"But Fourth Brother, if we give them more time, I'm afraid we won't be able to drive them out of the area anymore," Sheikh Hassan reminded him with worry.
"That's right, Bey, those Romans have already mingled with the vile Armenian pigs. If we don't attack now, I'm afraid they will take root in the local valleys and farmlands. At that time, the consequences will be unimaginable," a Kurdish tribal general named Mahmoud said, bowing.
"Then we must first send someone to Diyarbakir to inform Father…" Ali continued to advise caution, but his second brother, Hamza, immediately rejected him.
"Time is of the essence now, Father will understand our concealment," Hamza said seriously.
Damn it, their army had only been resting in Erzurum for less than a month! Ali was at a loss for words.
Ultimately, he did not possess the same confidence as these tribal generals, who believed they could defeat Christians as before, nor did he have the same indispensable interests in the Erzincan region as these Turkmen and Kurdish tribes. As for his brothers, Hamza and Sheikh Hassan, they were more limited by their capabilities and vision, still viewing these invading Christians as a special Trabzon army.
Although he wanted to continue to dissuade them in his capacity as the Bey, the heir of the tribal alliance, seeing their passionate attitude, he could only reluctantly agree, immediately mobilizing to prepare to expel the invading Bosporus Army.
Truth be told, since the Erzincan Beylik that occupied the area was annexed by their Aq Qoyunlu Dynasty more than 20 years ago, and the tribes loyal to the Beylik were massacred, enslaved, and exiled, Erzincan had not caused the White Sheep Turkmens such trouble for a long time.
"Now that I think about it, Erzincan could be so easily taken by the Romans, not only because they chose to cooperate with the local Armenians, but also because of how thoroughly we purged the forces of the Erzincan Beylik," Ali thought with a headache that night, recalling all that had happened on that land in the past.
But for now, he could only be swept along by this group of subordinates, taking one step at a time.
While the White Sheep people in Erzurum were nervously preparing for battle, in the city of Erzincan, in the afternoon, Manuel stood in the town hall, contemplating a map of the region.
"The Armenians' capabilities are beyond imagination," he truly found it hard to believe that, under the temptation of land and the incitement of the Apostolic Church, the local Armenians not only provided geographical assistance to the Bosporus Army, but their mountain residents also actively led them in clearing out the Turkmen tribes of Erzincan.
"It seems their grievances have been long-standing. But it's no wonder," thinking about how these Turkmen tribesmen had always treated the Armenians who had lived there for generations, Manuel couldn't help but sneer, "If I were an Armenian, I'd also want to pull down and stomp on these bastards who have always walked all over me."
Moreover, from his interactions with the local Armenians these past few days, there was another reason he had previously overlooked for the local Armenians' fierce backlash against the Turkmens after gaining benefits: in short, there was no upward mobility.
For example, when the Erzincan Beylik was still in existence more than 20 years ago, many Armenians served in civil positions under the Bey of Erzincan. Contrary to most people's stereotypes, the Eretna Beylik, as one of the fragments of the Sultanate of Rum, actually had a decent bureaucracy, and while the Erzincan Beylik, as a fragment of a fragment, was completely makeshift in this regard, having a makeshift system was better than none.
And like other Muslim states, this system was mostly composed of Christian elites, led by Armenians. Their elites, along with the Turkmen tribes who were the military foundation of the Beylik's existence, coexisted as the ruling class, two sides of the same coin. However, it should be noted that this did not mean that overall oppression of Christians did not exist, because the elites who could cooperate with Muslim rulers were always a minority.
Then the more barbaric White Sheep Turkmen tribal alliance arrived, and the few Armenian elites who had previously cooperated quite happily with the somewhat more civilized Turks were directly relegated to the bottom. Before, most Christians were dissatisfied; now, all Christians were dissatisfied.
In this way, the anger of the former elites, who had also fallen to the bottom, combined with the accumulated grievances of Armenians who had been oppressed for centuries, led them to actively guide and cooperate with the Bosporus, after witnessing the goodwill emanating from their fellow Christians and confirming that they could indeed defeat the White Sheep Turkmens, in order to secure a share for themselves in the Bosporus.
After clarifying these points, Manuel also figured out how to treat the Armenians under his rule: "In summary, apart from their religion being heretical, Armenians can be fully listed as ordinary subjects of the Autocratic State, enjoying normal civil rights. If this war with the White Sheep can end smoothly, then we will try to implement a farmer-soldier reform in the area."
Muttering to this point, he suddenly drew a dagger from his waist and plunged it into Diyarbakir on the map, "So, at least the spearhead of Rome must reach this far."
After speaking, he sat back down and waited for his generals to arrive. He had not come here today just to amuse himself with a map.
According to scout reports and letters from the Eastern Armenians, the situation he was about to face was not optimistic.
About fifteen minutes later, his generals gathered before him, forming a circle around a table, solemnly awaiting his speech.
Manuel looked around, confirming that everyone was present except for Dungar de Raport, who had been sent to consolidate the occupied territories. After a brief prayer, he spoke first, gravely: "Gentlemen, I will be brief. According to relevant and reliable intelligence, within the next week, the White Sheep Army stationed in the Erzurum area should launch a counterattack against us at some point."
As soon as he said this, he felt some of the generals' gazes on him become tense and worried.
But he did not respond directly to this. Instead, he turned to ask his Army Commander, Tukharovsky, who was facing him, "Tukharovsky, please report our army's numbers, combat strength, and the number we can flexibly call upon."
"Yes," Tukharovsky bowed and respectfully replied, "Your Majesty, after the previous battle on the outskirts of Erzincan and the replenishment of conscripted soldiers, the number of troops we can flexibly call upon has returned to a scale of five thousand. And as long as the local Armenians are willing to cooperate, we have nearly a thousand garrison troops remaining."
Much as he had surmised these past few days, Manuel nodded in satisfaction, "Rest assured, the White Sheep Army in Erzurum should not outnumber ours. Moreover," as he spoke, he spread the map before his generals, pointing his right hand towards the northern part of it, "Bayburt, haven't we already brought it under our control?"