Maria was startled, "Me?"
David and the others all nodded.
Seeing this, Maria had no choice but to brace herself and begin analyzing her husband from the perspective of being Manuel's sister.
"Based on the years I spent with my brother, while he sometimes acts in ways that seem extreme and attention-grabbing—in his words, 'obsessed'—in reality, these methods are quite subtle when examined closely.
Furthermore, he doesn't mind compromising if it guarantees the successful achievement of his desires.
Regardless, I personally don't mind you, my husband, angering him."
"What if I upset him?" David asked, cautiously and with concern.
"If it comes to that, even as his sister, I wouldn't be able to do anything," Maria said, looking at her husband with worry.
She had a good impression of this husband, who was slightly older than her, and absolutely did not want him to die due to some accident one day.
"Although the infidels deserved to die, I never expected my brother to do such a ruthless thing in North Tauris a year ago."
David began to seriously consider the proposal Manuel had given him.
Half an hour later, he carefully discussed with his subordinate nobles how to seize the opportunity to profit for himself.
"Your Highness, in my humble opinion, we should agree," the young noble finally suggested.
"Yes, Your Highness.
We will temporarily feign compliance with him, but in reality, we will use the opportunity to consolidate and expand our power in Trabzon.
After all, no matter what, he won't focus his attention on Asia Minor, right?
Once the Gavras family returns to Eastern Europe, we will use our connections and reputation to bring Your Highness back to the throne."
The old noble almost jumped with excitement as he said this.
Hearing this, a glint of cunning appeared in David's dark pupils.
Finally, he made up his mind, intending to seize this excellent opportunity to try and push himself onto the throne.
Three days later, Manuel, seated on the throne, contentedly received the good news that David had sided with him.
"Once my generals and troops arrive in a few days, many lords in Trabzon should follow him and switch sides," Manuel murmured to himself with a smile.
However, Badars, who was standing beside him, hesitated slightly and raised a question, "But Caesar, will Prince David, as the third son of Alexios IV and with numerous Trabzon nobles behind him, truly willingly help us consolidate our rule?
In my humble opinion, we should be wary of him."
Manuel merely smiled faintly at this.
"Badars, you may not have realized, but time is actually on our side.
Once the die is cast, David will regretfully discover that what cannot be gained on the battlefield cannot be gained at the negotiating table either.
If it weren't to better mitigate the impact of his raid and prepare for Asia Minor, I wouldn't need to expend so much effort to win them over."
Soon after David Komnenos submitted, in the usual office room of the Bangup Palace on the Bosporus, Barbara, who had been personally appointed regent by Manuel, was diligently reviewing several financial reports.
Finally, feeling quite indignant, she slammed the last report onto the table and sighed, lamenting:
"Saint Mary!
The small section after the third word on the seventh line, counting from the top of page 58, clearly conflicts with the part after the fifth word on the third line, counting from the top of page 74.
And the parts on page 14 and page 114, too.
Do they think I, as regent, am a fake?"
As she spoke, a crisp knock sounded at the door.
Barbara, who roughly knew who the visitor was, had her maid Layla put on her veil, then immediately had the servant open the door and bring in the cabinet member.
That cabinet member was Isaac Arno, the finance minister she had sent to the Adyghe port to bid farewell to several generals and their troops.
Upon his return to Bangkok Pu, he immediately rushed to the palace to report to the regent.
After Arno's brief report, Barbara took out several of the financial reports, had Layla hand them to him, and instructed him to review them carefully.
Receiving the regent's order, Arno immediately began to peruse them on the spot.
By the end of his reading, Arno's expression had become quite indescribable, and he repeatedly bowed his head in apology, "A bunch of blasphemers who started secretly falsifying things as soon as Caesar left!
It is my great sin for not adequately restraining subordinate officials, allowing them to dare attempt to deceive the regent.
I will certainly severely punish these individuals who have desecrated Caesar's authority."
Seeing this, Barbara could only wave her hand, imitating Manuel, to indicate that she would not pursue the matter for now.
She was well aware that these financial reports were the result of subordinates acting autonomously during Arno's temporary absence from Bangkok Pu, and that the finance minister before her was not trying to deceive or sideline her.
However, such deception of the upper echelons must never happen again, otherwise, what difference would she, as regent, be from thin air?
Considering this, a hint of coldness entered her eyes.
Although the newly established initial simple bureaucratic system could not be tampered with casually, killing a chicken to scare the monkeys was still feasible.
Arno expressed his strong agreement with this; he also wanted to use this to establish his authority as the cabinet's finance minister.
But there must be rewards as well as punishments, and in light of this, Barbara took out a report on new city construction, hinting, "This one regarding the new city of Simferopol can be used as an encouraging reference for officials to emulate."
"The Simferopol one? The one Meassenos is responsible for, right?" Arno thought.
However, he did not voice this thought, merely bowing respectfully and responding, "Yes, Your Highness."
After seeing Arno off, Barbara, having completed her tasks for the day, let out a long sigh of relief.
She was still not well-suited to diligently handling state affairs with the same nervous intensity as her husband.
Relaxed, she only wanted to quickly hold her daughter, little Justiana, in her arms and enjoy mother-daughter time.
And after the main forces of the Bosporus arrived in Trabzon and joined Manuel and his men, Manuel immediately cooperated with David to publicly announce his identity and intentions, reducing the cost and burden for various local lords to pledge allegiance to him.
Soon, a large number of local lords, seeing that David, a member of the imperial family, had also formally switched allegiance to their maritime neighbors from the Black Sea, also followed suit under diplomatic persuasion and military threat.
After all, they were all Romans, and also descendants of Komnenos, so there was no need to even change their religion, and the treatment should be largely the same.
Thus, the Bosporus, which had dispatched as many as 4,000 troops, controlled more than half of Trabzon's territory within a month, using both soft and hard tactics.
But not all local forces in Trabzon were willing to change allegiance, and the Komnenos Dynasty had ruled Trabzon for over two hundred years, still having many loyal supporters.
For example, Alexius IV's second son, Alexander Megas Komnenos, rallied stubborn local forces and raised an army in the eastern region of Trabzon, directly opposing the Bosporus from the northern shore of the Black Sea.