Constantine would quickly set sail back towards Demetrios to inform him of what had been agreed upon by John, Constantine, and the ambassador. His ship would sail past the walls of Glarentza, and he would then come upon Demetrios' ship before waving towards him.
"Demetrios! I have important news for you and all of the men! Tell them to bring their ships close, as they will want to hear this!"
The crewmen were intrigued to hear what Constantine was about to say, as many people had begun gossiping about a potential wedding between him and the niece of Carlo Tocco, the ships would be brought close together by usage of rope, and men pulling them together
"1, 2, 3 PULL. 1, 2, 3 PULL. 1, 2, 3 PULL"
All in all, the remaining ships would be brought together to listen to what the Kephale was to say.
Constantine would stand up atop the quarterdeck of the ship, and would begin to speak,
"So.... my friends... I have important news for all of you! I know you've been tired here at sea, without your wine and families... Without the comfort of your bed as well. I, Constantine Palaiologos hereby announce that the war has been ended with a peace resulting in the acquisition of all Tocco domains in the Peloponnese! Therefore, we may now begin sailing back home back to the comfort of our beds! And because of your service to the empire, a bonus has been acquired following the ransom of the Epirus nobles back to their territory, which you will all receive once we reach home!"
The crewmen would begin celebrating wildly, with many breaking open the rest of the weak wine they had aboard their ship to begin celebrating, many others would begin singing songs and dancing. Morale in the fleet was high, and everyone in it happy as to a result of what was happening. Many would party all the way up until the beginning of the next day until making their way back home.
Constantine, meanwhile, would sit with Demetrios to talk with the old man about the future
"So, do you still intend to retire Demetrios?"\
Demetrios smiles a bit before saying
"Yes, I still intend to retire to a monastery, I have nothing left in this world other than my old worn out body and a bit of money i've earned over the years, but money won't bring me back my family."
The pair sit quietly for a bit before Demetrios would begin to stand up
"Constantine, don't worry about this old man, I have lived an entire lifetime, more than double your own. Now, you need to get to Domianus and Alexios and let them know that peace has been agreed upon, you don't want to leave them sitting out here for winter or they'll chew you out for that!" laughs out Demetrios before coughing a bit again
"Ah, I need to be careful of that, these are things all people experience in their life after a while. To be honest Constantine, I'll be dying soon, I'm unsure of how soon, but my body has gotten weaker and weaker, if I continue this lifestyle I'll be sure to die even sooner. I've chosen to devote myself to God for my final few years.... I think I may join your brother Andronikos at the Pantokrator monastery potentially, life would be peaceful there..."
Demetrios would then let his hand out to Constantine, before speaking once more
"It's been good serving alongside you Kephale, may God give both of us his favor."
"Same to you Demetrios, I wish you all the best." would respond Constantine shaking his hand
Constantine would proceed to take a ship to Glarentza to enter the fortress, the soldiers inside, having heard the orders from their Despot, would allow him in and he would talk with the man governing the city.
"Hello lord Constantine! We are all pleased to have the arrival of our soon to be lord here, if there are any issues of any sort send me a messenger and I'll be sure to fix the issue. Would you like me to prepare a feast for you here, or do you plan on leaving soon?"
"Thank you for your kind words governor, I will be leaving soon, however I will entrust things to you here."
After meeting with the man, Constantine would go on to look around at the fortress of Glarentza,
'This would have been a costly siege had we of decided to assault their walls,' thinks Constantine to himself
The walls of the city were high and dense to protect against any attempts at attacking the city along with a large amount of soldiers of which were heavily armed and with many mounted crossbows to the city's walls to skewer men if they had tried to do so. Constantine would observe this and imagine the number of men whom would be lost in such an attack. Hundreds? No, maybe thousands would die, not to mention how many would be killed through disease in the camps. He was thankful that Carlo Tocco surrendered these territories to him, as otherwise it would've been too costly.
The Kephale then makes his way outside of the city walls by horse. Many of the soldiers of Morea would observe this with confusion as to why their Kephale was inside the walls of the city, had he been captured by them? He would then ride up to the camp of the Morean army and greet the soldiers, before riding into the commander's tent where Domianus and Alexios were situated
Constantine would bust through the tent before smiling widely at both of his close friends,
"Domianus! Alexios! Aren't you glad to see me!"
