Kristo Balin felt much more at ease as he watched the enemy General, who had the appearance of a Turkmen, be beheaded on the spot, his eyes wide with unseeing death. It was he who, by his monarch's command, had led the Tatar Legion of the Bosporus Army to deliver the final blow to this enemy force that had penetrated deep into their territory for some time.
Seeing their General die so suddenly and tragically, the remaining enemy forces, including the Janissaries, had their last psychological defense shattered and began to surrender in droves to the arriving Bosporus main army. By that afternoon, the Bosporus Army had successfully taken nearly 700 enemy prisoners, over 80% of whom were Janissaries, who had previously caused the Bosporus side immense headaches.
Thus, the Black Sea Coastal Janissary Corps, the greatest reliance of the two Beyliks, Janik and Kandar, was annihilated in its entirety by the Bosporus in this manner, approximately two months after entering the war. Manuel himself, temporarily stationed in the Giresun City Hall, received the head of the Corps' General, Özil Pasha, that evening. Looking at the head of this Turkmen-looking enemy, he couldn't help but frown thoughtfully.
After admiring the tragic sight of his enemy, Manuel's expression relaxed. He had his guards take the head away and summoned Badars, asking him to accompany him in tallying the various casualties and losses over the past two months. Fortunately, the Bosporus's relevant data from this period was quite complete, so by the next morning, Caesar received a fairly accurate report of casualties and gains and losses:
To eliminate this strong enemy, the Bosporus had mobilized over 12,000 people, including conscripts used to fill formations and army servants not directly engaged in combat, a veritable all-out effort. Fortunately, they achieved the results they deserved. Through nearly two months of luring, avoiding battle, and besieging, including those captured, they had eliminated over 10,000 enemy troops. This included the annihilation of the Black Sea Coastal Legion, comprising around 3,000 men, including 750 Janissaries; Janik, if all went as expected, had lost all of its main forces; and while the situation in Kandar was less clear, it too should have suffered significant losses. As for the Bosporus itself, while not crippled, it had about 3,000 casualties or captured, though most were conscripts, and Manuel still had the confidence to continue the war.
But conscripted manpower was still manpower. Considering this, the young Caesar's brows furrowed again. After a long moment, he finally made a careful decision, "Recruit a few mercenary units to fill the lines. Conscripting more soldiers locally in Pontus might lead to something terrible like child soldiers."
As he issued the military order to recruit mercenaries, intending to have several Generals led by Dungar execute it, Gracio from Venice enthusiastically approached him again, intending to boast to his ally about the latest achievements of their most esteemed commercial Republic.
After receiving the pre-arranged representative of his ally, Manuel, who was in high spirits, teased with curiosity, "By Saint Mary, Mr. Gracio, your mood seems as good as mine."
To this, the young Latin noble nodded in agreement, "Indeed, thanks be to God! By the end of last month, we finally sank the main ship of Genoa's Black Sea fleet. It's fantastic! Now, if Genoa wants to redeploy a fleet to the Black Sea to contend for naval supremacy with us, they'll have to wait until this autumn or winter at the earliest."
"So you're saying," Manuel caught the key point in his words with interest, "that naval supremacy in the Black Sea is completely in our hands now?"
"Exactly so," Gracio raised his hand, making a very imposing gesture.
Since that was the case, his side couldn't fall behind either. Just as Manuel was thinking this, the Venetian sitting opposite him suddenly resumed a serious expression and abruptly suggested to him, "By the way, Manuel. Regarding you and those two Turk Beyliks, the Senate here has offered some small advice to the Consul. And he specifically asked me to relay it to you."
"Speak," Manuel directly told the other party to speak freely.
"Roughly speaking," Gracio paused, "the homeland suggests that we intervene to have you halt your march first, and then we will mediate a reconciliation between you and the two Beys, to prevent the conflict from escalating."
"I recall they attacked us first, didn't they?" Manuel tapped the wooden table in front of him with some displeasure.
"But they are vassals of the Ottoman," the Venetian youth leaned forward and whispered, reminding him.
These words made the Bosphorus Caesar involuntarily tremble. After a moment, he responded with a vague, slightly hesitant reply, "But Alexander Komnenos is in Sinop right now. Allowing this pretender to remain abroad is too risky. Of course, if you can persuade these Turks to hand him over, we will immediately cease hostilities. After all, this time I truly have no interest in the lands of these infidels."
Nor dared to have any interest, he added in his heart.
Gracio was also somewhat hesitant about the other party's response. After thinking for a while, the Latin finally gritted his teeth and said, "Alright! I will do my best to persuade the Consul to convince these two Beys to make concessions on this matter or to organize talks between all parties."
Thus, the Bosporus rejected Venice's proposal for a unilateral reconciliation and continued to fight the two Beyliks of Janik and Kandar, seeking to force them to make peace. The Janik Beylik, having lost its main forces, was completely unable to continue resisting the enemy. By late in the month, Ordu, a major town and secondary capital of Janik, was captured. In mid-June, after breaking through Janik's heartland, Dungar led his troops to first conquer Amasya, the enemy's military town. At this point, Janik Bey Emir had become a bare monarch, controlling only the capital Samsun and a small western section of territory.
Only then did Venice and the Bosporus, believing they had gained a complete advantage, jointly submit a peace treaty to Janik and Kandar. The terms of the treaty were simple: besides demanding the handover of Alexander Komnenos, who was in exile in Sinop, there were no other additional requirements.
The Bey Emir naturally agreed to this peace treaty without hesitation, but to the surprise of the other parties involved, the always-understated old Bey of Kandar, Isfendiyar, directly rejected it.
Afterwards, no matter how hard the Romans, Latins, and some Turks tried, the peace talks remained deadlocked. The Bosporus was forced to resume hostilities at the end of June, continuing to attack the two states. Finally, in mid-July, Samsun was captured by the Bosporus Army, and Janik Bey Emir Janik Olulu fled into Kandar with his loyalists, while part of Kandar's eastern coastline was also captured. From then on, the Bosphorus Despotate completely occupied the entire territory of the Janik Beylik.
Even so, Isfendiyar still showed no sign of relenting.
"You old fossil, what exactly are you up to?!" On the third day after fleeing into Sinop, the Emir, utterly unable to tolerate being dependent on others, finally lost his temper and stormed into the Kandar palace, raging impotently at his colleague and ally.
"Your Highness Emir, please don't be anxious yet," Alexander Komnenos, dressed in Muslim attire, stood up and said with a smile. Since that negotiation, he had been staying in Sinop under the protection of the old Bey.
"Shut up, hyena!" The Emir had no patience for this "source of all evil," who seemed like an "animal friend" reborn. "It's not your land being trampled!"
In the end, it was Isfendiyar who spoke, revealing his plan, which barely managed to suppress his anger.
"It's simple," the old Bey stroked his white beard and smiled sinisterly, "Didn't these Romans annihilate the Black Sea Coastal Janissary Corps?
"Believe me, Sultan will have a very interesting expression when he learns that one of his formations has been wiped out."