After a quick tally of the losses on both sides, Manuel could barely contain his joy. According to rough estimates, nearly two thousand enemy soldiers had fallen into his hands. Although seventy percent of them were prisoners of war, it was still a gratifying result that would boost the morale of his entire army. In contrast, their own casualties were less than four or five hundred.
After roughly counting the prisoners of war, Manuel also noticed the various lords and nobles on the list. After half an hour of deliberation, he decided to temporarily imprison them and settle accounts in the autumn. "It will be more satisfying to deal with them all at once then," Manuel thought coldly.
At the same time Manuel achieved this great victory, the other half of Raus's forces, the remaining two thousand five hundred men, quickly learned of the defeat from the retreating troops. Seeing the unfavorable situation, and having lost confidence in executing their original plan, they immediately retreated towards Mangup.
The next morning, in the palace of Mangup City, after learning from Raus that they had lost over two thousand men, the rebel political figures were all dumbfounded. "Lord Raus, what are you doing?" Isaac finally found an opportunity to question the former Chief Secretary of the Principality, who had always treated him as a puppet. The other dissenters, who were also dissatisfied with him, seized the chance to challenge him, demanding an explanation.
Raus, who had not yet rested well, was put in a difficult position by their questions. It was only when they paused slightly that he began to defend himself: "Gentlemen, this defeat was merely an accident. The reason for this failure was simply my carelessness; I didn't expect the enemy to use their main force to block us. But I suspect this should be the full extent of the military strength the other side can muster!"
Many of those present did not take his defense and analysis seriously, and some even laughed in anger. "Nonsense! As an administrative official with no understanding of military matters, you shouldn't be leading troops into battle. I thought he was some kind of expert, but it turns out he's just a schemer!" Klier, standing nearby, silently cursed him.
Actually, his thinking was somewhat biased. To gather the anti-Manuel forces within the Principality, barely unite them in the same trench, and specifically spend several years enticing a claimant to the Prince's throne, and even seek aid from the Golden Horde through Tatar connections, and then seize Mangup through a coup when Prince Alexius was careless—Raus's administrative and planning skills were indeed up to par.
However, no matter how high one's strategic ability, if it lacks military support, it's nothing more than empty gestures. Moreover, with the support of the Dark Department, Manuel's strategic capabilities had already surpassed his.
Even the strongest conspiratorial ability could not gain an advantage in direct military clashes between the two sides, and Raus was not entirely unaware of this. But to avoid the absolute dominance of the noble lords over Isaac, he dared not employ the Tatar forces or the pro-Isaac factions among the rebels, thus maintaining this awkward, neither-up-nor-down situation.
However, if they continued to stubbornly maintain their own positions, it would be difficult for the others to endure much longer.
Meanwhile, in Sugdaea, Manuel, having finally waited for his generals to arrive, eagerly held a military conference in the city's council hall to determine the strategic direction moving forward.
"In yesterday's battle on the outskirts of the city, our army achieved an overwhelming victory, utterly defeating their detached force. And according to the scout's report yesterday evening, the other detached force of the rebels, upon learning of our victory, retreated in a panic.
"So I have a bold hypothesis: could this be the limit of the rebel forces now? We might ought to pursue them while we have the momentum!" He finished, then raised his head, carefully observing the reactions of his subordinate generals.
Faced with Manuel's hypothesis, the generals did not directly object. But Manuel, on the contrary, frowned. To theoretically test his hypothesis, he immediately asked Tukharovsky, whom he highly regarded, to express his own views.
Seeing this, Tukharovsky quickly stood up and said, "Your Highness's words indeed have some truth. However, the situation on the battlefield and in strategy, if not corroborated by intelligence from other sources, means that the outcome of a battle cannot actually prove too much."
Manuel greatly admired Tukharovsky's cautious viewpoint. "General Tukharovsky's words are reasonable. However, I have some intelligence to share with you all." Then, at his signal, Badars retrieved a stack of not-so-thin intelligence reports from the side and respectfully handed them to Manuel.
After a brief smile of appreciation, Manuel immediately gathered his generals around him to meticulously analyze these intelligence reports, which he had already generally known about since yesterday.
According to intelligence gathered by the Dark Department, due to the coordinated strikes of the Lithuanian reinforcements and their own forces, the rebel-controlled areas in Northern Crimea were continuously shrinking, and they had even lost Kerkimetis. Furthermore, under the naval blockade, the rebel troops on the other side of the strait were unable to provide effective support.
Even with the situation so critical, the internal factional struggles among the rebels had not ceased. In fact, under Manuel's manipulation, the Tatar rebels, who had barely been united, had split into a compromise faction led by the Girey Family and a stubborn faction determined to continue the rebellion. This strange phenomenon of numerous factions even left some less experienced generals dumbfounded. However, this was not unfamiliar to Manuel, who was well-versed in history. "Though I'm reluctant to admit it, it's very Rome," he thought helplessly.
Under these circumstances, even according to the most unfavorable estimates, the rebels, whose strength had been weakened by the recent defeat, would struggle to muster five thousand men to defend Mangup this month. This was the basis for Manuel's bold hypothesis earlier.
"Perhaps it really can, no, it should be possible." Tukharovsky nodded and murmured this to himself, then immediately and clearly expressed his support for his Highness's recent suggestion.
With his statement, the generals who were still in a state of hesitation quickly supported Manuel's proposal due to herd mentality. Finally, with the unanimous agreement of his subordinate generals, Manuel ultimately decided to formally formulate a plan of operation to retake Mangup.
Shortly after Manuel completed the plan to retake Mangup in Sugdaea, that very night, in Raus's mansion in Mangup City, Raus stared at the people before him with bloodshot eyes. Not long ago, they had all been his "partners."
"You will regret this!" he growled, gritting his teeth in fury.