if nothing unexpected happened.
Unexpectedly, something did happen, though this "surprise" was only for Manuel. Just as Manuel intended to end the conversation, a sentence Carlo spoke caught his attention.
"For example, an industry like banking can be established even in a commonplace land like Bosporus. After all, the banking industry relies on taxation and trade, and this place happens to have both," Carlo spoke voluminously. His unintentional words happened to catch Manuel's attention at just the right moment.
Although medieval banks were not as developed and comprehensive as those of later generations, as a major symbol of the development of the commodity economy, they already possessed economic functions such as high-interest, high-return loans, tax collection, currency exchange, and exchange rate control. Although these early banks were relatively primitive in all aspects, as an industry that could provide high tax revenue, they still greatly appealed to Manuel.
Moreover, in this era, the most prosperous banking regions in Western Europe were more often family businesses or private enterprises linked to the church. If Bosporus indeed had the conditions to develop banking, then with the royal family as a backing, plus economic talent to manage it, it could at least achieve a dimensionality reduction strike in the Black Sea region.
Thinking of this, Manuel put away his inner smile; he probably knew how to arrange this young man from the Medici Family.
After listening to Carlo's words, Manuel rested his hand and asked him seriously, "Lord Carlo, you said Bosporus has the conditions to establish a bank. Could you elaborate?"
Carlo was a little surprised; he hadn't expected that his casual mention of banking would attract the attention of the Greek monarch before him. However, after a brief moment of astonishment, he immediately became excited. Perhaps he could display his talents here, then be noticed by the monarchs of the great Western European powers, and thus be naturally poached, reaching the pinnacle of his life?
The mere thought of this possibility made him feel as if he was about to be overwhelmed with joy. This made him decide to temporarily exert himself for the Greek Eastern Orthodox monarch before him, in exchange for a good life in Western Europe in the future. "Yes, Your Majesty. To establish a banking industry, specifically, these things are needed..."