Just as Constantine was silently wishing his Brother-in-law well in the Black Sea, Thomas brought up a somewhat troublesome matter: "Brother, the Peloponnese situation isn't over yet. According to Catherine and Centurione himself, Centurione also has an illegitimate son named Asen. Although my father-in-law doesn't acknowledge this fellow's right of inheritance, I don't think such a person will willingly submit. Furthermore, the Latins in the Peloponnese are inherently ambitious, and they might very well cooperate to cause us considerable trouble."
Constantine came back to his senses and pondered carefully, "Indeed, we need to deal with this properly now."
However, the matters here were temporarily unrelated to Crimea. Two months later, in mid-August, the news of the Principality of Achaea's demise reached the Crimean Peninsula—
"The Peloponnese was unified under the Roman eagle banner in 1430, just like in my previous life's timeline." In the council hall of Akmechet, Manuel muttered this with a sigh while perusing the message.
"If it weren't for the urgent war, I'd really want to run to Morea and cheer on my brothers-in-law." Manuel regretfully put down the message from Morea, then picked up several reports on war preparations. "According to the items finally discussed at the military meeting that day, a conscription act has now been enacted throughout the Principality. At the same time, efforts have been made to cut off communication between the Tatars within the Peninsula and the outside world, especially with the mainland of the Crimean Khanate. More of the Principality's informants have been embedded in Crimea, and a large sum of money and manpower have been spent on building defensive fortifications at the Tatar Isthmus."
Thinking of this, Manuel clutched his chest in distress. To cope with the Crimean Khanate's large-scale counterattack, he had not only signed a decree placing the entire Principality under emergency status but also borrowed money from Venice and the Jewish. "Wow, how do these profiteers run their banks? The interest rates are too high! One day, I will establish a banking system that only I can control."
"No, no, I must restrain myself. It's just money, just money, money, money, money… Wow, my money, my ducats! My florins! My Genovino gold coins!" Although he tried to restrain himself, he ultimately couldn't help but bang his head on the table.
"Manuel, good news, the Venetians… Hey, what are you doing!" Barbara rushed in, excited and hurried, only to see her husband seemingly having a sudden fit, muttering "money, money, money" and repeatedly banging his head on the table.
"It's nothing, Barbara, you've seen an embarrassing side of me." Upon realizing his wife had entered, Manuel immediately straightened up, his words serious, and he appeared completely normal again, except for a slight red mark on his forehead. "What about the Venetians? Tell me quickly." He tried to change the subject without batting an eyelid.
"The result of our last conversation is out. The Venetians have decided to lower our loan interest, which means all the loans we borrowed from them are now low-interest loans."
"Good! We can take out a few more loans!"
"Ah? Weren't you just muttering about money, money, money?!" Barbara was astonished. How could her husband change his mind faster than turning a page?
"As long as it's not usury, if we can win this war, I'm confident I can repay the money," Manuel said with a smile.
"But all the money we borrowed from the Jewish is usury, and these descendants of Judah definitely won't lower their interest," Barbara worried.
"I have my ways," Manuel said with a mysterious smile.
"Huh?" Barbara looked bewildered.
Just as Manuel was about to hint at something to her, several of his generals responsible for arranging the Isthmus defense line came to request an audience, forcing him to vaguely placate his wife and send her away, then summon them to hear their report.
"Your Highness, the basic defense line has been set up, and the areas outside the Isthmus have also been scorched-earthed," Tukharovsky respectfully informed him.
"Are the trenches, moats, earthworks, fortresses, watchtowers, caltrops, and inner and outer fortifications all in place? Have light cavalry been sent to scorch the earth from Henichesk to Cherson?" Manuel stood up and asked.
"Yes, Your Highness, but we are still too rushed. I'm worried…" Vladimir said anxiously.
"That's true. If it weren't for the Tatars' decent foundation built there previously, these fortifications of ours would essentially be nothing more than floating duckweed," Manuel rose and paced around the room. "But fortunately, the foundation laid by the Tatars in the Isthmus area is indeed solid, allowing these temporary fortifications we've made to be put into use so early.
"Oh, by the way, Lord Suleiman, thank you very much for doing so much for us in this war." Manuel smiled politely at Suleiman.
The "Suleiman" he referred to was, of course, Suleiman Karamanoglu. Shortly after capturing the Tatar Isthmus, Manuel sent people to work on his ideology, attempting to learn his identity and, incidentally, fully bring him over. After seeing hope for restoration and weighing the pros and cons, Suleiman decided to fully side with Theodoro in this war. "Everything for restoration," he held to this idea.
"Hmm, the Crimean Khanate outlawed me first, so what I'm doing doesn't violate religious doctrine," Suleiman said with a smile, while also asking about something he cared deeply about. "By the way, Lord Manuel, I've only vaguely heard that 'caltrops' are a defensive barrier used by the Eastern Dynasty. Not to mention us Turks, even the Tatars in the eastern part of the Golden Horde don't know about them. How do you know their design and how to use them?"
"It's all in books, read more ancient texts," Manuel explained vaguely. "I can't tell him it's knowledge from my previous life, no one would believe that," he thought.
"By the way, there shouldn't be any problems in Phanagoria, right?" Thinking of this, Manuel became a little wary.
"No, Your Highness, according to Little Prince Isaac's latest report, the Crimean Khanate has done nothing more than harass us with cavalry," Patniko reported.
Manuel nodded with satisfaction; this was consistent with the intelligence he had received. Incidentally, to train his younger brother and strengthen Manuel's own control over Mangup, he had specifically sent his brother Isaac to Phanagoria to supervise and manage the army.
"In that case, preparations are almost complete. We just need to wait for Haji Giray to arrive, and then we can present him with our Roman grand gift." Manuel's eyes sharpened as he spoke of this.
At the same time, in the Khan's tent in Adamakha, the temporary capital of the Crimean Khanate, the Crimean Khan Haji Giray furiously tore a military report to shreds and threw it into the fire.
"Damn Christian, they were soundly defeated that day, so why are they still sending people to plunder Yedishkul?!" Due to the urgency of the front line, after the battle of Keziyar, Haji Giray had redeployed that unit to the front line with the Golden Horde. However, in these past few months, although Theodoro had abandoned large-scale incursions into the Khanate's mainland territory, he had persistently sent small groups of light cavalry to burn, kill, and plunder in the Yedishkul area. By now, that place could be said to be utterly desolate, even though it wasn't particularly prosperous to begin with.
Fighting on two fronts like this put enormous pressure on him and the Khanate. To alleviate the pressure of fighting on two fronts, after securing the support of the Tatar nobles within the Khanate, he finally decided to temporarily abandon the war with the Golden Horde in September and launch a major offensive against Crimea, to crush Theodoro in one fell swoop.
"I've prepared for so many years, how can I be defeated by a small Christian Principality!" Haji Giray thought to himself before falling asleep that night.