While Manuel gathered his generals for a military council to decide the next phase of Bosporus's strategy, in Samsun, the capital of the Janik Beylik, the middle-aged Janik Bey Emir, Janik Oğlu, was meeting with his nominal colleague and the ruler of the Kandar Beylik, his western neighbor, Isfendiyar I Kandar Oğlu. They were gathered in a newly built palace, discussing how they would proceed against the newly emerging Bosphorus Despotate.
After a brief joint prayer, they first spoke of Alexander Komnenos, whom they sought as an external ally. Speaking of this Komnenos family claimant, the elderly Isfendiyar first held his turban, then stroked his white beard and chuckled, "Haha, after the Komnenos family arrived in Trabzon (the Anatolian Turkic pronunciation of 'Trabzon'), their caliber has simply declined with each generation. Now, for this boy to regain power, he's even selling off all his financial resources and land. Has he not considered that if he continues like this, he'll only end up with a title and a capital city?"
"But what does that have to do with us?" the Emir scoffed, his dark pupils gleaming. "Anyway, it's not our land he's giving away; on the contrary, he's 'giving' these lands to us."
"Strictly speaking, he's only giving them to you, my lord," the old Bey, Isfendiyar, calmly reminded him. He had not intended to get involved in the murky waters of Pontus, but after learning the details of the Bosphorus's expansion, the aged and experienced Bey vaguely felt a sense of threat, like a thorn in his back. Driven by this sense of crisis, he decided to align himself with Alexander's call and enticements, intending to drive this unstable element out of Asia Minor.
To his vassal colleague's "correction," the Emir merely offered an awkward smile and brushed it off. Their conversation then shifted from the polities around the Black Sea to their overlord, the Ottoman Sultanate.
When the topic of the Ottoman side came up, Isfendiyar Bey seemed quite hesitant. "Speaking of which, what's the word from Edirne?" The Kandar Bey, whose relationship with his liege, Murad II, was distant, had far less current information than Janik Bey Emir, the Ottoman Sultan's loyal dog.
"The Sultan has no particularly noteworthy reaction to this," the Emir, slightly tipsy from drinking fermented grape juice, chuckled. "The Viziers, however, have clearly stated that this is our private matter and they will not hinder us."
"Really? I don't believe it," Isfendiyar, who had been stripped of many territories by Sultan Murad, was half-skeptical.
"At least when facing these Christians, Nizamettin Pasha swore to us by the Quran that there would be no actions contrary to the faith," the Emir truthfully relayed the Ottoman Grand Vizier's oath.
"I hope they keep their word." The old Bey reserved judgment on these Turkic compatriots, who had been immersed in the Balkans for so long. The Ottoman needed to be guarded against, and the Bosphorus also needed to be guarded against; only then could they be considered secure.
"It's better to trust the Sultan," the Emir smiled, warning the elder. Among the implicit demands Murad II had made when elevating him from Hasimir Bey to Janik Bey, besides guarding the Black Sea border and being vigilant against the various states in the Black Sea region, another major requirement was to secretly monitor the Kandar Beylik to prevent it from escaping Edirne's control.
"Let's not talk about that," Isfendiyar chuckled, shifting the topic from the Ottoman to the impending war. "Let's get back to the main point. How are your preparations for the campaign against Pontus, my lord?"
"No need to worry," the Emir's face beamed with confident smiles when discussing this, even his dark gray beard quivered. "I have already sent several groups of local tribes to investigate their true situation through various small-scale conflicts. If all goes as expected, they will soon ascertain the Bosphorus's border defenses, allowing us to gain an intelligence advantage in advance."
"Is it reliable to entrust such important matters to those fickle Turkic tribes?" Isfendiyar Bey's brow furrowed slightly.
"Though they are all lowly commoners without the spirit of Oghuz, it is precisely for this reason that they are useful. To die for our cause is a great honor for their base bones." Towards these cannon fodder tribesmen, the Emir's attitude was as disdainful as that of his liege in Edirne.
At this point, a trusted Vizier under the Emir cautiously approached and whispered that a new border report was ready to be submitted to the Bey.
"See, what did I tell you?" To demonstrate his capability before his ally and object of surveillance, the Emir ordered his Vizier to loudly read out the main intelligence to everyone present at the meeting.
But as the contents of the report were gradually read out, the Emir's face grew increasingly grim. By the time the Vizier, with a look of fear, finished reading it, his Bey, with a dark expression, had him led away, completely forgetting that he himself had ordered the report to be read aloud in court.
Watching Murad's loyal dog, who had previously feigned strategic brilliance, now completely broken, Isfendiyar inwardly laughed uncontrollably.
But in a diplomatic setting, he still very politely offered a slight smile and asked the other party, "My lord, is that report true?"
"Yes, it is," the Emir, though still wearing a slightly stiff smile, spoke through gritted teeth. "Allah be praised, what reaches us is nothing but the most authentic military intelligence."
"Which means," the old Bey's gaze sharpened, "that the nomads you entrusted truly suffered setbacks in these conflicts, and even many were captured and leaked information?"
"Yes," the Emir nodded dejectedly.
"Then there is only one path left," after years of outwitting the Ottoman and ultimately returning to square one, the aged Bey had learned many lessons. "Declare war as soon as possible. If we wait for the Christians to prepare their defenses, our chances will be slim. If we act now, we can actually win. After all, we are the earliest country to prepare for this war."
To this, the Emir attempted to refute, but ultimately swallowed his words and solemnly affirmed the other party's proposal, "Then I will prepare to contact that Komnenos boy?"
Isfendiyar Bey, with utmost gravity, expressed his agreement. Thus, the second medium-to-large-scale conflict in northern Asia Minor slowly began.
Less than a week later, in late March 1434, the Janik Beylik and the Kandar Beylik, along with the exiled Komnenos remnants, launched a surprise attack on Giresun, a key border town under Bosphorus control. Caesar Manuel's second major challenge in Asia Minor thus unfolded in an unforeseen manner.
Many years later, in the city of Constantinople—
"War has begun again. The difference is that, looking back from that future, which is now, although it cannot compare to Varna and Adrianople, the impact of this war on the Roman Empire is still far more profound than we realize." An old man sat in his manor, writing these words on paper as a preface. Once the prologue was complete, the septuagenarian gently caressed his work, chuckling, "Let's call it 'The Anatolian War History'."