Posadas's proposal was too radical, causing Manuel and everyone at the banquet to tacitly ignore him. However, his words did, to some extent, awaken Manuel, making him temporarily lose the mood to continue enjoying the banquet.
After casually drinking a few glasses of wine, Manuel announced the end of the banquet an hour later and returned to his palace to rest.
Upon returning to the palace, he began to ponder how to solve the ethno-religious problem in Northern Crimea.
As he pondered, feeling weary, he unconsciously fell asleep with his head resting on his wife's soft arm.
The next day, after a morning of intimacy with his beloved wife, Manuel went to the palace to handle daily affairs. Of course, the main priority was still to consider how to govern the Northern Crimea region.
After attempting to write several preliminary plans, he was surprised to find that implementing the Principality's policies in Northern Crimea could not bypass Bakhchysarai, the capital of Crimea, which was not yet in his hands.
Understanding this, he set aside the planned schemes for governing Northern Crimea. "Before taking Bakhchysarai, let's continue with military supervision in Northern Crimea," he shook his head, then ordered someone to bring him information and battle reports about Bakhchysarai, while also beginning to consider how to securely capture Bakhchysarai.
After receiving a large stack of documents and battle reports from his attendant, Manuel began to read through them, carefully considering countermeasures.
It wasn't until the afternoon, after he had a slight idea of what to do, that he finally got up, used a pen to gesture on the map, and murmured, "According to reliable sources, Bakhchysarai is a large city with nearly fifty thousand inhabitants.
Such a large scale is perhaps a bit too urbanized for Tatars, who are nomads.
"It's truly troublesome. Northern Crimea has over a hundred thousand people, and tens of thousands are in Bakhchysarai alone. If I don't control the tens of thousands of Tatars currently in Bakhchysarai, the future governance of Northern Crimea will be like a castle in the air.
Although early governance is possible, if this city, which still belongs to the Crimean Khanate, is left alone, it might give some fellows ideas of having different dreams in the same bed, and I still prefer to use cooperation, which also requires the Tatar nobility currently in Bakhchysarai.
Besides, it is still the capital of the Crimean Khanate; I believe Haji Giray's expression will be quite a surprise when he learns his old home is gone.
"Speaking of which, Tatar rule is quite effective; at least, to my surprise, the small Northern Crimea region managed to support three medium-to-large cities with populations over 10,000.
Although it benefited from the slave trade, it has already far surpassed their operations on the mainland."
Muttering to himself, Manuel recalled all the Northern Crimea Tatar towns he had taken so far, and his plan for capturing Bakhchysarai became clearer.
After spending roughly a night drafting several siege plans alone, Manuel, after careful consideration, finally convened the Principality's generals and key officials the following afternoon to discuss how to deal with Bakhchysarai—or rather, how to capture Bakhchysarai.
Regarding Bakhchysarai, the generals all understood the importance of taking the city, and therefore unanimously approved and supported Manuel's decision.
After confirming the attitude of his subordinate generals, Manuel, quite satisfied, did not delay and immediately discussed siege strategies with them.
"First, I need to clarify a few points: one, Bakhchysarai is still the capital of the Crimean Khanate; two, this large city has been under our siege for several months, and Crimean defenders have already defected to our side; three, according to battle reports from the besieging soldiers, we have already captured the city's outskirts, and the enemy is now only entrenched in the urban area.
In other words, the population they control should now be less than ten thousand." Manuel detailed these military intelligence points.
"So, Your Highness means that if we continue to besiege without attacking, Bakhchysarai will fall on its own?" Aidian speculated.
"You're half right, but you haven't stated the more important other half," Manuel reminded with a smile.
"The more important other half means: we can start preparing to launch a general assault; the time is ripe now, and Bakhchysarai cannot stop our advance," Tukharovsky pondered, stroking his chin.
"Precisely, General Tukharovsky is very right. Bakhchysarai is now like a ripe nut without its shell, or a beautiful maiden with tattered clothes and no help.
As long as we pay an appropriate price and take this city at the right time, it will bring immense benefits to us, and even to the progress of this war."
"In that case, Your Highness, let's launch the attack now…" Staurakios Posadas said impatiently.
"Don't be so hasty," Manuel quickly stopped him, lest he utter some extreme remarks about mass slaughter, "The siege plan hasn't been finalized yet."
Over the next few hours, they discussed the siege plan in detail in the room, including the deployment and arrangement of siege forces, even details such as the timing and location of the attack, and the latest time to enter the city.
By noon, a detailed siege plan was almost ready.
According to the final siege plan, the Principality would officially launch the assault in late October, with Bakhchysarai to be taken by the end of this year at the latest.
"The day we take Bakhchysarai should ideally be before Christmas, so the Principality can celebrate Christmas in peace," Manuel instructed.
As for the deployment of siege forces, to show its importance, they ultimately agreed on five thousand soldiers, which included a considerable number of firearm units to improve siege efficiency.
As for cavalry, Manuel did not intend to deploy too many, only a few small squads, because he planned to use the cavalry for a planned operation next year.
How to deal with the city after it was breached led to a heated debate.
Posadas, for example, believed that the soldiers should be allowed to plunder for three days and three nights.
"Your Highness, to deter cities that refused to surrender, the Ottomans massacred people in Thessaloniki for three days, causing four to five tens of thousands of casualties.
To stabilize Northern Crimea, we should also have such resolve."
Manuel inwardly found this too horrifying. "Let's minimize such resolve whenever possible."
There were also many who opposed such acts of slaughter.
"Your Highness, in my humble opinion, if we want to maintain a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere in Northern Crimea, massacres should be as few as possible," Tukharovsky cautiously advised.
Manuel found this suggestion quite agreeable. "General Tukharovsky is very right.
Then it is decided; after the city is breached, there shall be no acts of massacre." He finally decided.