"Alright, now let's properly discuss how to deal with this army of ten thousand men." Manuel put away the various smiles that had just surprised the new military commanders, replacing them with a serious expression. "I will submit any reasonable plan discussed here to my father immediately, so that he can…"
Before he could finish, there was a knock at the door. After confirming it was the knock of his trusted guard, Manuel silenced the generals and waved his hand, saying, "Come in."
The guard who entered, after saluting, reported in a very fast voice: "Reporting, Your Highness, a person claiming to be the attendant of Commander Patniko requests an audience, saying there is an urgent matter that needs to be conveyed to Your Highness immediately."
"Hmm?" Manuel and his subordinates were all puzzled. At such a critical juncture, what could be so urgent? Thinking this, he, greatly bewildered, instructed the guard to confirm the person's identity before inviting him in. During this time, he joked to his subordinates: "What could it be? Probably my father wants to summon me to Mangup to question me about something. It can't be that he ran away and left this mess to me, could it? If that really happened, it would be too unbelievable."
Just as they were joking about the Principality, the person, who had been confirmed as Patniko's attendant, entered. Facing the Crown Prince, who seemed to be discussing military affairs, the attendant quickly took out a secret letter he was carrying and said, "General Patniko's message is all in this letter. Please make a decision quickly, Your Highness."
"Huh?" What could be so urgent? Even if the Tatars had invaded the border first, Manuel should have known about it first, right? Manuel, utterly confused, tore open the envelope and began to decipher the secret letter using a code.
As Manuel read, his pupils gradually constricted, and words like "Ah?", "Huh?", "Holy Mother above!", and "Are you kidding me?" kept popping out of his mouth. After repeated confirmation, Manuel felt his brain trembling, and his worldview was about to shatter. "What is my cheap old man doing? Following the historical timeline at a time like this? My f***ing god, you f***ing…!" he roared in disbelief internally.
The secret letter contained many sentences, but the content was simple and explosive. The gist was that late last night, Alexius, the Prince of Theodoro Principality, who was Manuel's cheap old man, took his wife, who was Manuel's mother, and the couple, with their luggage and attendants, departed Mangup under the cover of night from a Venetian galley they had hired long ago, fleeing to his in-laws in Trabzon! He only left a farewell letter, leaving all military and political affairs to his two sons, and incidentally advised Manuel not to stubbornly resist if he couldn't win, but to seek refuge in Trabzon as soon as possible. ①
"I'm f***ing…" Manuel felt like he was about to spit out a mouthful of old blood. "Why does what I don't want always happen? Why am I so unlucky? No?!" Manuel suddenly noticed something. "Then why is it that no one in Mangup has called me to take charge until now, this afternoon? Could someone be conspiring against me, taking advantage of this opportunity? This is bad!" Thinking this, he immediately became vigilant, quickly called the main commanders of the new army, told them to prepare horses, and to bring two thousand soldiers to accompany him to Mangup.
"What is the Dark Department doing? Why am I only finding out about this now?" Manuel turned and questioned Badars before departing.
"Your Highness, this matter only happened late last night, and it takes time for the Dark Department to transmit information. Moreover, didn't Your Highness say a while ago that we should focus on foreign affairs and not monitor domestic affairs so closely? So…" Badars explained with an innocent expression.
"I… fine, fine… really." Manuel shook his head frantically.
As for why he didn't overly doubt the authenticity of the secret letter's content, firstly, he had a good personal relationship with Patniko; when he was young, Patniko taught him martial arts. Secondly, because he had led the Principality to achieve remarkable results against Genoa, Patniko also highly approved of him. Thirdly, for some reason, Alexius had intentionally indulged him.
On the way to Mangup, Manuel was already secretly lamenting in his heart, "A thousand years ago, the Roman tradition was elite armored holy cavalry and Imperial Guard; several hundred years ago, the Roman tradition was diplomacy and strategy that resounded throughout Europe; now, the Roman tradition is ceaseless civil war and internal strife. What is all this?!"
By nightfall, Manuel and his troops finally arrived at Mangup City. Below the city, he had his subordinates call the city guards, telling them to open the city gates and let him in. As luck would have it, the city guards were generally under Patniko's jurisdiction, and Patniko had secretly worked on the city officers at noon that day, instructing them to open the city gates for the Crown Prince upon confirming Manuel's arrival. Therefore, Manuel and his party entered the city secretly and without incident.
Mangup City at night was quiet and peaceful, causing the few conspirators to relax. Most of them even thought they had successfully completed their grand scheme of deception and planned to gather tomorrow to invite the Principality's young prince to a celebration feast.
Unfortunately, their delusion would be shattered tonight.
After entering the city and settling his men under Patniko's guidance, Manuel took his trusted guards and followed Patniko to the Mangup Palace. He gathered several people in the city who leaned towards him, summoned his brother Isaac and all the important officials remaining in the Principality, and, under the pretext of discussing upcoming military actions, held a Principality-like Imperial Council late that night. At the meeting, facing the dumbfounded or overjoyed officials, he merely smiled softly and said, "Alright, gentlemen, since Father is not here, please allow me, as the Crown Prince of the Principality, to act on his behalf in military and political affairs and lead this war. I know some of you may have some dissent, but as the scripture from the Gospel implies: 'Do not follow the path of the faithless.' "