For these majority-occupied lands, Manuel's ultimate plan was to use them entirely for expanding the size of the farmer-soldiers.
Specifically, he intended to distribute them all to the local uneducated, honest, and reliable farmers and liberated former Christian slaves, just as he had done in Tauris.
As for why he chose farmers, it wasn't because Manuel was simply imitating others of his time; it was because farmers were indeed useful.
While it's a completely wrong stereotype to think that all common people like farmers are kind and honest, these lower classes who haven't been exposed to the complex world are genuinely easy to fool—ah, no, they are all malleable talents with a lord and a father.
Compared to city dwellers who are often eccentric due to their extensive knowledge, farmers are less concerned with personal gain and more willing to sacrifice themselves, and when organized, they possess greater combat effectiveness.
Like blank slates, their loyalty after receiving education instilled by the monarch is truly incomparable to that of the hesitant nobles.
However, this time, he did not intend to completely replicate the farmer-soldier system established earlier in Tauris.
The most significant change was his decision to increase the land area held by each farmer-soldier household.
In other words, he wanted to elevate the economic status of farmer-soldiers from middle peasants to rich peasants, or even small landowners.
This was not a decision he made on a whim.
After returning to Trabzon, he naturally read Barbara's letters from last year several times.
Among them, he noticed a crucial point his wife mentioned in her letters to him while she was regent: the farmer-soldiers he established in Tauris did not possess an overwhelming advantage in land ownership over their former fellow villagers.
Therefore, they were still essentially peasants who bore military obligations and corresponding rights, which is why they were 'extorted' by these lower classes.
Although he could legislate to protect their interests as Barbara suggested, laws are executed by people.
If the farmer-soldier class cannot be elevated to a status that ordinary peasants dare not offend, then they must truly be promoted to military households with small properties, separating them socially from those narrow-minded village commoners.
The simplest way to achieve this is to provide land.
Given this, his proposed amendment was to allocate more land to farmer-soldiers, similar to the military district system implemented by the Roman Empire in the past, allowing them the financial means to hire tenant farmers or serfs to cultivate their land and to find stewards to manage their properties.
Of course, as he reiterated in his homeland, these lands were not allowed to be hereditary.
Naturally, he would first implement this reform in Asia Minor.
If this experimental change proved effective, he planned to raise a force of farmer-soldiers with considerable combat power in West Armenia and the Pontus region, similar to what he did in his Eastern Europe homeland.
Although their scale would be smaller in comparison, their organizational efficiency and sustainability should be enhanced accordingly.
If it indeed worked as he theoretically envisioned, this would not be the end of the farmer-soldier system's refinement.
After establishing a foothold in Asia Minor, he would continue to improve the farmer-soldier system based on the domestic situation, striving to perfect this military system, which borrowed the name of the old military district system but incorporated many of his own ideas, so that it could adapt to the current and future centuries' landscape.
Thinking about it carefully, wasn't this a disguised land-based conscription system?
Realizing this, he stood up excitedly, then sat back down somewhat dejectedly.
Because he immediately discovered that his improved military system seemed to have some overlaps with the Ottoman's Pasha and Sipahi...
The implementation of a system cannot remain merely in words or thoughts; pushing it forward requires strong and effective administrative power.
To this end, that day, Manuel summoned his high-ranking officials to discuss important matters, including but not limited to land allocation.
After an afternoon of discussion, they finally, at the urging of their Caesar, roughly produced an administrative decree that could put his ideas into practice.
For this, Manuel's Chief Secretary finally recalled the complex work he experienced in Tauris.
And just as he finished the meeting and was about to enjoy a good meal to reward himself, a foreign envoy arrived at just the right moment to disrupt his mood.
"Saint Mary, who is it now? Why are they bothering people when they're about to rest?" Serenus felt a surge of anger rise within him.
But he was, after all, the highest-ranking foreign affairs official in the Autocratic State, so he had no choice but to immediately lead people to the great port to greet the visitor.
When he arrived to greet him at dusk, he was quite surprised to find that it was an acquaintance who had come this time.
"Hello, Serenus, by the grace of the Lord, we meet again," Gracio, a flamboyant Venetian noble, smiled gently at the Roman noble he knew.
Behind him followed a small squad of Black Sea Latins; this small delegation of no more than seven people seemed to be the entirety of the mission.
"Venice's ships are truly fast," Justinian's mouth twitched slightly.
To confirm the other party's intentions, he specifically inquired.
The result was as expected: these Venetians had indeed received a reply and had come to discuss important matters with his Caesar.
Serenus dared not neglect this in the slightest; after clarifying the situation, he immediately dispatched people to arrange accommodation for these Latins and began to arrange their meeting with the Caesar.
"By the way, Serenus," Gracio said with a smile to the Greek dignitary who was hosting him, just before heading to their lodging, "there's a private matter from Morea here, related to you."
Serenus, understanding his meaning, thought for a moment and then readily replied, "For the Lord's sake, please speak."
No sooner had he spoken than the other party, as if by magic, pulled out a letter from his pocket, "Your family and the Moria Despotate asked us to deliver it to you."
"Oh," after taking the letter, Justinian first looked at the signature style on it, confirmed that it was indeed from his old father in Morea, then carefully put it away, and asked curiously, "I understand.
By the way, why did Morea entrust the letter to you?"
"There's no helping it, our Venetian merchant ships are spread throughout the entire Eastern Mediterranean, and the Moria Despotate has needs from us; isn't it perfectly normal for us to generously take it on?"
When discussing Venice's influence in the Mediterranean, the Latin youth became quite conceited.
"You seem very proud, sir," Serenus narrowed his dark pupils, a subtle smile on his face.
"That's right, this is the confidence the Republic brings us!" Saying this, Gracio proudly raised his left index finger, chest out and head held high.
Looking at the triumphant expression of this Latin, Justinian, like all true Romans at this time, inwardly spat at the man in disdain, "A Catholic, a dog of a merchant!"
Apparently sensing that there was some impurity in the other party's smile, Gracio reined in his smile and instead questioned the other party, "Hey, you Greeks don't seem very friendly."
"No, no, you've completely misunderstood!" Serenus immediately reverted to his usual smile, even with a good deal of flattery in it.
Because now, neither his family's silk business nor the Moria Despotate and Bosphorus Caesar he served could afford to offend these Latin merchants who dominated the Eastern Mediterranean.