During this period, Ottoman Sultan Murad II's mood was quite complex. On the bad side, his concubine Mara Hatton was murdered, but no matter how hard they tried, the real culprit was never caught, which instead escalated conflicts between high-ranking families, eventually leading to the case being dropped without resolution. At the same time, his fourth son, Muhammad, even after being confined to the palace, showed behaviors suggesting he might have inherited more from his mother's side, having too many Greek habits. Fortunately, given the current situation, the throne of the Ottoman Sultanate would definitely not be inherited by him, which was a great relief to Murad.
On the good side, nothing was better than the recent state of the neighboring Bosporus. The Bosphorus Despotate, which used to be hostile to the Ottoman, seemed to have lost its sharp edge; not only did it show no intention of going to war with him, but it also sold grain to his territory, which Murad undoubtedly saw as a gesture of goodwill. For this reason, he was able to deploy more troops to Europe to confront the Christians there, instead of wasting them in Anatolia.
Seizing this opportune moment, Murad, during the autumn harvest this year, sent his designated heir, Sultan Aladdin Ali, to Tokat to serve as the local governor. Meanwhile, his eldest son, Ahmed, who also had no shortage of supporters, was dispatched by the Sultan to Kocaeli as governor to administer the area. As for his fourth son, Muhammad, after careful consideration, he ultimately kept him in the palace and did not send him out. Although somewhat cruel, it was best for this son, born of a Greek slave woman, not to wield any power, to avoid causing trouble when his beloved son ascended to the throne.
On the night before his beloved son, Sultan Aladdin Ali, left the capital, the prince, who had just married a noblewoman from the Kandar family, was specially summoned by the Sultan to the palace study to discuss their father-son views on the future of the Ottoman. When mentioning the national strength, the Sultan even patted his son's head and confidently smiled, saying, "By Allah's grace, our empire is flourishing."
While Murad was reveling in the flourishing state of the nation at his palace in Edirne, across the Sea of Marmara on the Asia Minor peninsula, Karaman Bey Suleiman was in his palace in Konya. After declaring to his subordinates that this was "the best and last chance for the descendants of Arslan," he ordered an audience with the Mamluk envoy from Cairo. What he intended to do was already obvious.
In the following months, at the behest of the Konya court, the Turkmen tribes loyal to Karaman launched repeated raiding attacks along the border with the Ottoman, while Suleiman frequently met with envoys from Cairo, Mangup, and Venice, hoping for their support in his upcoming military actions against the Ottoman.
Regarding Karaman's requests, the Mamluk and Venice enthusiastically agreed, stating their willingness to provide military assistance to their ally. However, Bosporus repeatedly advised him to wait a few more months or even a year for the Crusaders from Europe to form.
But Suleiman, with a strong sense of urgency, repeatedly stated that he had no time to wait and hoped that the Eastern European nations would follow suit after he initiated the attack. As negotiations continued into early 1443, Caesar Manuel finally gave up his objections, agreeing to provide material support to his ally on the condition that he would not engage in direct combat with the Ottoman.
The reason Suleiman was confident that the Christians would follow suit after he launched his attack was that in late 1442, the two warring factions in the Hungarian civil war officially signed a peace treaty, mediated by Pope Eugene IV, recognizing Polish King Władysław III as also King Ulaslo I of Hungary, thereby completely ending the civil war.
Therefore, the Bey believed that the Christians were fully prepared. According to the tacit understanding reached earlier, as long as he drew some of the Ottoman forces to Asia Minor, the Eastern European nations across the Sea of Marmara would certainly follow suit and completely dismantle Ottoman hegemony.
Thus, after Cairo sent 300 Mamluk as aid, Suleiman, believing the arrow was on the string, led the Karaman Beylik to declare war on the Ottoman Sultanate without warning on February 26, 1443. Nearly ten thousand Karaman troops immediately rushed towards Ankara, the central city of the Ottoman in Anatolia, under the cover of night, vowing to capture the fortress before the main Ottoman forces could return from Europe.
Due to the suddenness of Karaman's actions, all parties took some time to recover. Three full days after the Karaman attack, in the palace at Edirne, Murad II finally learned the general situation. He flew into a rage, summoned Grand Vizier Halil Pasha, and asked him about the current situation.
"Sultan, several border areas in the southeastern territories have changed hands, and at least one legion was completely annihilated due to being caught off guard…"
"What about Ankara!?" the Sultan angrily interrupted him.
"Upon learning of the Karaman attack, Prince Sultan Aladdin Ali led his troops to Ankara to resist the enemy. The fortress is currently intact…"
Hearing this, Murad's emotions calmed down slightly. He even had no intention of pursuing the fault of his beloved son for taking matters into his own hands.
In northern Anatolia, Manuel did not learn the details until the following month. Upon realizing that his close friend had actually gone to war with the Ottoman solely by himself, Manuel was instantly stunned, filled with both anger and fear, and it took him a long time to recover. After a while, the Caesar looked at the ergot that was always on his desk, hesitated for half a second, then slowly raised his hand, called his Commander of the Guard to him, and whispered,
"This and that, this and that."
After some time, Bosporus began selling wheat seeds abroad. Ottoman farmers and herders, who had long heard of Bosporus's high yields, took this opportunity to consciously and unconsciously buy wheat seeds from the neighboring country. During this period, a group of Bosporus merchants even ventured into the hinterland of Asia Minor and Rumelia, claiming they would make a fortune from this opportunity.
This matter quickly reached Murad II's ears. The Sultan, busy fighting Karaman at the time, did not pay attention to it; in his eyes, the neighboring country doing so would effectively alleviate the Sultanate's food pressure.
As for Bosporus's actions, Suleiman, who had been receiving aid from his close friend since the war began, immediately sent a letter, detailing the pros and cons and urging Manuel not to act like Latin merchants playing both sides. However, this letter ultimately sank without a trace, and Manuel, apart from repeatedly promising that he would not actually aid the enemy, made no further response.
Shortly after Karaman struck the first blow against the Ottoman, the Eastern European nations indeed saw an opportunity. Pope Eugene IV, as the convener of the Crusade, seized this opportune moment to summon the monarchs of all Christian states bordering the Ottoman to Buda before May, to discuss the launching of the Crusade.
Among them, Manuel, as the Bosphorus Caesar, naturally received a letter from the Pope. When asked by his subordinates about his strategy, the Caesar, who was already past thirty, tucked the letter into his embrace and solemnly replied,
"Do I have any reason to stay out of this?"
On Palm Sunday in 1443, the monarchs or representatives of the Christian nations bordering the Ottoman gathered in Buda, the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary, and the Crusade council was convened.