"Ah?" It was the Emir's turn to be at a loss. He remembered that Isfendiyar's attitude was completely different just two months ago. "Have you informed the Sultan?"
"Yes," Isfendiyar put away his intimidating smile. "At the beginning of the month, I sent someone to Edirne to report the current situation. The Sultan should have a general idea by now."
"This," the Emir felt quite incredulous. "Allah, didn't you really dislike communicating with Edirne? And given the Sultan's usual way of doing things, he wouldn't easily let go of someone like you, who has a history of rebellion, would he?"
In response, Kandar Bey's smile, which he had finally reined in, became unrestrained again. "Your Excellency, the Emir, have you forgotten who was the mastermind behind involving the Black Sea Coastal Legion in this war? And, my daughter is currently the Sultana of the Ottoman," As he spoke, the old Bey's beard trembled violently with his laughter. "That means, no matter what, I am the Sultan's father-in-law. Can a father-in-law be treated the same as a dog?"
The Emir, standing opposite him, listened to these words and became completely petrified, not moving an inch. Seeing his colleague in such a state, Isfendiyar deliberately twisted the knife further. "You know, it was you, Your Excellency, who used personal connections to put the Black Sea Coastal Legion in harm's way, wasn't it?"
Upon hearing this, the Emir fell completely silent. After a long while, he softly asked his last question, "So why did Your Excellency not agree to the peace talks requested by those Romans on the other side?"
"It's simple, I miscalculated once, I cannot miscalculate a second time." Isfendiyar merely replied with this cryptic statement and said no more.
Finally, the Emir, unable to find more information, quietly left the palace and returned to his residence in a daze, beginning to ponder how to deal with his liege, Murad II, who was very likely to hold him accountable.
After Janik Bey left, Isfendiyar's eldest son, Taceddin Ibrahim, curiously asked his father, "Father, what did you mean by 'miscalculation' just now?"
Isfendiyar sighed, "You must not let anyone else know this. That 'miscalculation' refers to my failure to anticipate that the Ottoman Sultanate would recover its strength in less than 15 years after the Battle of Ankara." At this point, the old Bey gritted his teeth, "I originally thought that the House of Osman would be completely devastated after such a great defeat and several years of civil war, just like other dynasties, both of the same and different faiths, in the past. I never expected that just a few years after Mehmed I ended the civil war, his son Murad II would directly restore the power of Bayezid's era.
"Now it seems, all of this had signs, but I unconsciously ignored them at the time. This time, we cannot allow another power, with growth potential similar to the Ottoman, to grow strong beside us! As long as we can stifle these Romans from the north of the Black Sea, even if it means letting the Ottomans tighten the noose around our necks, it doesn't matter. A slow death is better than a sudden demise."
While Isfendiyar was eloquently addressing his confidants, including his son and protégés, Ottoman Sultan Murad II was on the terrace in Edirne, troubled by three letters sent from Asia Minor.
The first letter was about his arrogant son-in-law, Karaman Bey Ibrahim II. According to the letter, his scoundrel son-in-law had completely captured the Hamid region, not only annihilating a unit of the Germiyan Janissaries stationed there but also repelling the Ankara Janissaries who went to support them. Fortunately, Arnavutlu Iskender Pasha, who commanded the Ankara Legion, led his troops well, preventing the Ankara Legion's losses from exceeding three digits.
The second letter concerned Serbian affairs. Since George Branković paid tribute in 1428, the Serbian Despotate had become a nominal vassal of the Ottoman. However, at the same time, the Branković Family was also supported by the King of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Luxembourg Dynasty, who was also Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor. In fact, in earlier years, the Branković Family was to some extent his vassal, which made Murad II feel uneasy. Especially since this letter also mentioned that Branković had been quite restless recently, attempting to use coercion and inducement to bring border nobles who had defected to the Ottoman two years ago back under Serbian rule, in order to reclaim the fortresses occupied by the Ottomans. For this, these Serbians had even secretly contacted Sigismund. Upon learning of this, Murad felt somewhat relieved: now he had sufficient reason to expand the Sultanate's rule to Serbia, just like his grandfather, "Lightning" Bayezid I.
The third letter was from his father-in-law, Kandar Bey Isfendiyar, reporting on the ongoing battles along the Black Sea. The content, as Isfendiyar had mentioned earlier, detailed the war between Kandar and Janik, as Ottoman vassals, and Bosporus. Isfendiyar deliberately concealed his own demands for Pontus's rights and exaggerated the Emir's hunger for Pontus's land. Most importantly, the old Bey vividly described in the letter how the Black Sea Coastal Legion was persuaded by Janik Bey's personal connections to intervene in this battle, resulting in its complete annihilation, even though Isfendiyar himself was completely holed up in Sinop at the time, only sending a few thousand men to defend.
To be honest, Murad never expected that his treacherous father-in-law would be the first to report these matters to him. But after reading the letter, he quickly understood the old Bey's intention. "Is Isfendiyar Bey trying to drag me into this and also cause trouble for the Janik people?" Murad stroked his chin thoughtfully. "However, it's true that a unit of Janissaries was annihilated, and infidels are rising. I cannot ignore these matters. Indeed, the elders are still more astute in this regard than the young ones.
"And is this year the unlucky year for the Janissaries?! How is it that two entire units of Janissaries have been completely wiped out?" Thinking of this, Murad's brows furrowed deeply, and he couldn't stop shaking his head.
As Murad pondered which problem he should solve first, Bosporus soldiers, who had just captured Bafra, a strategically important town guarding Sinop, unearthed some rather important confidential documents from the Kandar administrative office. After sending them to the intelligence department for analysis, Badars reported to his monarch with a solemn expression: "Your Majesty, these documents are recent military and political archives of the Kandar army. There are even personal letters written by Kandar Bey Isfendiyar for his generals. One piece of information is very important, please allow me to report it to Your Majesty first."
"Speak," Since his chief of intelligence and Commander of the Guard said so, Manuel felt it necessary to listen carefully.
"The letters contain mostly words of encouragement, but many passages mention that the Bey has been in contact with a superior abbreviated as 'ﻭ/ﭖ'." At this, Badars respectfully handed the letter with these two letters to his monarch.
"This string of letters, it's a bit... huh?" Manuel, who was not unfamiliar with Anatolian Turkic, felt at a loss for words.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Badars said, "According to the context, they likely correspond to the Latin letters 'O' and 'P'. If our analysis is correct, 'OP' when read together should be the abbreviation for 'Ottoman Empire' in Latin, which is the Turk's self-proclaimed د و ل ت/ع ل ی ه/ع ث م ا ن ی ه."
"But I remember the Ottoman was still just a Sultanate, wasn't it?!"