Soon, the new year, 1437, arrived. At the beginning of this year, after evaluating the merits of his civil officials and important ministers, Manuel unified the conferment of titles and lands upon them at the end of January, rewarding them for their performance in serving the Autocratic State.
Regarding titles, he ultimately adopted a partial Western European feudal system of "Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, Baron" to reward civil officials, even inserting a "Lord" between "Count, Viscount, Baron" to confuse the hierarchy of titles, and emphasizing the honorific nature of the titles while downplaying their practical power.
Furthermore, since they were ennobled as civil officials, Manuel did not attach military titles to them, thereby separating the civil and military noble groups.
Among them, Justinian Seresnus, as the Chief Minister, was granted the title of Lord of Cloz and awarded over 100 stremmas of newly developed fertile land on the Panticapaeum Isthmus; John Anagnostes, the Megaslogothetēs / Grand Secretary, was granted the title of Baron of New Caesarea (NeoKaisareia, now Niksar in official history) and awarded nearly 100 stremmas of land along the Lykos River (Lykos River, now the Kelkit River in official history, the longest tributary of the Yeşilırmak River).
George Amiroutzes, the MegasCancellarius and a Pontus noble, was granted the title of Baron of Vazelon and only awarded 25 stremmas of new fiefdom, but this also elevated the status of his family by the Caesar, and he could also share some of the income from the Vazelon Monastery through this title.
Badars Gavras, his most trusted childhood friend and confidant, was ennobled as a civil official with 150 stremmas of scattered farmland across the southern Tauris Peninsula, and at the same time became a Lord of Provato, a town near Theodosia.
At the same time, all the newly granted territories mentioned above, except for those under Seresnus's name, were mostly non-hereditary personal fiefdoms.
In addition, he also took the opportunity to confer the previously unrewarded Dungar de Lapole as the Commander of the Amisos Legion, with a total of 175 stremmas of hereditary and personal land; while Vladimir, another deputy general of the Philaka Legion, was conferred as the Commander of the Copa Guard, and granted over 100 stremmas of personal land.
After conferring them, Manuel did not forget to draw a grand vision for his subordinates, promising that the rank of titles was not immutable, and as long as their merits continued to accumulate, they would eventually obtain titles like "Duke" and "General."
Although the actual effect might be questionable, it did indeed inspire the fighting spirit of the group, led by the generals, to serve the Caesar.
After Manuel's awards to his meritorious subordinates came to an end, envoys from the Iranian Plateau to the east made him ponder the future situation of Anatolia.
"An envoy from the Padishah, I apologize for not welcoming you sooner." In mid-February, upon learning that Timur's envoy, who was passing through Pontus, wished to meet him, a Christian monarch, Manuel immediately set aside his status and invited the envoy into the palace, politely expressing his respect for the powerful ruler.
The bearded Timur's envoy was very satisfied with the performance of this infidel monarch.
Since, on the surface, the Bosporus at this time was no different from Trabzon, which had been willing to submit to Timur years ago, the envoy reciprocated with appropriate etiquette and informed Manuel of the will of Timur's Padishah Shah Rukh, "By the will of the Padishah, greetings to the King on the Black Sea coast… In short, His Majesty believes that the current Anatolia is too chaotic, and as the rightful and legitimate ruler and protector of the Muslims in the region, he should step in to restore peace to the area."
After speaking, the envoy looked directly at Manuel, trying to discern something from his eyes.
But Manuel merely bowed and smiled, showing his agreement, "His Majesty the Padishah speaks wisely, and I share the same sentiment…"
The Bosporus Caesar's performance greatly satisfied Timur's envoy, and Manuel was also pleased to see the Timurid Empire's attitude.
"It's just as well, I need to accumulate strength for a few more years. As for you, Shah Rukh, you old geezer, when your obedient grandson incites a rebellion in Ajam and the Black Sheep Dynasty turns against you, I'll see how you stretch your hand into Asia Minor."
Thus, a few days later, Timur's envoy, pleased and unharmed, left the Bosporus under the escort of the Philaka Legion.
Soon after, the nearly two-and-a-half-year conflict among the Muslim regimes on the Asia Minor peninsula finally came to an end.
Under the mediation of Timur's envoy, the Ottomans, Karaman, and other participating parties were exhausted and had no desire to continue fighting.
So, in early March, both sides readily signed a peace treaty witnessed by Timur's mission: the treaty stipulated that several important towns east of Hamid were to be handed over to the Karaman Beylik, and Ottoman Sultan Murad II recognized Suleiman as the legitimate ruler of Karaman.
Karaman also pledged to restrain its internal tribes to avoid further military conflicts; furthermore, the Ottomans and Mamluks agreed to keep Karaman neutral, rather than a substantive vassal or subordinate of either party.
Shortly after the peace treaty was signed, Timur immediately demanded that Karaman nominally submit, as it had decades ago, and the latter promptly expressed submission to Timur's Padishah Shah Rukh in exchange for the continued bestowal of the title "Emir of Asia Minor" upon its Bey, Suleiman.
The Ottomans and Mamluks could only stare blankly, helplessly ignoring the matter.
However, what made Manuel somewhat worried was that Murad II did not return directly to Edirne shortly thereafter, but instead made a stop in Brusa, the co-capital.
This made the Caesar somewhat uneasy, fearing that the Ottomans' next move would render his efforts useless at any moment.
With this worry, April arrived…
One morning in mid-April, Manuel and his childhood friend, Badars Gavras, who was also the Commander of the Guard and confidential secretary, along with their families, were enjoying the spring scenery together in the imperial garden.
It was then that the Caesar first met his Commander of the Guard's son, "Speaking of Badars, your child's name is Constantine, isn't it?" Looking at this spirited boy, over two years old, from another family, he playfully teased him with some interest.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Badars said, proudly puffing out his chest.
"So, Badars, how do you think your child's life will unfold?"
"If possible," Badars said lovingly, looking at his son who was happily playing with the Caesar's children, "this fool hopes he can live a magnificent life while adhering to his creed, or at least lead some people in faith or reputation."
"Is that so," hearing this reply, Manuel used an appreciative tone to mask the worry in his heart, "By the Holy Mother, that's quite good."
Constantine Gavras, huh.
After bidding farewell to Badars and their respective families, Manuel remained alone in the imperial garden, closing his eyes and recalling knowledge from his previous life.
If he remembered correctly, in the official history of his previous life, a member of the Gavras Family named Theodore later participated in the Battle of Constantinople in 1453 during his teenage years.
He later followed Zoe, the niece of Constantine XI, who was also Princess Sofia, to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, and in his later years in 1483, he shaved his head and became a monk there, building a monastery, and was later canonized as a saint—
Saint-Cassien (С а н к т - К а с с и а н), also known as Cassian the Greek or Cassian of Uglich (С в я т о г о К а с с и а н а У г л и ч е с к о г о). His secular name was Constantine Gavras.
He did lead many people, but he was more a person of turbulent fate: in his youth, he personally witnessed the fall of the most sacred "Queen of Cities" in the hearts of the Romans, and in his old age, even his homeland was destroyed by the Ottomans, yet he couldn't even return to save her.
Manuel looked somewhat wistfully in the direction his Commander of the Guard had departed, then shook his head with a hint of agitation.
Was it a coincidence?
Even with his intervention, would someone like that child still live a wandering life and eventually die in a foreign land?
Can fate truly be changed?