Manuel's current tactical training differs from traditional military tactics: the legions do not merely rely on individual bravery like the Latin knights in Western Europe, but maintain strict order. To achieve this, Manuel once painfully executed seven undisciplined soldiers.
At the same time, the Filaka, while ensuring mastery of the most basic weapons, have strict divisions of labor: 50 heavy infantrymen, who can also serve as heavy cavalry when necessary by riding fully armored warhorses; 100 light cavalrymen, who become horse archers with a sturdy composite bow on their backs, or lancers with a lance. If firearms are perfected and they are properly trained, they could even serve as firearm cavalry. The remaining 100 infantrymen, though mostly used as ordinary light infantry, can also act as excellent crossbowmen if armed with crossbows, and in emergencies, they can ride warhorses as emergency light cavalry, for instance, when fleeing (not really). Manuel trains the Filaka to respond to various situations.
It looks very strict and orderly, doesn't it? But Manuel knows that the Filaka still have significant problems. If experienced military officers were to evaluate the Filaka legion, they would undoubtedly point out numerous issues, such as the legion's small size and soldiers holding multiple positions.
Even Theodosius Patniko, the Army Commander for Alexius and Theodoro, once considered expanding the legion to a thousand men, but due to Theodoro's weak finances, this proposal was ultimately personally vetoed by His Highness the Prince. After all, maintaining such a battle-hardened, full-time standing army, even with just 250 active soldiers, was already very expensive.
After about three hours of training, the sky began to darken, the legion disbanded, and Manuel rode back to his mansion for dinner.
On the way back, Manuel fantasized about his future plans, because ever since he arrived in this era, he has harbored a grand, even unrealistic, ideal: to drive out the Genoese and capture Kaffa before the Crimean Khanate breaks away from the Golden Horde, then seize the opportunity to move north, conquer the Crimean Khanate, occupy the entire peninsula, and use it as a base to advance into Asia Minor, finally being crowned Basileus in Constantinople.
However, looking at the current situation...
Now, it's fantasy time.
As he fantasized about taking Chios, he arrived at the mansion gate, and Manuel stopped his daydreaming. He dismounted, let a servant lead his horse to the stables, and went inside to dine with his family.
After the dinner prayer, the Theodoro princely family began to chat casually while eating. When the conversation turned to the simple Gothic dictionary Manuel had compiled, his mother, Zoe of the Trabzon Komnenos royal family, was very proud of her eldest son's scholarship. Manuel, flattered by the praise, became a bit carried away, even saying he planned to write a chronicle of Theodoro. Isaac Gavras, only ten years old, also started to compete, declaring that he would become the most respected knight in the Black Sea region, which made the youngest, Maria Gavras, laugh a bit ungracefully.
After the meal was finished, facing his still enthusiastically chatting family, Alexius suddenly became serious and said, "I have some important things to discuss."
The previously boisterous Gavras Family members instantly quieted down, listening intently to their patriarch's upcoming announcement.
"Firstly, I have come to an agreement with the Basileus of Trabzon. His heir, David Komnenos, needs to marry a Roman noblewoman, and we in Theodoro also need support from across the Black Sea. Therefore, Maria, I intend for you to go."
Maria Gavras nodded, indicating no objection. Only Isaac jokingly said, "How many generations have the Gavras been intermarrying with the Komnenos? I think we should just change our surname to Komnenos." However, Alexius and Manuel ignored him, and only Zoe disapprovingly gestured for him to be quiet.
"Secondly, Manuel, you are already fifteen years old, and it is time for you to find a virtuous wife of appropriate status." Saying this, Alexius smiled at his eldest son.
A wife? To be honest, after so many years here, he had never seriously considered this question, so he asked somewhat cautiously, "Another Komnenos?"
"No," Alexius said with a proud smile, "not a Komnenos, but a girl from the legitimate Palaiologos family of Constantinople. She is Maria Palaiologos, the youngest daughter of the previous Basileus, Manuel II!"
Manuel accepted in astonishment, or rather, he was stunned into disbelief. But his younger brother Isaac was very displeased, because according to old custom, the highest-ranking woman he could marry in the future would at most be from the Komnenos across the sea. However, his displeasure was quickly suppressed by Alexius: "Manuel is the heir to the Principality, and he is exceptionally learned and brave. This is what he deserves." Zoe, who had already known about this, also reasoned with Isaac and moved him with emotion, which barely managed to quell Isaac's complaints.
After his family had calmed down, Alexius nervously tapped the table and said, "There is one more thing. In the next few days, the scheduled military exercise, after serious discussion with several key ministers, I intend to cancel. I have received information from Venice that there is some movement on the Genoa side, and I think we need to treat it cautiously."
This time the whole family finally agreed unanimously, because Genoa was indeed Theodoro's most dangerous enemy at this stage.
After 1204, the Italian commercial Republics began their infiltration of the northern Black Sea coast. After years of struggle, Genoa successfully established dominance in the northern Black Sea, and Theodoro suffered greatly from it. The Genoese had repeatedly shown their ambition to drive these Romans into the mountains. If not for Alexius's strong hand, who began reclaiming lost coastal areas in 1411 and forced Genoa to pay ten years of war reparations, such a dire situation might indeed have occurred. Even now, though the two sides have nominally ceased hostilities, small-scale conflicts continue.
However, ironically, in official history, neither could drive the other out of the Black Sea. After the fall of Trabzon, the two nations even cooperated to resist the threat of the Tatars and the Ottomans. Yet, by 1475, under the iron fist of Ottoman sanction, one was annihilated by the Ottomans like a squashed bug, and the other completely lost all its assets in the Black Sea after 1204 and declined. One might say this was a kind of fate.
But in the present of this timeline, Theodoro and Genoa are still filled with an atmosphere of tension.
At this point, Alexius paused and beckoned to Manuel, saying, "Manuel, my child, it is also time for you to handle some affairs and gain experience. Go and meet those important officials."
The subtext of this statement was that Alexius, as the patriarch, was informally establishing Manuel as the heir within the Gavras Family.
Manuel nodded, rose, and bid farewell to his mother and younger siblings, then followed his father, turning to leave for another palace. Although 'palace' might be too grand a word; 'another mansion' would be more fitting. Behind him, young Isaac looked at his father and elder brother with envy.
Upon arriving at the palace, Manuel was surprised to find that the Principality's dignitaries had already gathered there. Not only were there Army Commander Theodosius Patniko, Chief Secretary Andres Raus, Naval Admiral Maurice Doria, and Treasurer Michael Pennycook, but even Orophin, the Patriarch of Cherson, was present.
"It seems that what is to be discussed next will largely determine Theodoro's future," Manuel felt a premonition at this moment that this would be his first step onto the stage of history.
Note: ① In official history, Alexius's wife is unknown. Here, to establish the protagonist's claim, the protagonist's mother is set as a member of the Trabzon Komnenos royal family.
② In official history, the one who married Maria Palaiologos was not Manuel Gavras, but his elder brother, John Gavras. This design is intended to reduce the protagonist's efforts in internal struggles and succession, and also to build future claims. Given this, it is designed that Alexius's first child in this book is not male, to ensure Manuel is the eldest son. As for the current situation of Manuel's sister, it will be mentioned at an appropriate place later.