The next morning, inside the Theodosia palace of the Theodoro Principality, Manuel was still sound asleep due to the previous day's hard work.
Earlier, he often lacked sleep due to handling military and political affairs, so today he simply slept through everything.
But now he had completely overslept! It was already late morning, and he still wasn't awake.
It was fine when he was in Mangup, as his father Alexius handled important matters and supported him.
But in Theodosia, if he, as the lord, didn't wake up and work on time, the untreated official duties would accumulate endlessly.
Let me interject here to mention the division of administration for the major cities after the previous war.
Alexius specifically assigned the entire Theodosia region for his heir, Manuel, to govern, and reconfirmed the validity of the previously granted title of "Dignitary of Kaffa"—oh, no, it should now be called "Dignitary of Theodosia".
His jurisdiction also included the two subsidiary cities of Panticapaeum and Sugdaea; as for Phanagoria, Alexius himself managed most of it as per old custom, and granted some fiefs to domestic nobles for feudal rule.
Ahem, getting back to the point, everyone was at a loss when they realized Manuel hadn't woken up yet, after all, he was their superior lord.
What if he, in a fit of morning anger, threw them all to the Kerch Isthmus to reclaim land?
Incidentally, after the meeting yesterday, the first thing Manuel did upon returning was to sign a decree allowing prisoners to be sent to the Kerch Isthmus for hard labor, to build local infrastructure.
It's worth mentioning that shortly after this decree appeared, jokes and legends about being exiled to the Kerch Isthmus would spread throughout Theodosia and even the Theodoro Principality.
Returning to the present, Barbara finally stepped forward helplessly; after all, it was more appropriate for her to handle such an awkward situation where they couldn't advance or retreat.
Approaching Manuel's bedside made Barbara's heart beat a little faster.
However, with important matters at hand, she quietly leaned into Manuel's ear and softly said, "My Little husband, it's time to get up; there's a reward for waking up."
It had no effect; Manuel was still fast asleep.
At this moment, Barbara suddenly remembered something, a flash of inspiration, and changed her strategy.
She leaned into his ear again, saying with a hint of teasing, "Manuel, it's terrible! The Ottoman Janissaries have come, and they say they're going to seize me and take me to the Sultan's harem."
Manuel was instantly startled awake, kicking off the covers and shouting, "No, Sultan, no! Sultan, I was wrong! I'll give you Theodosia! Spare my wife, she's innocent... Huh?"
The awakened Manuel looked at Barbara, whose face was flushed, and the room, which was perfectly fine, and immediately understood what had happened.
His face instantly grew hot, "Um, you didn't hear anything, right...?"
Just as the two didn't know what to say, a "knock-knock" sound came from outside his door.
Upon hearing it, Manuel immediately said, "Come in."
The person who entered was Badars, his chief attendant.
Seeing the blushing faces of the two Highnesses, he immediately thought he understood something and smiled mysteriously, "Your Highnesses, it's fine, please continue..."
Before he could finish, Manuel interrupted him, "There's no need for that; I'm fine.
Just tell me immediately if there's anything important.
It's getting late, and I should go do serious work."
Badars, seeing this, said solemnly, "Your Highness, please come and attend to official duties.
Oh, by the way, the report on criminal cases in Theodosia over the past year, which you asked to be compiled yesterday, is ready."
"Alright, I'll go handle those matters right away."
Manuel took a deep breath, quickly restored his face to normal, gave Barbara a few instructions, and then left the room, seemingly fleeing to attend to official business.
After Manuel had been dealing with these cases for a while, Barbara finally finished and came over.
Seeing no abnormality on his fiancée's face except for a slight blush, he stopped his internal musings and diligently continued with his official duties.
About an hour later—
"What's going on?! What's with this crime rate?! There are even violent brawls in the palace!
Is Theodosia a den of gangsters?!" Manuel roared, angrily throwing several reports off the table.
It was no wonder he was so angry.
According to the records and statistics in these reports, in 1428, Theodosia experienced several serious cases almost every day, including incidents involving minor nobles, many of whom were still at large.
"Bring me all the key officials responsible for these matters!"
Badars dared not delay and immediately went with his subordinates to summon the individuals responsible for this area for a discussion, but before going, he turned back and asked:
"Your Highness, what does 'gangsters' mean?"
"You go and bring those people to me first," Manuel said with a sigh, rubbing his forehead.
After Badars left the palace, Barbara leaned forward and asked, "Manuel, what does 'gangsters' mean?"
Manuel expressed: ...
While Badars was summoning the people, Manuel explained the word to Barbara, and at the same time, planned to use this opportunity to implement his long-conceived plan: to establish a quasi-military police management system in Theodosia to strengthen control over the city's grassroots level.
By the time Badars brought the responsible individuals, Manuel already had a rough framework in mind.
After the officials and nobles responsible for this area entered, led by Michael Arno, they began to lament their difficulties: originally, there were some self-defense militias in the city, who also handled public order incidents.
However, last year, due to the war, militias were frequently mobilized for combat, so security and public order inevitably had to be relaxed.
Regarding this, they sincerely stated their willingness to organize a group to quickly restore public order within the next few months.
After listening to their complaints, Manuel pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Militiamen hold multiple positions, and their quality varies.
In my humble opinion, how about we innovate the security and public order system?"