After much thought, Manuel finally decided to formulate a plan to quickly force the Janik Beylik and the Kandar Beylik to withdraw from the war.
After all, instead of worrying that the Janissaries' participation in the war would draw the attention of the Sultan in Edirne, it would be better to quickly force these two to abandon their opposition to him, swiftly resolve these trivial matters, and avoid truly provoking the iron fist from the Ottoman.
Having understood this, he rose from his seat, allowing Badars, who had been standing by, to follow him as always.
Next, he was going to hold another military meeting.
That afternoon, all the generals and commanders of the Bosporus Army were summoned by their monarch, Manuel.
This time, their Caesar's expression was extremely solemn, as if the tactical plan to be formulated in this meeting could determine the fate of the entire Autocratic State.
"My Lord, His Majesty's expression," Dungar de Lapole, who did not know his monarch well enough, communicated with his colleague in slight surprise, "seems quite rare, doesn't it?"
"Hmm..." Kristo Balin frowned slightly, stroked his beard, and mused, "Ah, this, it does seem so?"
Just as Dungar was about to continue talking with his Tatar colleague, Manuel, sitting in the main seat, cleared his throat a few times, drawing the attention of all the generals back to him.
"The Holy Father above.
Gentlemen..." Starting with this simple sentence, and after gathering the attention of his subordinates, Caesar Manuel briefly summarized the enemy they had almost encountered and its origin, and then poured out all the intelligence they were not yet aware of at this meeting, "According to the conclusive intelligence submitted by the intelligence department, the Janissary unit fighting against us this time is the Black Sea Janissary Corps of the Ottoman Sultanate, with a size of one of their units, which is 750 elite Janissaries and over 3,000 auxiliary soldiers of other types."
"By the way, the Ottoman's Black Sea Janissary Corps is the smallest of all the Janissaries under their command," Manuel added.
"The Ottoman Sultan also formed a Black Sea Army?"
"Yet, apart from Optimaton and Bolu, the Ottoman have no Black Sea coastal areas at all," Dungar mumbled below.
However, the Bosphorus Caesar in the main seat seemed not to have heard his subordinates' whispers, and after sharing these important pieces of intelligence, he continued to say with a ringing voice: "So, looking at the current situation, as long as the Ottoman Sultan does not intend to intervene, we are not without a chance."
Meanwhile, as Bosporus was strategizing to crush this Janissary force, Suleiman Karamanoglu, who had been in exile for many years, finally set foot on land again from a convoy disguised as merchant ships—specifically, the port city of Mersin in the Ramadanids Beylik.
After landing, before he could express a few sentiments, Suleiman discovered that the welcoming party sent by Ramadanids had been waiting for a long time, and his loyal servant, Rutaoglu, was also standing among them, looking at his master with eager and hopeful eyes, hoping that he could, like the protagonists of those stories, majestically reclaim the throne that rightfully belonged to him.
However, Suleiman's attention was not yet focused on returning to his country and regaining his position.
At this moment, he carefully observed the welcoming party sent by Ramadanids and nodded in approval in his heart.
No other reason than that Ramadanids Bey Muhammad had indeed made sufficient efforts to conceal this welcoming party, making it look like an ordinary merchant caravan, thereby avoiding the suspicion of various intelligence scouts.
Even so, Suleiman still cautiously hinted that it would be best for this group to leave the port as soon as possible, as, after all, this place was crowded and had many eyes; if they lingered here for too long, they might be noticed by foreign spies lurking there.
The Turkmen nobleman sent by Ramadanids Bey also understood his concerns.
Soon, in less than half an hour, Suleiman and his group were quickly escorted by the welcoming party to a pre-arranged guesthouse.
And in the eyes of others, this was just another ordinary exchange between merchants.
But for Suleiman, this day would be the true starting point of his great endeavor to regain his position.
Because when he arrived at the residence Ramadanids had prepared for him in advance, this Karaman Bey was astonished to find that a Turk monarch, splendidly dressed, eye-catching, and nearing old age, had already been sitting in the room, waiting for him for a long time.
Although it was their first meeting, Suleiman recognized the person opposite him at a glance: Ramadanids Bey Mehmed I.
"A pleasure to meet you, Sir Suleiman.
May Allah protect you," Bey Muhammad said with a broad smile, making it impossible for the young Turk Bey opposite him to discern his true intentions.
"A pleasure to meet you, Your Highness Muhammad.
May Allah also protect you."
Although this was Suleiman's first meeting with a monarch other than Manuel, the young Karaman Turk Bey behaved very appropriately, humbly but not subserviently.
This excellent performance made Muhammad appreciate his sponsored person even more, "I hope what General Jaqmaq said will surely come true," the aging Bey thought to himself.
At this moment, in the Hamid region, quite far from Mersin, Karaman Bey Ibrahim II was leading his army, moving nimbly up and down the local area, making life difficult for the Ottoman.
But he did not yet know that a crisis in his rear was about to erupt, which would in turn make him restless.
And as Suleiman finally arrived in southwestern Anatolia after a long absence, preparing to take the first step in his war to regain his position, the meeting in Bosporus finally yielded results.
After explaining the situation and allowing for several discussions, the framework of the plan, which had been somewhat vague in Manuel's mind, finally took full shape:
"So, in summary," as he explained the final plan, his generals and commanders all gathered around, listening with solemn expressions to their monarch's instructions, "...at that time, first feign a retreat of several stadia along the coastline to the border area...
During this period, hold the mountains and forests, and then Tukharovsky, Dungar, remember to shift your forces to... Finally, there will be the counterattack in the... area..."
Meanwhile, Bosporus's opponents were completely unaware of the battle they would face a few days later—
"Filakas, is it?"
At this moment, Özil Pasha was scrutinizing the intelligence documents on the Bosporus Army provided by Janik and Kandar.
As he read, a mocking smile appeared on his face,
"It feels... inferior to the Janissaries."