Perceiving that it was getting late, Manuel concluded the night's official duties and returned to his bedchamber to rest.
The next day, after waking up and sending a few trusted retainers to prepare for the arrival of his wife and daughter in Pontus, he plunged back into preparations for opening the Black Sea trade route.
Besides the revenue sharing with Venice, he also focused on how to obtain favorable trade goods and the role the Bosporus should play in this trade route.
Regarding the former, after compiling historical data and recalling his impressions of the various nations he had dealt with, he decided to start by expanding the slave trade with the Mamluk Sultanate, then gradually broaden the scope of trade.
Because after the Genoese forces were expelled from the northern Black Sea, Manuel, then a dignitary of Theodosia, had attempted to establish a slave trade network belonging to the Gavras Family in Theodosia under his rule.
And after the Giray Family collapsed along with the Crimean Khanate, he naturally used his Bosphorus Despotate to fill the void they left, which included the slave trade.
The Mamluk general from Alexandria, Isaac Arno, coming to Tauris for personal reasons, happened during the period when he was expanding the Bosporus slave trade.
Another major reason was his confidence in his own goods and geographical location.
Just as Trabzon, centuries ago, could become incredibly wealthy through the city of Trabzon, it was not only because it was the end of the Silk Road but also because it had decent local produce.
Excluding the irrelevant fish and salt products and forestry products, the small silver mine that still provides a certain amount of precious metals annually, and the Roman artworks renowned throughout the Black Sea, are all excellent resources.
If emperors like Megas Komnenos could thrive when opportunities arose, then he, who controlled both shores of the Black Sea, certainly could not do worse than them.
As for why he chose to start with the Mamluks, besides the Sultanate's financial strength and enthusiasm for trade, Manuel had also contacted them many times through the slave trade, accumulating considerable experience in dealing with them.
Moreover, the Mamluks did not rely on commercial Republics like Venice for their internal affairs.
Choosing to start with trade partners, or rather commercial partners, who were less constrained by external forces, would better verify whether his envisioned Black Sea trade route was feasible.
Furthermore, he also wanted to test if he could gradually and secretly reduce his commercial dependence on Venice through this.
These were the main reasons for his decision to expand the slave trade with the Mamluks.
As for his conscience? It was a joke; money lost could be earned again, but a lost conscience—earned even more!
Since starting the slave trade a few years ago, faced with profits that exceeded his imagination and continued to rise, Manuel completely stopped paying attention to the plight of the slaves loaded onto merchant ships.
Although he strictly forbade the sale of Eastern Orthodox slaves, sometimes during "special periods," such as during wars with the Ottoman, he and his officials would tacitly ignore the illegal loading of a small number of Eastern Orthodox onto ships.
Sometimes, to meet quotas, relevant merchants would even bribe the Inquisition to label a small number of insignificant co-religionists as heretics following Paulicianism or Bogomils, to make them eligible for sale.
From exaktors and inspectors to Manuel himself, they would turn a blind eye, pretending nothing happened.
However, reaching a consensus with the Mamluks still required considerable effort from him.
This not only required his personal involvement but also a highly capable minister with a high financial position to assist him.
"So, who should I appoint as my finance minister in Pontus?" Thinking of this, Manuel couldn't help but feel a headache.
Although he was confident in his ability to personally lead and manage the financial aspects of both major trade sectors, he intended to dedicate more of his energy to reform and military matters.
As for specific commercial affairs, he would leave them entirely to his subordinates; Caesar would only be responsible for providing a general direction.
Besides these, financial issues were already pressing him.
After careful consideration, he realized that opening the Black Sea trade route and ensuring the Bosporus maintained a certain volume of trade was not an easy task.
Under these circumstances, after a moment of contemplation, he eventually wrote a personal letter that afternoon and immediately dispatched someone to Bangkok Pu.
The main content of this letter was to give orders to his Tauris finance minister, Isaac Arno, and the designated Bosporus Bank president, Carlo de Medici, among others, instructing them to put the Bosporus Bank into operation ahead of schedule and providing some minor guidance on the bank's initial tasks.
But this was clearly not enough; to alleviate economic problems, he had to make even greater efforts.
However, he had already implemented a appeasement policy towards his co-religionists in Asia Minor, and overturning it would do more harm than good.
Given this, how could he then "collect wealth from the people"?
For the rest of the afternoon, besides handling official duties and sending people to contact the Mamluks still in the Pontus region, he pondered this question.
Finally, he arrived at an obvious conclusion—
"If I simply accept all the money from those heretical rebels, won't I have money?"
When this thought entered his mind, he suddenly felt incredibly enlightened, and the benefits of his previous actions in religious affairs became even clearer.
So, for the remainder of the afternoon, he left the palace and went to the city outskirts where the army headquarters were stationed, dispatching his generals and soldiers to various regions under his rule in Pontus, instructing them to prepare for potential emergencies.
After completing this matter, he did not return directly to the palace.
Instead, accompanied by his attendants, he impulsively took a few detours on the way, arriving at a secluded spot within the city.
This was one of his designated dark department headquarters, usually disguised as a small noble's private castle, although it was indeed registered under the name of a noble affiliated with the dark department.
Soon, the dark department personnel there respectfully received Caesar's personal visit.
Although this place had been designated as a dark department headquarters after Manuel moved into Trabzon, this was Caesar's first personal visit.
Furthermore, apart from the high-ranking officials, the rest of the dark department members were non-nobles with other identities, so those who greeted him were mostly middle-class individuals, and their gazes towards him were naturally filled with utmost reverence.
However, Manuel did not indulge in this unnecessary sense of worship.
Instead, he took some time to review the situation within the castle.
Whether it was reasonable or unexpected, Badars, his dark department chief, was indeed in the palace, not here.
This made Manuel somewhat hesitant about issuing the next command.
However, he reconsidered; since he was already here, he would give the order.
After all, he had directly commanded the personnel here during wartime, and their competence and loyalty had quite satisfied him.
"Find someone for me," Manuel commanded, "a Muslim scholar named Muhammad Shams al-Din bin Hamzah, abbreviated as Aksham-Sadin, also known as Ahmed Gurani.
If nothing unexpected has happened, this person should currently be in the former site of the Janik Beylik."
Facing this somewhat abrupt order, the members of the dark department responded without hesitation with affirmative replies:
"As you command, we will not fail your expectations, Majesty.
Loyalty!"