Vasily II felt relieved after the Palaiologos family-born Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus' was taken away and placed under house arrest.
It was fortunate that he had accepted the advice of the Bosporus Caesar, a friendly nation.
By having Isidore report back to the palace immediately upon his return and delaying the Metropolitan's announcement of the Church Union resolution, he learned the severe consequences his oath in Rome would have on the Grand Duchy.
Moreover, and most importantly, he himself had previously been convinced by Isidore and had enthusiastically supported his stance on Church Union.
Fortunately, he was one step ahead.
After probing Isidore yesterday, he immediately set up an ambush and, today, summoned him back to the palace under a private pretext, directly apprehending the Metropolitan who was full of thoughts of Church Union.
Through this action, he also clarified any suspicion of being close to Catholic, and, as expected, could further increase his prestige among the nobles and clergy in his country.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel sincere gratitude towards the young Bosporus Caesar.
It was a good thing that this friendly monarch had given him advice beforehand; otherwise, if this matter had escalated, Moscow would likely have found it difficult to resolve.
Thus, with Isidore, the Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus' appointed by Constantinople, under house arrest, the "Church Union" process in the Rus' lands, led by the Grand Duchy of Moscow, completely stalled.
The local orthodox Church maintained an even higher degree of autonomy than before.
However, unlike in official history, because the Romans did not further intensify religious conflicts or worsen their relationship with Constantinople, Vasily II did not unilaterally depose Isidore and establish an autonomous diocese as he did in official history.
In other words, currently and in the future, the Rus' diocese still belongs to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, at least nominally.
However, this matter has not yet received close attention from the countries along the Black Sea.
Aside from Manuel, who, upon learning of it several months later, inadvertently boasted to his wife in private that it was his diplomatic achievement, it did not cause much of a stir.
After all, for these countries, the most urgent matter at hand was the tense standoff between Ottoman and Hungary.
As mentioned before, since the end of last year, when Manuel departed for the Apennine Peninsula to attend the Council of Florence, Ottoman Sultan Murad II launched an offensive against the kingdom in late August, under the pretext of punishing heretics, to retaliate against Hungary's interference and support of Serbia.
Although this brief conflict ended with Albrecht II's severe injury and death, and the Ottoman's temporary retreat, almost all countries in Southeast Europe and western Asia Minor knew that this was merely a temporary peace.
As soon as either side caught its breath, this temporarily interrupted war would immediately resume.
And Manuel, with his knowledge of past history, knew that the subsequent war would escalate into a grand Crusade at the Pope's call.
To respond to this Crusade, he had to prepare in advance.
Because at that time, it would be his last chance.
Thinking of this, Manuel, who was currently nestled in bed with his sleeping wife in the imperial bedchamber, became solemn.
Being in a state of post-coital clarity, he simply jumped out of bed early that morning.
After gently caressing Barbara's sleeping face, he quickly changed his clothes and turned to leave the room, heading to the small office in the palace.
He needed to start formulating a military expansion plan.
After breakfast, and before officially starting work, he had his subordinates present new intelligence regarding the Eastern Mediterranean region.
Today's intelligence was mostly dull, except for one item.
"Władysław III, King of Poland, officially responded to the Hungarian Parliament's decision and immediately led his followers to Pest to be crowned with the Holy Crown of Saint Stephen."
After reading this, the joy on Manuel's face intensified considerably.
Accounting for the time difference caused by transportation limitations, Władysław III should have already reached central Hungary by now.
Soon, in a while, this young king would become Ulaslo I, King of Hungary.
"Time passes so quickly," he thought, considering that this teenage king was not even eighteen years old, and it reminded him of the time he, as Crown Prince, led Theodoro to attack Genoa to reclaim lost territories.
"In the blink of an eye, it's been over 10 years."
He stroked his deliberately maintained short, sparse beard and suddenly thought of a not-so-happy fact: he was already 28 years old and would soon enter middle age, no longer young.
Therefore, he absolutely could not miss this opportunity.
For a moment, he even felt like Mithradates VI, the temporarily spirited King of Pontus, at a crossroads in life, where one wrong step could lead to eternal damnation.
With this mindset, he summoned all his cabinet members and high-ranking generals to his palace in Mangup that morning to discuss military expansion.
As for the reason, he had already thought of it: suppressing various rebellions in the newly conquered lands and defending the borders—didn't all these require new troops?
Therefore, under the Caesar's righteous words, the decision to expand the army quickly received the sincere support of all his ministers.
The next step, then, was how to expand the army.
They did not rush to propose a patchwork plan immediately, but instead, under the Caesar's leadership, analyzed the current shortcomings and limitations of the Bosporus Army's military strength.
During this period, the diocese Patriarch and MegasCancellarius, who had little to do with military matters, consciously rose and excused themselves before the discussion officially began, leaving the relevant personnel to continue the discussion.
After three days of intense debate, witnessing several subordinates almost come to blows, Manuel ultimately adopted the strengths of various proposals and, as Caesar, made the final decision, conclusively setting forth the following military expansion plan:
In terms of numbers, the Filaka Legion of Bosporus would remain unchanged, but the Grand Company peasant soldiers would be expanded by an additional two thousand.
In other words, according to the planned schedule, the Bosporus standing army was expected to reach as many as ten thousand men.
In terms of legion organization, two additional legions would be established while retaining the thousand-man per legion basis.
One would be the Armenian Legion, composed of Armenians; the other would be temporarily called the Tauris Fourth Legion, but it would not recruit from north of the Black Sea.
Instead, it would recruit Romans who had fled from within the Ottoman Empire, whether refugees from Asia Minor or the Emos Peninsula.
As long as they could prove their hatred for the Ottoman and their own piety, they would be eligible to join this legion.
As for whether their military expansion should be properly disguised? Manuel believed it was unnecessary.
Would the Ottoman believe him if he said he was expanding not the army but the police?
And even if Murad was anxious, what then?
Could he convince the Turk high-ranking families in his country to put aside the Western threat and not actively attack him?
As long as Bosporus did not declare war first…
"Oh no, I need to quickly tell my close friend in southern Asia Minor not to rush into declaring war on the Ottoman recently!"
Thinking of this, Manuel became a little flustered.