Thus, under the Caesar's secret order, the elite mobile units of the Bosporus Army began to covertly move towards the Adyghe Principality, Phanagoria, and the Perekop Isthmus. To conceal this, Manuel grandly announced that he would conduct military exercises on the Taman Peninsula to test whether the army had the ability to defend the Autocratic State; at the same time, citing his need to prevent tensions within the Golden Horde from affecting Bosporus, he ordered more ships from the Venetians.
While arranging these, his Chief Minister secretly asked him the true reason for taking the Sea of Azov coast. After all, the reason of making the Sea of Azov an inland sea not only seemed fantastical but also appeared to be an act of grand ambition. Out of a sense of responsibility and prudence, he wished to know the true reason for the Caesar's actions.
"Do you really want to know the reason?" As he spoke of this, Manuel's eyes became serious and profound, making one lack the courage to look directly at him.
"Holy Father above, please enlighten us, Your Majesty." Serenus bowed his head, showing his earnestness.
The Caesar did not directly answer this, but instead turned to face the map on the table and called him over.
After the Chief Minister approached, Manuel pointed to the area around Tauris, explaining the reason for his actions, "Ultimately, this can all be attributed to trade and security—I want to monopolize Black Sea trade, and I also want to ensure that our rule in the region can last for half a century.
"The current situation is that Kazan has become independent, and to suppress the Volga Bulgaria within the original core ruling area, the Golden Horde will certainly go all out to suppress them. Regardless of the final outcome, Sarai will lose a lot of control over the Black Sea coastal steppes.
"At this time, because the Crimean Khanate, which should have risen, was jointly strangled by us and the Golden Horde, a power vacuum will inevitably emerge in the great steppe. If nothing unexpected happens, a new Tatar prince should appear here to fill the local void.
"This situation cannot be allowed to happen, otherwise, we will be in danger!" Speaking of this, Manuel slammed his fist on the table, emphasizing this point.
"A new Tatar prince, what a joke!? We just managed to suppress Haji Giray, are we going to have a new one?"
"But why must we be the ones to stick our necks out? Wouldn't this invite retaliation from the Mongols?" Serenus raised an objection with some unease.
"I don't want to either. If I could, I would rather invite the neighboring Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Kingdom of Lithuania to the great steppe." The young Caesar sighed softly, shaking his head helplessly, "But the Grand Duchy of Moscow is not yet strong enough to threaten the Tatars alone; Lithuania, after the death of Vytautas, has seen its strength decline due to internal struggles, and the succession has not even been determined yet, with the throne likely to fall to the Polish royal family in the end. Rather than trusting them, it's better to do it ourselves.
"This is why we have no choice but to send troops. As for the benefits this will bring, if successful, we will be able to largely kick the Tatars out of the Black Sea trade dominated by the Autocratic State, achieving a near monopoly. The slave trade can also be dominated by our country and the subservient Tatar tribes, without having to bow to Sarai."
"But Your Majesty, aren't there still Venetians in the eastern Black Sea?"
"Are you trying to kill me!?"
After explaining this matter to his confidant, Manuel then turned his attention to another important matter: army reorganization.
Through a series of battles and military reforms since his ascension, the military system of Bosporus had largely been perfected, and its combat power had leaped to a level that could be presented in the Black Sea region, while the treatment of soldiers was also far superior to the past.
However, there was still a small problem, which was that the legion organization was a bit disorganized. Having a deep understanding of the current organizational structure of the Bosporus Army, after careful consideration, he decided to reorganize the troops before this military operation.
To this end, over the next week, the Caesar successively summoned his Generals and commanders to discuss how to organize the army's structure. After a week of careful discussion, a new legion structure, based on the old one, was introduced—
Including the Pontus and Tauris departments, the standing army's Grand Company of farmer-soldiers comprised a total of 7,000 men, with the former having 3,000 and the latter 4,000. A regular legion was structured with 1,000 men, totaling 7 legions.
The organizational hierarchy within the legion remained unchanged as before, progressing upward from basic soldiers, four-man and five-man leaders, ten-man leaders, centurions, standard-bearers, detachment officers, deputies, and Generals. The General was the General of the legion, while the deputies ranged from two to four, depending on the specific situation.
In addition, two special legions were also specifically determined: one was the Tatar Legion, with Kristo Balin, the Governor of West Kyzyl-Yar and Chief of the Balin Tribe, serving as its General. It consisted entirely of Tatar cavalry, numbering 1,000 men, primarily from directly administered areas. The other was the Circassian Legion, with Yang Karlo, a Circassian trusted by him, serving as its General. It consisted entirely of Circassian mountain militiamen skilled in mountain warfare, also numbering 1,000 men, mostly provided and recruited by Adyghe. The former was incorporated into the Tauris department, and the latter into the Pontus department, with all members being tested Eastern Orthodox.
Aside from these two legions, the main components of the other legions of farmer-soldiers were Eastern Orthodox greek-speaking populations.
Furthermore, Manuel also planned to establish a fully organized Armenian Legion one day in the future, composed of Christian Armenians. However, since the extent of a full-scale war with the Ottoman had not yet been reached in the past two years, he temporarily shelved this plan and continued to appease the Armenians with grand promises.
As for the Rus' Cossacks previously recruited and incorporated, since the Caesar had no intention of deploying them in direct combat, he did not give them a formal establishment, but instead continued to let those five or six hundred men exist as unattached units.
In addition to the reorganization, he also set the official names of the various legions: except for the Tatar Legion and the Circassian Legion, all other legions were simply given ordinal numbers after their respective army units, such as the Pontus First Legion, the Tauris First Legion… and so on.
But at the same time, Manuel also stated that if a certain legion achieved military merits worthy of great praise in the future, he would grant that legion an official code name, so that it would have a glorious reputation worthy of being sung by future generations.
Along with the reorganization order, he also issued an edict to generously treat the soldiers. According to this order, all Bosporus soldiers with formal establishment, in addition to a considerable area of military land for cultivation, would also receive a monthly salary starting at 3 ducats—this was twice the salary of grassroots officials in both Mangup and Trabzon. If a soldier achieved additional military merits, even more rewards or even land would be given.
With the issuance of this order, the Bosporus officers and soldiers further supported their monarch, and enlisting in the army became an attractive path for the common people of the Autocratic State.