If Manuel's previous disguises in other places could be attributed to a bout of paranoia, then his daring personal trip to Smyrna this time could be considered a gamble with his life.
The reason he, who considered himself to cherish his life, risked coming to the former Aydin Beylik territory today was because, after his covert department managed to establish contact, the leader of the other party still harbored suspicions towards him and repeatedly stated that if the person behind the covert department was unwilling to show himself personally, there would be no cooperation whatsoever.
Solving such a matter was not difficult; he could have simply sent Badars or Serenus to go in secret. But with the mindset of 'you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a cub,' and in order to gather all forces to utterly destroy the Ottomans, Manuel went all out!
Knowing that what he was doing carried the risk of losing his head, he did not bring his family with him this time. Instead, he had them board another ship arranged by his brother-in-law, Constantine, and sail directly to Constantinople under the protection of his trusted guards, awaiting a later reunion.
He himself took Badars and, while disguised in the Northern Aegean Sea islands, hired a squad (five people) of highly reputable Greek islander mercenaries as bodyguards to ensure that, should anything go wrong, he could at least escape back to the ship and leave Ottoman waters.
After Badars and he disembarked first, the islander mercenaries he hired followed closely, disguised as poor merchants observing the scene. They cautiously and discreetly followed their employer, secretly protecting him.
As for him and Badars, they wore turbans and scarves, pretending to be Muslim merchants, and walked carefully along the streets of Smyrna.
After walking for about forty-five minutes towards the southern outskirts of Smyrna with such a cautious demeanor, he arrived at the area known by the Turkmen as Kadifekale Dağı, just as the other party had hinted through the covert department.
Legend has it that this was where Alexander the Great built the ancient city of Smyrna thousands of years ago. While the truth of this is unverifiable, there are indeed remnants of old city walls from before Roman rule in these hills, though most are dilapidated walls left from the Eastern Empire.
After bypassing the ancient city walls, the area near the former Eastern Empire site is now overtly a Jewish merchant quarter.
Manuel wanted to lament something, but due to time constraints, he chose to half-heartedly have Badars approach a Jewish merchant whose face was unclear near the wall and, according to the secret signal given by the former Aydin Beylik people, speak the code word:
"CüneydtMuradamiburada εκεί?" (A meaningless, useless, ungrammatical sentence containing variations of "Murad" and "Cüneyt" and the meaning of "are you there?")
Upon hearing the seemingly meaningless words spoken by the apparent Greek visitor, the Jewish merchant's previously lazy and sleepy eyes instantly sharpened.
After seeing that the person in front of him was neither an Ottoman nor a greek under their rule, but rather someone who should be from outside the Ottoman Empire, he replied in fluent greek, "Please wait a moment."
Half an hour later, about a dozen people seemingly appeared out of nowhere from the old city walls, looking directly at the guests who dared to attend the meeting.
The leading Turkmen elder wore a black turban, with a young man seemingly following behind him.
After a moment of silence, the other party was the first to reveal his face and break the silence in slightly stiff greek, "My apologies for not coming out to meet you. This old man is Rashid Zad, the former Vizier of the Aydin Beylik. May I now ask for your true identity?"
Manuel, who also had his face covered by a thin scarf, removed it, revealing his true face, and replied calmly, "Bosphorus Caesar, Basileus of Trabzon, Manuel Komnenos Gavras."
Upon hearing his reply, all the former Aydin Beylik people were stunned.
They had not expected that, although they had already guessed the other party was Christian, the one who actively contacted them would be the Bosphorus Caesar himself, who had once slightly defeated the Ottomans.
Although Rashid was momentarily speechless, his extensive experience quickly allowed him to regain his composure. "Why do you want to help us, Caesar?" he asked with extreme reverence and humility.
"We have a common enemy," Manuel replied softly but firmly, and immediately posed his own question, "How do you plan to resist the Ottomans? Are you planning an armed rebellion?"
"Asia Minor has long suffered under the Ottomans. And in Smyrna, whether Turks, Greeks, or Jewish, opposition to the Ottomans is the consensus of the majority."
"But one city is not enough to resist the Sultan, and most people will only remain silent when the Janissaries arrive, not join the resistance," Manuel pointed out incisively.
Rashid agreed, but he neither had absolute control over the group he led nor knew how to effectively resist the Ottomans. "Then, according to your opinion, Caesar, what should we do?"
Manuel could also roughly guess that the other party would not be able to control and lead the entire former Aydin Beylik community, so he did not make any outlandish requests.
Instead, after serious consideration for half a minute, he gave his opinion, "I will do my best to secretly support your anti-Ottoman activities, but for the sake of your own cause, I personally hope that you will try to keep the scale of your activities under control.
Furthermore, if you truly want to resist Ottoman tyranny on a large scale, I suggest waiting for about six or seven years."
If all goes as expected, in about six or seven years, the Varna Crusaders will begin. At that time, if the former Aydin Beylik people are still willing to resist the Ottomans, they should be able to more or less strike at Ottoman rule on the eastern coast of the Aegean Sea.
Facing the advice given by this Roman monarch, the former Aydin Beylik retainers behind Rashid discussed amongst themselves.
Eventually, they half-heartedly accepted the other party's proposal, and Rashid took the opportunity to push forward the boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old who was behind him, "Since you are the Caesar of the Romans, could you temporarily adopt this child?"
"Wait, wait, wait," Manuel's face instantly broke out in black lines. He had only come to show sincerity, so how was he suddenly becoming a godfather? "If he is your child, please..."
"This is Halil Aydinoglu, the future head of the Aydin family," Rashid said with a serious expression.
"Wasn't your Bey's family wiped out by the Ottomans?" Manuel took a step back, his face obscured by the night, hiding his bewildered expression.
The old man in front of him nodded slightly, "But the Aydin family has proliferated for many years, with extensive branches, and cannot be completely annihilated by a single massacre.
More precisely, what was massacred clean back then was the Bey himself and his descendants. Although the Bey's brother, Lord Hamza, who actively cooperated with the Ottomans, was later also massacred by the faithless Ottomans, he had a child at the time who survived because his mother was staying inland.
"Caesar, this child should have stayed in Aydin, but it is too dangerous for him to remain with us. Now that you are here, we hope that you, as a Roman monarch, can temporarily take him in as a symbol of our former Aydin Beylik people, until the day the Ottoman tyranny collapses."
Manuel was momentarily speechless; his anti-Ottoman campaign was turning into something like collecting Pokémon.