Haji Giray's words were not his nonsensical ramblings. On his way to being detained in Theodosia, he vaguely realized that Manuel could not fully and sincerely command all the armies within Theodoro, which led Giray to boldly speculate: Manuel did not have absolute control over Theodoro. And Manuel's choice to place him under house arrest in Theodosia, rather than Mangup, further confirmed his suspicion.
And that was precisely the case. After signing the peace treaty and returning to his country, Manuel also keenly perceived this major problem within the country. Previously focused on the war, he now finally turned his attention back home, surprised to find that some people had subtly formed another center of power outside of him. And this sign was no longer just a nascent trend, but a disaster about to surface.
"This is troublesome. Why are they opposing me? All I've done, in the end, are some harmless centralized measures, haven't I?" Looking at the continuous crisis reports reaching him from the Dark Department, Manuel, who was governing from his palace in Mangup, felt both annoyed and amused.
Indeed, in less than a year, he had, for various reasons, stripped a double-digit number of nobles of their fiefs, implemented the dual control of the Inquisition and the Dark Department, enforced the principle of "my vassal's vassal is also my vassal," and conducted a land and population survey comparable to the Domesday Book... For those nobles who regarded feudal law as the truth of the world, they would be damned if they dared to let him ascend to the throne peacefully. If they didn't challenge him now, while he wasn't yet the Principality's official ruler, they might not get another chance.
Manuel was not unaware of this, but he could not abandon his centralizing actions. To realize his ideal of restoring Rome, he had to directly confront one of the strongest states of this era, the Ottoman Sultanate, and the Islamic world behind it. To achieve victory, the most important thing was centralization, to achieve great things with small resources. As for the current opposition from these nobles, Manuel had no intention of indulging them like his ancestors. Although, in fact, after generations of princes' "indulgence," about ninety percent of Mangup's land had been concentrated in the hands of the Gavras Family.
However, this was not important. What was important was that after two wars, the local lord's power in the Principality seemed to have expanded, to the point where it was now interfering with Manuel's plans.
But Manuel already had a countermeasure. "First, write a letter to my cheap old man, who is still in Trabzon, telling him that the war is over and to return as soon as possible. Then, have my father bestow upon me the title of 'Co-Ruling Prince' or something similar, so that I can legally and rightfully rule all of Theodoro.
"Next, I also need to call Isaac back from Phanagoria. Sending him to govern the east was originally to alleviate the pressure of war from Crimea, but I didn't expect that there would be vermin trying to harm him. I'll compensate him by granting him Akhtar-Bakhtar along the Kuba River, and incidentally, have him help me suppress the local Tatars and Circassian forces. Plus, his current status as the second in line to the succession isn't a bad deal for him.
"As for the Tatars in the newly conquered lands, let them have autonomy, retaining their original way of life and religious beliefs. After all, Rome is a universal empire." Thinking of this, Manuel's body began to heat up with excitement. "In a few days, I'll go to Bakhchysarai to give a speech, to promote universal ideals and appease my new subjects."
After finalizing his response plan, Manuel relaxed and slumped into his seat, but still feeling unsatisfied, he leaned forward and pulled out a new map printed by the publishing department. After a long while, he reluctantly tore his eyes away from the map and boldly thought of a not-so-important question, "Now the Principality's territory is so vast that it far surpasses its former suzerain, Trabzon. How can a mere Principality title be worthy of our current status? Let me think, what should we call ourselves now?
"First, ask the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople for a kingdom title, to be elevated to a Kingdom. This shouldn't be difficult; we Gavras are related to the Palaiologos by marriage. With that, and sending some ducats, it should be possible. As for Trabzon, the Ecumenical Patriarch isn't there, and the Emperor of Pontus always likes to boss us around, so who cares about him?
"Now, let's think about the name. Continue to call it Theodoro? Hmm, the Principality is called Theodoro because it's an alternative name for Mangup. If it's elevated to a Kingdom, how can we continue to use the name of a single city to refer to a whole country? Wouldn't that be as absurd as the Germanic barbarians calling the Roman Empire the Byzantine Empire?
"In that case," thinking to this point, Manuel quickly had someone fetch several history books from the shelf for him: a chronicle of Theodoro, historical materials of the Cherson theme, information on the Cherson diocese, and local history books of the Crimean Peninsula. After he had collected them, Manuel, while flipping through these history books, reviewed his accumulated knowledge on the subject from both his previous and current lives.
"So, rename it Tauris, the ancient Greek name for the Crimean Peninsula?
"Or call it Gothia, which means 'land of the Goths' in Gothic, but aren't the Goths and Greeks basically indistinguishable now?
"Then call it Cherson? Southern Crimea belonged to the Cherson theme centuries ago, and the entire Crimean Peninsula, down to the lower Dnieper River, still belongs to the Cherson diocese. But now even Mangup isn't called Chersonesus anymore?
"Since that's the case, then perhaps this name should be considered," thinking of this, Manuel happened to open the ancient book on his desk to the entry for the Bosphorus Kingdom. "The Bosphorus Kingdom, founded by the Cimmerians in the 5th century BC, also known as the Cimmerian Bosphorus Kingdom, was a Hellenistic state at its founding, and within less than a century, it was completely Hellenistic, inside and out. After being conquered by the Roman Empire in 16 BC, the Bosphorus became the longest-lasting vassal state in the Empire's history, finally coming to an end in 342 AD when it was terminated by the Goth king Ermanaric... Hmm, something feels a bit off...
"But this shouldn't be important, right? Anyway, we Tauris Goths are now completely Hellenized, in other words, we are essentially Greeks... Still, it feels strange...
"Forget it, no matter what, the Bosphorus has both Greek and Roman elements, and even Gothic elements. Rebuilding the Bosphorus Kingdom might be a good choice." As dusk approached, Manuel had a rough idea of this in his mind.