Let's turn back the clock to over half an hour ago—
After the Bosporus Army's night raid on the Black Sheep sentries on the Zalari mountain peak and their covert, complete victory, Army Commander Dungar, who led them to take the area, began to launch further offensives against the largely sleeping Black Sheep army at the foot of the mountain, all while maintaining secrecy, as previously planned with Caesar and others.
Soon, that night, three thousand Bosporus Army soldiers, clad in light armor, quietly approached the largely unsuspecting Black Sheep main force under the cover of darkness, illuminated by faint torchlight.
What followed was very simple; being temporarily at a disadvantage in all aspects, the Black Sheep army, which had been preparing to leave Gurdjaani, was caught completely off guard.
Even their Sultan Jahan Shah had not anticipated such a risky surprise attack from his Brother-in-law. If he hadn't been awake that night and managed to organize an elite force to break through at the last moment, he might not have escaped disaster.
That being said, for the Bosporus Army, this victory was not as easily won as they had imagined.
Even though they initially startled the sleeping enemy, these fierce and battle-hardened Shiite Turkmen, combined with Jahan Shah's astute command once he reacted, caused the numerically inferior Bosporus force to show signs of being counter-attacked after a brief period of advantage.
Fortunately, the subsequent reinforcements personally led by Caesar immediately followed.
After the armored Holy Knights of the Philaka Legion joined the battlefield and violently overwhelmed the enemy's morale, the Black Sheep Dynasty's forces once again found themselves at a disadvantage.
After less than a quarter of an hour of stalemate, the Black Sheep were finally completely suppressed by the Romans and began to retreat.
And Black Sheep Sultan Jahan Shah, upon realizing that his side's momentum was completely lost, reluctantly organized nearly a thousand elite troops to flee the battlefield.
Ultimately, the Battle of Gurdjaani ended in a Bosporus victory.
However, the next morning, Manuel, after tallying the results and losses, did not celebrate with the other officers and soldiers for completely defeating the detestable Turkmen; instead, he returned to the main camp with a somewhat subtle mood, beginning to ponder how to end this war.
Because according to rough battle reports, even with the unexpected night raid tactic that annihilated nearly four thousand Black Sheep soldiers and captured over two thousand, Bosporus still lost fifteen hundred men.
Although the result showed an unexpected critical strike against the Black Sheep Dynasty, he keenly realized that continuing the fight would only lead to heavy losses for himself.
So, the next step was simple: while recovering and controlling the Eastern Georgia region, cautiously probe his Brother-in-law's bottom line, forcing the Black Sheep Dynasty to temporarily abandon their ambitions for Georgia.
Having understood this, Manuel summoned Prince George of Kakheti and his Army Commanders to discuss the subsequent strategic arrangements.
While Bosphorus Caesar carefully considered how to end the war, the Black Sheep Sultan, who had fled all the way to the Hachen region on the border between Georgia and Black Sheep, finally stopped running after confirming that no one was pursuing them.
Completely miscalculated, Jahan Shah, after dismissing his attendants and remaining alone in the main camp, couldn't help but sigh in distress, holding his head.
He had made presumptive mistakes in both strategy and tactics.
Regardless of the final outcome, at least most of the gains from his western campaign into Georgia would be reluctantly relinquished.
Moreover, having ascended to the throne of Sultan through a storm of blood and fire, he deeply understood how opportunistic and unreliable the various tribes that formed the Black Sheep tribal alliance truly were.
It was easy to imagine the predicament he would soon face upon returning, and what kind of crisis Timur and other external forces like White Sheep would plunge him into.
Just as Jahan Shah had thought, in less than half a month, the Bosporus Army successfully garrisoned Eastern Georgia, taking over the Kakheti region previously occupied by Black Sheep.
The Sultan could only bitterly swallow this bitter fruit while stabilizing his domestic situation.
However, this did not mean the end; as long as the Romans pressed on like this, he, having learned his lesson, would find a way to use the situation to re-integrate the various tribes within the alliance and re-gather strength.
Jahan had originally thought this with resentment.
Thus, after recovering almost all of Kakheti, the Bosporus Army approached the Hachen Principality, which is the Lori Principality, currently controlled by Black Sheep.
To everyone's surprise, the young Caesar of Bosporus did not directly order the army to recover the area; instead, he had them encamp on the spot.
The story begins with his prior investigation and compilation—
"Besken II Orbelian, as the feudal lord who secretly promised to invite Us to intervene in Georgia along with Atabeg of Samukhetsi, chose to feign death after We actually dispatched troops, continuing to serve as a vassal of Alexander I, causing Eastern Georgia, which should have quickly responded to Us, to instead serve the Tbilisi court after the war broke out."
"Truly a cautious fence-sitter; once there seemed to be no hope for a quick victory, he continued to play the coward."
"The Orbelian family, an ancient Armenian noble family, has power and members throughout the Armenian populated areas.
Although they detest the arrogance of the Muslims, they have not actively cultivated a deep relationship with Us.
Besken II, as the head of the family, is also like this, constantly wavering between Bagration and Gavras, a short-sighted act motivated by family interests.
In his eyes, We are probably just a useful bargaining chip, but external forces are not something you can toy with."
"In summary, although the Hachen Principality is important, its ruler is unreliable."
The above were the investigation results personally compiled and organized by Manuel.
Due to his suspicion of the Hachen Principality's stance and his desire to induce Black Sheep to end the war, Caesar ultimately chose to sacrifice Hachen in exchange for his continued stable development.
However, a peace proposal, if not absolutely necessary, should not be initiated by his side.
Given this, he ordered the Bosporus Army to station along the border, waiting for the other side to be unable to endure it any longer.
And just as he had predicted, a few days later, Black Sheep Sultan Jahan Shah, who was also extremely astute in military and political affairs, saw through his Brother-in-law's little scheme.
Caught in a difficult situation due to domestic upheavals, he finally chose to abandon the pointless confrontation, secretly sending envoys to attempt peace talks with Bosporus.
This was exactly what Manuel wanted.
After several exchanges of secret envoys, they finally confirmed each other's "sincerity" and unanimously agreed to hold public peace talks.
Therefore, in early March 1438, Bosporus and Black Sheep held peace talks in the Hachen region to end this somewhat unexpected war.