Only after the Girey Family was hacked to pieces by the swarming swordsmen and axmen did Manuel slowly emerge from beside the oil lamp to inspect his subordinates' "achievements."
The Girey Family had been completely chopped into shapeless chunks, emitting a bloody stench throughout the basement.
Even though Manuel had considerable experience on the battlefield, the dual assault on his sight and smell still made him feel extremely nauseous.
Manuel suppressed the urge to vomit, his expression remaining calm.
After praising Vladimir and the other subordinates present, he pondered for a moment before ordering, "Burn all these body parts and then throw the remains into the Black Sea. I'm going back now; I still have some important matters to attend to."
"Yes, Your Highness, loyalty!" Vladimir saluted and then quickly led the soldiers to carry out the command Manuel had just given.
Seeing this, Manuel did not linger, but left the basement directly, letting the body parts be burned to char by the flames that would soon be lit.
When he had finished washing up and returned to his room in his pajamas, he smiled contentedly, thinking that the remaining members of the Girey Family were now at his mercy.
His smile was noticed by his wife, Barbara, who, having a General idea of the plan, couldn't help but ask him curiously, "Why are you so happy? Has Haji Giray been dealt with?"
"Dealt with," Manuel said as he lay down on the bed, "Soon, the Giray faction of the Tatar rebels will be inconsequential."
"It must have been hard work." Barbara leaned closer to him with concern, lifted her skirt, revealing her fair and delicate thighs, and gestured to him.
Manuel immediately understood her meaning, resting his head against her, enjoying the lap pillow Barbara gave him.
"Speaking of which, if Giray had agreed to your request, would you really have spared his life?" Barbara casually asked him while stroking her beloved Little husband's forehead.
"Probably, I would likely have him strictly guarded and sent to Arabia," Manuel replied uncertainly after a moment of thought.
"I'm telling you," Barbara suddenly became serious, "if you really let him go, I might secretly contact the dark forces and stab Haji Giray to death before he leaves."
"Hmm, if I really did something like that, how would you deal with me?"
Manuel smiled helplessly, "What else could I do? Let it go. You are my wife and lover; how could I get angry over the killing of a prisoner who is neither kin nor acquaintance? Even if this person was once a Khan."
While the couple joked, four thousand reinforcements from Lithuania had already swept through the entire Yedishkul region.
"These Tatars are only numerous; in reality, whether in terms of organization or quality, they are nothing special," said Mikhail Semyonovich Olgierdovich, the General of the Lithuanian army, as he reviewed the victories of the past few days in the military camp.
"If that's the case, then at our current pace, we should be able to rescue our besieged allies at the Tatar Isthmus tomorrow, right?" his Vice Commander asked, taking over his words.
"Indeed, but we still need to be careful about the movements of the Golden Horde. Although that Khan is newly enthroned, he is still the Khan of the Golden Horde, so it's better to be vigilant," Olgierdovich cautiously reminded his Vice Commander s.
"Yes, General."
Olgierdovich smiled with satisfaction.
After the meeting adjourned, he, who had recently become a Duke, unconsciously recalled the scene from four years ago, "Manuel Gavras, a familiar face. Sometimes I wonder if His Majesty did this on purpose, sending me to help Manuel."
The next day, after confirming that the remains of the Girey Family had all sunk into the Black Sea, Manuel immediately summoned the newlywed Suleiman couple and the only surviving secondary wife of Giray, declaring that Haji Giray had left for Mecca yesterday with his first wife, third wife, and their children, and that they had now completely left Theodoro territory.
Giray's secondary wife did not have many doubts about Manuel's statement.
As early as last night, she had been prepared by Giray, and now for her, the most important thing was to safely raise her two children.
Therefore, as long as Manuel's treatment of them was not too harsh, she could and would only comply with his arrangements.
As for Aisha, she was not so clear, only vaguely knowing that her father had gone to a very distant place.
However, Suleiman inexplicably became nervous; politically astute, he quickly noticed some illogical points.
But due to the urgent situation, he did not directly question, but calmly listened to Manuel's arrangements.
After roughly explaining, or rather fabricating, the process of Giray's departure, Manuel immediately arranged what they were to do next.
These tasks, when spoken or heard, sounded complicated, but in short, it was one sentence: let the remaining members of the Girey Family on his side use everything they could to win over and divide the Giray faction among the Tatar rebels.
No one present objected to Manuel's arrangement.
Giray's secondary wife even promised to do her best.
In response, he generously stated that after this civil war, she and her two sons would receive good treatment.
After the meeting ended and everyone else had left, Suleiman deliberately stayed behind, turned, and asked, "Manuel, where is Haji Giray now?"
"He went to Mecca with his wives, just as I just said," Manuel said with a gentle smile.
"Come on, after nearly two years together, don't I know you?"
Manuel, upon hearing this, dropped his smile and remained silent.
After a while, he calmly asked him in return, "You guessed it, didn't you?"
"..."
"Keep this a secret, and take it to your grave," Manuel leaned in, patted the other's shoulder, and said flatly.
Suleiman could only sigh, "So be it."
After seeing Suleiman off, Manuel immediately summoned his Generals to discuss how to counterattack.
Meanwhile, in Bangkok Pu Palace, the rebels were lamenting over one piece of bad news after another.
"No way, the Kingdom of Lithuania intervened? And they cut through Yedishkul to directly support the enemy forces at the Isthmus? What a joke, where did Manuel get such power to make that behemoth act?! What about the Golden Horde?" Raus questioned the messenger in front of him with disbelief.
"The Tatars are useless!" Isaac cursed.
"Hmm, and now His Majesty Alexius, who was under house arrest, is also missing.
From a pessimistic point of view, perhaps our successful rebellion in Bangkok Pu was, perhaps, just an accident?" Wolol bit his lip, fearfully raising this possibility.
Everyone present fell completely silent, and they all simultaneously thought of the most terrifying possibility: they had fallen into a trap.