However, Manuel quickly let go of this resentment; as long as Rome could be revived, even betraying his class or whatever was merely a trivial matter to him.
Anyway, these lands belonged to infidels, so he felt no guilt whatsoever in seizing them.
Moreover, after the unrestrained atrocities of the Bosporus soldiers last night, most of the owners of these lands and pastures were likely no longer among the living.
Manuel felt more schadenfreude regarding the fate of these Turkmen tribal lords.
After all, in the glorious Middle Ages, religious and cultural feuds were commonplace.
Today you kill over, tomorrow I kill back.
Since you Turks have oppressed the infidels for centuries, you should be prepared for them to oppress you back.
Furthermore, their deaths contributed more to the revival of Rome than their lives ever did.
In short, after a morning of negotiations, Manuel conveyed his determination to divide the land among these Armenians.
After the talks, he spent the entire afternoon discussing how to implement this and what these Armenians would do for him.
Finally, that afternoon, Manuel instructed the local Apostolic Church and his subordinates to issue relevant decrees in the city, and he first distributed several plots of land to the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Armenian merchants who had actively cooperated with him that morning.
In return, these beneficiaries would actively promote the good deeds of Bosporus to the surrounding Armenians and would pay a small tribute and bear the cost of provisions before he opened the route between Erzincan and Trabzon.
Of course, the Bosporus side would also actively protect them in the upcoming war with the White Sheep.
After completing these tasks that afternoon, Manuel stood on the city wall, raised his head, and looked into the city.
"If all goes well, the local Armenians should begin to shift their stance," he thought, a faint smile appearing on his face, his back to the setting sun.
Just as he had envisioned, this action indeed changed the local Armenians' perception of Bosporus.
Initially, they thought they had merely swapped one group of conquerors for another, but after seeing some of the upper and middle classes regain rights that had been stripped from them by the Muslims for a long time due to their active surrender and cooperation, and confirming the authenticity of these benefits, they all actively declared their allegiance.
Manuel seized the opportunity to act accordingly, granting freedom to the local Christian slaves, allowing them to gain free citizen status in exchange for serving as military servants for a period of time.
During the time he was diligently stabilizing the local area and expanding his base, he was not idle.
In the following week, Manuel personally took charge in Erzincan City, dispatching his generals to clear out the Aq Qoyunlu Dynasty's remaining garrisons in eastern Erzincan, thereby connecting Erzincan and Trabzon and restoring the supply lines.
While achieving control of the area, he also eradicated several batches of Turkmen tribes in Erzincan.
Some people might be confused by this: while Bosporus was actively doing all this, was the White Sheep side truly silent?
In fact, no.
Indeed, at noon on the third day after Erzincan fell, Ali and others, who were stationed in Erzurum preparing their troops, received the devastating news of Erzincan's fall.
"What was the general stationed there doing? Does he deserve the Sultan and Allah? You pig-bred good-for-nothing!" After learning from the fleeing tribal soldiers that the Erzincan garrison was almost completely annihilated in a single skirmish, Hamza was so furious that he stomped his feet and cursed loudly.
Ali, who sat beside him, felt more vigilant and worried. "Do these Romans really possess such combat power? This is bad, I've been too complacent all along…"
"Fourth Brother, what do you think?" Just as Ali was racking his brains on how to repel this enemy, Sheikh Hassan, sitting across from him, suddenly asked him a question.
Ali was first startled, then said straightforwardly, "We cannot delay any longer.
It seems now that our troops deployed in Erzurum for reorganization are too few.
We have no time to waste; we must send someone to our father for help immediately, asking him to gather nearly ten thousand Ghazi Warriors starting from Diyarbakir—no, given the situation, from Diyarbakir—and have them rendezvous with our current nearly four thousand soldiers in Erzurum to utterly annihilate these Romans.
They should have only been in Asia Minor for less than half a year, and their foothold is not yet stable; this is our best opportunity.
Otherwise, once they establish themselves…"
"Ali, you are too anxious." Hamza bluntly interrupted his rambling. "Although we did underestimate these Christians before, they are, after all, outsiders.
Even if they took Erzincan, it won't be easy to clear out our remaining defensive forces in the area and consolidate their gains.
Let's wait a little longer for now; we will first send small detachments to support the area.
By September, Allah will surely reveal through facts who has his favor."
Ali wanted to say something more, but just as he opened his mouth, the Sheikh and several of their subordinate generals repeatedly echoed Hamza's words.
Seeing this, he could only swallow his rebuttal. "Alright."
Although he disagreed with them, Ali clearly understood why they opposed him.
If their father, who should currently be in Diyarbakir or Mardin, were to learn of this, it would likely affect the position of the three brothers within the tribal alliance.
The worst-case scenario was that the tribes forming the Aq Qoyunlu Dynasty might seize the opportunity to make a statement, impacting their right of succession.
"We can only take it one step at a time." Finally, he sighed to himself about this, waiting for September to arrive.
But completely to their surprise, just one short week later, they received intelligence that left them dumbfounded.
"What did you say?! Are you kidding me? The remaining garrison of Erzincan was cleared out by these Romans? Didn't we send people to aid them from time to time?" Knowing that eastern Erzincan was gradually being controlled by the enemy, Hamza, almost fainting with anger, nearly jumped out of his chair.
"It was the local Armenians; these Christians, for some unknown reason, suddenly started collaborating with the Romans.
Even the local tribes of Erzincan were affected; many were jointly wiped out by these Christians.
Those who survived are now fleeing to Erzurum, Diyarbakir…"
"Damn Kafirs! A bunch of idiotic hyenas!" Hearing this, Sheikh Hassan's right hand, gripping the armrest, tightened a few times.
"Don't worry, in a few days we will lead troops…"
"Wait, isn't it only mid-August now?" Ali cautiously reminded them.
"We cannot give these Christians any more time, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.
Bey Ali, please give the order." A tribal general immediately bowed and pleaded with Ali.
"No, didn't we say earlier to wait until September?"