After reaching an agreement with Arnavutlu Iskender Pasha, both parties quickly left the secluded forest where they had met.
After all, such a conspiracy to rebel was extremely dangerous for all participants; even a slight slip-up could instantly cost them their lives.
Manuel, in particular, did not want his enterprise to collapse under the executioner's blade of the Ottoman before it had even truly begun.
Upon quickly returning to his ship, he dared not linger in Varna.
Instead, he blended in with other merchant ships early the next morning and swiftly sailed out of Ottoman territorial waters.
Anaftrou did the same, taking advantage of the still-thick night to rush back to the quarters prepared for him by the Army, disguising his movements so that no one could discern anything amiss.
Meanwhile, around September, Manuel successfully arrived at Belograd and reunited with his family and subordinates who had already arrived there.
In early October, approximately four months after the start of this pilgrimage to Alexandria, Caesar and his entourage returned safely to Trabzon, one of the capitals.
Upon returning to the capital, Manuel promptly summoned the regency team he had appointed before his departure and spent a full day diligently evaluating their performance.
At the same time, he also provided a detailed yet concise account of the results of his pilgrimage to Alexandria to his trusted subordinates, led by Serenus and Tukharovsky.
This included, but was not limited to, the various agreements he had reached with the countries along the way, the Mamluk instructor Ismail Ahe whom he had hired from General Jaqmaq of Alexandria, the orphaned heir of the Aydin family entrusted to him by the Aydin remnants in Smyrna, and the Moria Despotate Constantine's willingness to take his eldest son, Theodore, as his godson.
However, he deliberately omitted mentioning his special trip to Varna to secretly meet Arnavutlu Iskender Pasha, an Albanian, as this was a top-secret matter that even his closest confidants could not be privy to.
After Caesar finished speaking, his subordinates were all impressed by his efficiency and effectiveness.
It was the first time they realized that a long pilgrimage could accomplish so much.
Serenus, in particular, immediately began taking notes after listening, as if he intended to record it as historical material.
"But Your Majesty," Serenus was the first to ask on that day, after rapidly transcribing his monarch's words in the Imperial Palace, "how do you plan to educate that Turkish young master?"
The "Turk young master" he referred to was, of course, Halil Aydinoglu.
After a moment of consideration, Manuel presented his plan: "I wish to mold him as I would a Roman."
"But Your Majesty," Serenus voiced his concerns with some doubt, "if all goes well in the future, he should return to the homeland of the Aydin Beylik to lead the former Aydin people in resisting the Ottoman.
Logically and emotionally, it would be better to teach him what is practical, wouldn't it?
Otherwise, when he returns to resist the Ottoman, wouldn't it be easy for the resistance to collapse directly due to cultural differences?"
Manuel already had an explanation for Serenus's concerns: "I never said he would only learn Roman culture.
It's just that since he is with me, shouldn't he experience some Roman cultural influence?
Moreover, little Bey Halil is already twelve or thirteen years old, so it's certainly impossible to teach him to be a thorough Roman.
Therefore, what we can do is let him experience a positive atmosphere in Bosporus that he couldn't feel in Smyrna, giving him a certain sense of identity with it."
"To enlighten him, then?
Should we contact the priests of the church?"
"Serenus, that's enough."
Besides how to educate his godson, the question of how the Army should learn from the Mamluk also sparked a debate.
"Tukharovsky, while I am delighted and relieved that you can present a new military training plan within a day, can you explain why it is basically a direct copy of the Mamluk Army structure?"
The next day, Manuel, while reviewing documents in the palace, was momentarily dumbfounded after reading the new military plan submitted by his Army Commander.
"Didn't Your Majesty say to imitate the Mamluks?
You even specifically brought an instructor from Alexandria.
So, I carefully pondered Your Majesty's observations and words from yesterday, and even specifically visited that Mamluk instructor named Ahe, drawing on his experience to draft this plan."
To this, Tukharovsky, as the Army Commander, gave a serious reply.
This almost rendered Caesar speechless.
After a long moment, Caesar, with a dark expression, waved his quill with his right hand, dipped it in red ink, and drew a huge red cross on the plan submitted by Tukharovsky, "A single glance confirms it: purely unqualified.
Rewrite it for me!"
"Why?" The Rus' Commander was completely dumbfounded.
"Your Majesty, my plan is so brilliant, why do you..."
"If I truly wanted to make a major overhaul of the existing military system, I would summon all the high-ranking generals and commanders from across the country."
Manuel gave his instructions with a cupped-hand gesture, "Of course, that's not to say what you did was superfluous.
After all, offering opinions and solutions is also the duty of an Army Commander.
I am very happy and relieved that you can timely present your opinions and plans.
"But this cannot hide the problems in this plan.
Or, to be precise, it should be called 'one thing at a time,' there are quite a few errors in this military plan."
Manuel, with the knowledge of later generations, as if possessing clairvoyance, pulled the Army Commander to his side and meticulously gave instructions item by item, "First, Mamluk cavalry, especially heavy cavalry, are indeed the most formidable cavalry in the Mediterranean region right now.
But their infantry is not; compared to the Ottoman Janissaries, Mamluk infantry are clearly not as strong as they once were.
"Also, regarding learning from the Mamluk Army by reducing the proportion of firearms, this is not feasible given the current situation.
Think carefully, when we last fought the Ottoman, what sustained our Army in gaining a superficial advantage?
Morale?
Tactics?
Or combined land and sea advances?
It was, and it wasn't.
Excluding the decisive factor that the Ottoman were then tied up at the border and did not deploy other legions to the front line, another major decisive reason was that our Army temporarily suppressed the Ottoman with firearms.
"The Ottoman tactics are very clear; after Orhan's military reform nearly a century ago, they have a standing Army with high morale.
Furthermore, for decades, they have kept a close eye on military technology, applying a large number of cannons in their Army, allowing the Ottoman to crush enemies with their formidable strength: two wings maneuver to harass the enemy, while the rear ranks, equipped with a large number of cannons, unleash furious firepower from a secure position, forcing enemies with inferior firepower to forcefully charge the central Army guarded by elites, and then use units led by the Janissaries to severely damage the enemy, finally allowing the two wings of heavy cavalry to encircle and achieve total annihilation.
This method of crushing by national power cannot be shaken unless they are suppressed in turn with firearms, given Bosporus's comparatively inferior strength.
"So my suggestion and insight are: learn Mamluk cavalry combat, but do not learn their infantry tactics or their attitude towards firearms."
After listening to Caesar's lengthy discourse, Tukharovsky, in addition to his astonishment, couldn't help but feel a little moved, "Your Majesty, you are truly not comparable to your former self.
Back then, you were still commanding troops on the Great Steppe personally, only to be routed by Haji Giray, losing your armor and weapons..."
"Can we please stop bringing up these dark histories...?" Manuel, with a face full of black lines, stopped his general from recalling that unbearable time.