"Manuel, are you serious?" When she returned to Mangup that evening, Barbara did not rush to him for intimacy as usual. Instead, she was dressed neatly, sitting by a chair, and asked him earnestly.
"Barbara, what are you talking about? Oh, it's late today, let's go to bed early, and do what we love to do before bed…" Manuel immediately reacted, but he just laughed, trying to avoid her question.
Barbara sighed, then went straight to the point, "Let me be frank: Theodoro does not have the conditions to implement religious tolerance right now."
Upon hearing this, Manuel had no choice but to put away his joking expression and speak with a serious tone, "Why do you say that?"
Seeing this, Barbara presented her view to him: "The lands north of the peninsula are all newly conquered, and unlike Theodosia and Phanagoria, these regions have been inhabited by various nomadic peoples who resisted the Holy Father's teachings ever since the Goth tribes disappeared in the 8th century. By now, the Crescent Sect Tatars have been settled there for hundreds of years, and have been part of the Golden Horde system for over a century. Their religious beliefs and way of life are different from ours. Now is the time for stability, not tolerance."
"Are you saying we shouldn't practice religious tolerance? But tolerating pagans is not uncommon in the history of us Romans."
"I'm not saying tolerance is bad, but now is simply not the right time for it," Barbara said, staring at him very seriously. "Newly acquired pagan and culturally different lands need suppression, or even martial law. But not just tolerance…"
"I know." Manuel blurted out a muddled reply, but he quickly regretted speaking so impulsively.
"If it's just tolerance, then those Tatar lords are very likely—no, they simply have no genuine intention of becoming our subjects. This policy of indulgence will fundamentally only harm us. We cannot wait until a rebellion breaks out to deal with it; we must act quickly…"
"I won't do such a thing without confidence."
"So what is your confidence? Won't you still have to crush them with an army in the end?"
"I won't let it get to that point!" Manuel's face flushed slightly with argument as he said this.
"Manuel, are you truly confident in peacefully resolving these potential disputes?" At this point, Barbara looked at him with a complex expression.
Manuel opened his mouth as if to explain something, but in the end, he just shook his head and said, "You just need to understand. I'm not the kind of person who only creates problems instead of solving them…"
"Then let me ask a different question." Barbara looked at her husband, who had been reduced to such a state, and sighed sadly. She then asked another question in a gentle tone, "Why do you insist on religious tolerance, even at the risk of a potential large-scale rebellion?"
When asked this, Manuel regained his spirits, recovering from his previous dejected state. He moved directly towards her, speaking with a rather excited tone: "Then let us start from the history of Rome… Oh, no, long story short, Rome could rise from a mere Tiber River city-state. The once arrogant Greeks and the Goths who were their enemies eventually became great Romans. So why shouldn't we try to make the Tatars Romans too?"
"Oh." Barbara's eyes deliberately became vacant, and she intentionally put on an innocent expression as she looked at him.
But Manuel was at this moment immersed in his own fantasy, completely ignoring her expression, "If this collective consensus building can succeed, wouldn't it be extremely beneficial for ruling Bosporus? Barbara, you also… Eh?" Towards the end, he finally noticed her blank expression.
"Barbara, are you listening?"
"Yes, I am." Barbara's expression instantly returned to normal.
"So, what do you really think about my idea?"
"Barbara doesn't know." Barbara's expression became innocent again.
"I'm serious." Manuel felt an urge to just push her down.
"Since that's the case, um, may I ask a few things?" Barbara's expression returned to normal again, and she became cautious.
"Ask away, we are husband and wife, there's nothing that can't be asked."
"Then I'll just ask, do we currently have the conditions to implement such a policy in the Principality? At the very least, economically, religiously, culturally, and institutionally, we should be able to achieve a few things, shouldn't we?"
"…"
"And seriously, can we complete this process in just a dozen years? Moreover, I personally believe that examples like the Gauls, Greeks, and Goths becoming Romans do not apply here, because the prerequisite for them to become Romans was the absence of their own cultural motherland."
"But that's not necessarily true, didn't the Britons in Britain also become Romans even with a motherland in the highlands at that time?"
"But the premise was that the Celtic people in the north were backward tribal groups at that time. Although most Tatars are still nomadic tribes, do you think they are backward enough to be easily assimilated by us?
"And even if we take a step back, assimilation is not done the way you are doing it. Without promoting language, without changing religion, and without altering traditions, is this truly assimilation?"
"I…" Manuel turned his head away. He found that he actually thought she made sense, had he really been taking things for granted all this time? But he had learned from the advanced experiences of his previous homeland, could modern policies really be inferior to those of the Middle Ages?
But these conversations with Barbara finally pulled him back to reality, and he now began to seriously examine the religious measures he had previously implemented.
After a long pause, he managed to force a smile and said, "Things will change. But for now, let's continue with the previous measures; it wouldn't be good to change them overnight." At this point, he suddenly changed the subject, "By the way, Barbara, did you always have such unique insights into political affairs?"
"Of course, after all, I am a princess trained in Constantinople. Such matters are a piece of cake for me." Barbara puffed out her chest with a hint of pride.
She's back to her usual self, Manuel thought. Just a moment ago, she was so serious and earnest.
Just as the couple returned to their usual state, a major battle had just concluded in the Astrakhan region of the Golden Horde.
"Huff, huff, huff…" Tenek Emir, a capable minister under the current Golden Horde Khan, Said Ahmed, was panting as he rode his warhorse, accompanied by dozens of his personal guards, fleeing in disarray towards Sarai.
Why was he fleeing? Naturally, it was because he had just suffered a great defeat. In the major battle that had just erupted, he was careless and underestimated the enemy, leading his large army directly into the enemy's trap. As a result, he was utterly routed, and he himself could only flee back to Sarai in a panic under the cover of a few surviving personal guards.
The great enemy who defeated him was a Tatar prince of considerable strength within the Khanate, namely the previously mentioned Little Muhammad. As one of the descendants of the legitimate Golden Family of the Khanate, he, who had previously holed up in a corner, took a desperate gamble to contend for the Khanate's throne, suddenly raising an army from Astrakhan in the heartland of the Khanate, directly threatening Sarai. This was why Tenek had come to pursue and suppress him in the Khan's name.