Ultimately, after hours of fierce fighting, the White Sheep Army could only hold their ground on the mountainside and failed to break through the defensive line in front of them.
"I'm sorry, Father, I apologize for disappointing you and Allah." That night, Mahmoud went to the central army tent. After reporting the detailed process of the day's battle, he apologized to his father, the White Sheep Sultan, for failing to achieve his predetermined goal.
"It's fine," the White Sheep Sultan, Kara Osman, who was reading scriptures by candlelight, closed his copy of Sahih al-Bukhari① and turned to comfort his third son, "While I certainly hoped you would lead these four thousand men to capture this fortification today, it's alright if you couldn't.
Just consider it as Allah not having shown his favor.
Strictly speaking, the main purpose today was to probe. To probe just how far these Romans have progressed." Finally, Kara Osman gently closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, asking a servant to wring out a wet cloth and wipe his face, looking as if he was resting his eyes.
"Then, Father, what was the final result of the probing…?" Mahmoud asked respectfully and tentatively.
"The true result will only be known tomorrow after the casualty statistics are released.
For now, the only important and reliable conclusion we can draw is that those Romans must take fighting us very seriously, otherwise they wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to win over the Armenians and built such annoying fortifications," Kara Osman said with a narrowed-eyed smile.
While the father and son discussed the day's battle in their tent, on the opposite side of Palantoken Mountain, in the Bosporus Army camp on the outskirts of Erzurum, Manuel was also discussing countermeasures for this engagement.
After learning the general outline of the battle from the dispatch riders and the soldiers of the dispatched reinforcements, the Bosporus generals all let out a huge sigh of relief after their initial tension, "That's great, it's a good thing Caesar decisively sent a reinforcement of over three thousand men this afternoon.
Holy Father bless us, Holy Father bless us!"
But Manuel was not like them; he remained on edge.
"In just one day, is the main defensive line of the Palantoken Mountain range on the verge of being breached?
Although the short completion time is a factor, it's clear that the White Sheep are serious this time," he thought with worry.
After half a second of thought, he ultimately had Dungar, the general dispatched to command the reinforcements, speak, to give a reality check to some of the still confident generals present.
Receiving Caesar's order, Dungar quickly stood up and recounted in full detail everything he saw and experienced when he led the reinforcements to support the battle today.
And as he spoke, the expressions of the few generals in the camp who had initially felt complacent all turned serious, no longer showing their previous self-satisfaction.
"So, gentlemen, the enemy we face now is truly not comparable to those of the past." After Dungar finished his account, Manuel specifically summarized at the end and added, "Once the rough casualty statistics are out tomorrow, you should have a more intuitive understanding."
Early the next morning, Badars handed the compiled casualty report to Manuel, allowing his Caesar to get an intuitive sense of the specific situation of yesterday's battle.
Taking the report, Manuel read it carefully, extracting key information: "Two wooden watchtowers guarding the earthen fort were burned down by fires caused by rockets fired by the enemy; although the earthen fort, which is the main body of the defense line, is fully functional, several parts of it have been damaged by the enemy and lost their ability to repel invaders.
The number of dead, injured, and missing conscripts exceeds seven hundred; casualties among soldiers and peasant-soldiers were kept within three hundred.
As for firearms, five medium to large cannons were permanently destroyed."
This was truly shocking to Manuel, "Wow, this is… this cannot be… my manpower, my money!"
While Manuel was heartbroken over the casualties of the first wave of battle, in Mangup City on the other side of the Black Sea, Bosporus Regent Barbara was holding little Justiana on the balcony of the palace, gazing in the direction of the Black Sea.
"Look, Justiana, that's where Papa is right now," Barbara, dressed in cotton clothes as it was late autumn, pointed towards Asia Minor and smiled at her daughter.
Little Justiana, still an infant at the time, was bewildered by her mother's actions; completely uncomprehending, she could only imitate her mother by making sounds like "ba" and "pa."
"Yes, it's 'Papa.'" Hearing her beloved daughter's sounds, Barbara, overjoyed, lifted her above her head so the child could see the direction of Asia Minor more clearly.
Just as she was about to continue playing with her beloved daughter, a priest sent by Metropolitan Oulophin of Cherson suddenly arrived to ask for her permission to open the Regent's "Imperial Conference."
"What is it this time?" Barbara was quite displeased at having her warm time with her daughter interrupted.
But after understanding the general situation, she became serious and hurried back, as state affairs always came first.
After instructing two personal maids and other servants to look after little Justiana, and confirming the attitude of another person, she immediately rushed to the palace's council chamber to preside over the "Imperial Conference."
Strictly speaking, even as Regent and Bosporus Caesarine, she had no right to preside over an "Imperial Conference." However, before Manuel's departure, he specifically granted his wife Barbara and his father Alexius the joint power to preside over a simplified Imperial Conference, known as the "Regent's Imperial Conference," to ensure they could effectively respond to major events before he returned to Mangup.
Of course, because such conferences involved at most only two official cabinet members, the priority of decrees and orders passed in these meetings was all lower than those presided over by Caesar Manuel himself.
This conference was no different.
After confirming that everyone was present, Metropolitan Oulophin first led a brief prayer, after which Alexius, as always, voluntarily stepped aside to let others discuss.
"Still the same," Barbara sighed inwardly.
Although Manuel had entrusted Tauris to them both as co-regents, Alexius would always proactively step aside during major conferences to avoid suspicion.
And so, the conference proceeded as usual.
When trade was discussed, Arno, the Minister of Finance, became animated, "By the grace of the Holy Father, trade in Theodosia has been excellent recently, with the slave trade, for example, flourishing daily.
Indeed, Caesar's decision to take Adyghe was correct; with this port serving as a window for interaction with the Circassian mountains, capturing or acquiring Circassian slaves from abroad at low prices has truly become much easier.
Coupled with the expulsion of Genoese influence and leveraging Venice's trade routes, our economy is truly booming." After speaking, Arno took out the seasonal financial report and emphasized the extent of trade volume increase during this period.
After Arno's eloquent presentation, he was followed by Patniko, the general Manuel had left to guard Tauris.
And the problem he subsequently brought up would stir up waves in this somewhat mundane conference.
After briefly explaining that the border had been stable recently, Patniko became serious, "Your two Regents," he stated solemnly, "the issue I am about to discuss concerns the recent plight of the peasant-soldiers' families."