Three days after lecturing and guiding Tukharovsky, the Army Commander presented his monarch with a meticulously revised new military plan in the morning. This time, he no longer unrealistically advocated for the wholesale adoption of the Mamluk military system. Instead, he explicitly recommended only studying Mamluk cavalry equipment and tactics, with heavy cavalry specifically highlighted as the top priority. Furthermore, the Commander distinctly proposed increasing the proportion of firearms in the new plan, as instructed by Caesar, and mentioned learning from the Mamluks' institutionalized, systematic, and grassroots management for training elite soldiers.
Manuel was much more satisfied with this new plan than the previous one. However, he was still somewhat displeased due to its lack of specificity and detail. Therefore, a few days later, after visiting his elderly father, Prince Alexius, in Bangkok Pu, he immediately convened his high-ranking generals and commanders at the old family palace to jointly discuss how to adjust the current training methods for the Bosporus soldiers, using Tukharovsky's submitted military plan as a baseline.
At the military meeting the following afternoon, after discussions with the various generals and commanders, Caesar officially determined the daily training standards for the soldiers: both the standing army and the Philaka Legion would emulate Mamluk training methods, with officer-leaders conducting high-intensity training. The former's training period was set for the already established duration, while the latter's would be daily.
Regarding the cultivation of heavy cavalry, Manuel explicitly stated that one hundred fully armored heavy cavalry would be trained and assigned to the Philaka Legion; however, he would also train at least 2,500 ordinary cavalry within the Grand Company. Both would be trained using a blend of Komnenos era and Mamluk cavalry training methods.
Thus, the new system for the Bosporus cavalry and soldier training was established. The military acumen displayed by Caesar himself during this meeting earned him endless praise from his subordinates. However, there was some private debate about why Manuel did not personally compile the relevant plans.
"Nonsense, am I really that idle?" Hearing Dungar and others' private complaints and grumbling, Caesar was exasperated to the point of laughter. He had been dealing with state affairs every day for the past week since his return, so busy that he didn't even have extra time to enjoy his family's company. How could he possibly have time to write plans for them?
Moreover, he had more than just these matters to attend to. Based on his understanding of the Ottoman military system and cultural customs, he did not believe that he could cultivate a cavalry force capable of crushing the Sipahi by spending these years. But if the mobile cavalry force did not gain a certain advantage on the battlefield, then no matter how loudly his cannons roared, it would be difficult to achieve the desired results.
Therefore, Manuel conceived of a shortcut: what if his cavalry were revolving carbine cavalry wielding firearms?
To verify the feasibility of this idea in the current era, after returning to Trabzon for several days, Caesar specifically visited the Military Industry Department, which was currently under the Secretariat. He summoned the overall manager of firearm production, Philippilan, the elder whom he had treated with courtesy since his time as Crown Prince, and asked him if he could currently produce a firearm suitable for cavalry.
The old manager, after careful consideration for a long time, provided his answer at noon on the third day.
"It's not possible?" Manuel's tone was full of regret.
"Your Majesty, I truly don't know how to modify the current matchlock to be used by mobile cavalry," Philippilan said with difficulty. Even though the old man had never ridden a horse in his life, he still possessed basic common sense.
"What if the barrel was shortened a bit?" Manuel suggested after some thought.
This made the gunsmith hesitant. "Your Majesty, this might weaken the range and accuracy of the firearm, and it wouldn't save much material either."
"What I mean is," Caesar patiently explained, "if the barrel were shortened, would it then be possible to use it for cavalry?"
The idea of shortening the matchlock was not a sudden whim, but was based on solid knowledge from his previous life. In official history, in the late 15th century, several short-barreled matchlocks, whose total length of stock and barrel was less than a forearm, did appear in the German region. They were mainly used to arm national servants and were also the precursor to later carbines. So now he intended to produce them ahead of time to arm his cavalry, which should theoretically be achievable.
"This," the craftsman, after careful consideration, bowed his head to show his helplessness, "Your Majesty, although I am just an unlearned craftsman, I do know that a short gun can only make it convenient for cavalry to carry, but it cannot shorten the reloading time. Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, how about using a hand cannon?"
Manuel smiled helplessly. Early firearms like the hand cannon had crude structures, and their accuracy and power did not meet his expectations. Take, for example, the exquisite hand cannon his naval mentor, the current Bosporus Naval Governor Falero, gave him as a birthday gift; everything about it was good except that it was impractical: although the reloading speed could be slightly faster, the firepower, in his eyes, was not stable, and if the posture or steps were slightly incorrect, it was prone to misfire or burst. The few times he could say he had used it were when he privately executed the Ottoman intervention army generals sent to Tauris.
This old-era waste, in his eyes, was not even as good as the prototype gun he had made in his youth. If only he could summon code to appear, looking at his unusually clean hands, Manuel shook his head helplessly.
Finally, due to practical considerations, he temporarily shelved the idea of producing early carbines and instead merely assigned it as a task to the Military Industry Department. However, before bidding farewell, he still, from memory, gave the old manager a rough method for developing fixed ammunition, asking him to improve it so that it could be practically used on the battlefield in the near future.
As the Bosporus army's combat effectiveness was about to increase, approximately a week later, Manuel learned that there seemed to be a small problem in neighboring Georgia.
"Sultan Jahan Shah of the Black Sheep is showing a tendency to deploy a large army to the Georgian border. Atabeg Ivan II of the Samtskhe Principality has secretly extended an invitation to us to resist the infidels," Caesar said, a subtle smile appearing on his face after listening to Serenus's report, coordinated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Although resisting the infidels is an obligation our kin should fulfill, it is rather presumptuous for a vassal to make such a request."
"Your Majesty, should we decline the Atabeg's request?" Serenus asked, bowing.
"No," Caesar Manuel waved his hand, "keep him hanging, and wait and see." After all, he believed that reaching a consensus with the Bagration Dynasty was more beneficial than a small Samtskhe Principality, even though the latter currently had no actions or intentions to establish diplomatic relations with Bosporus.