"Ah if it isn't the cockiest man in all of Europe!" Domianus would shout while grinning
"So, what's the situation here? Has Glarentza surrendered? If not we're going to have to end the campaign, it's almost winter and the Pronoia soldiers are growing restless, they'll want to go back to their homes to prepare."
Constantine would take a seat before saying,
"Won't be necessary to continue the siege, we've won, and not just Glarentza, but all of Carlo Tocco's land."
Domianus and Alexios would look at Constantine surprised, before asking
"How did you manage this??"
"Carlo Tocco, after his fleet got wiped out, sent an offer having me marry his niece in exchange for peace and the giving up of all the territories he has here in the Western Peloponnese."
Domianus would grin before saying,
"You? Married? Hah that would be a sight to see, I can't recall you ever having any lovers before, you didn't even go to the brothels like many of us did."
"That's because I can control myself unlike you, you don't have a wife either so you can't talk my friend." laughs out Constantine
Domianus would continue laughing with Constantine and Alexios before asking another question
"Anyways, I'm glad to see you safe and alive my friend, and it's wonderful to hear that the war is won! I will order the men to gather and tell them of this news so we may head back to Mystras and be dismissed, did anything else important happen?"
"Well, regarding that.... I have also been made Despot of Morea officially, with my brother Thomas becoming co-despot." responds Constantine with a large grin on his face
"I had a feeling you were hiding something from us! You sly man!" laughs out Domianus while slapping his friend on the shoulder
"I'll be sure to find myself a wife in the future so our kids can grow up together my friend, this is cause for a celebration, for all of us!"
Domianus would exit the tent before yelling out to the entire camp
"MEN, ONCE WE GET TO MYSTRAS WE WILL DRINK WINE AND CELEBRATE, IT IS ON ME!"
A roaring applause would come from the soldiers in the camp with many hitting their shields to create noise and whistling, Domianus would look towards Constantine before saying,
"Now, my friend, make your way back home, and get some rest, you deserve it after all of the hard work done! I don't know what your plans are next, but knowing you, they're probably something big."
"Thank you Domianus, I'll see you in Mystras!"
Constantine and his bodyguard would make his way to Mystras by road, going from city to city to spread the news of what had occurred granting him much praise from the aristocracy of the area, which had mostly been at odds with the Palaiologos family. They had been used to their autonomy from before they came to power, and had fought against it quite often, though the new Despot made many invigorated to help fight for the empire. The trip back to Mystras would take about a week before reaching the walls of the city once more, where he would find people celebrating the victory he and Demetrios had over the Despot of Epirus, they called it the battle of the Echinades, and sung songs about the bravery of the men involved. The soldiers would soon after arrive in Mystras after Constantine in which they would immediately begin celebrating within the city, spending the money they had wherever they could, all of Mystras was in celebration for the following week full of people drinking, celebrating, and laughing
Constantine himself would join in on the celebration as well, however would soon go back to governing the region as before,
'Hmm.. it appears winter is within a week,'
Constantine then calls forth a select amount of people to meet him within the imperial palace by that evening, calling for George Sphranzes, Domianus, his young companion Nepotian, his brother Thomas, Gemistos Plethon, a talented student of his by the name of Basil, and a merchant by the name of Christophoros.
Constantine would have them all redirected to the hall of the palace, before bringing out food and wine for them to feast upon. He would then stand up from his seat and announce,
"All of you here today, I would like to ask for your help in creating a greater Morea, so that we may protect ourselves and the people here. You may be asking yourself currently, how am I apart of this dream of Constantine's? Well, I have decided to scrap the previous ways of workings here, and create a new system to run things more efficiently and more centralized."
Constantine then grabs a Venetian ducat and tosses it on the table
"This, this right here, what do all of you think of it?"
The men at the table would look at it, and watch silently until the young man by the name of Basil begins speaking
"It's a Venetian ducat, very widely here by everyone paying for things."
Constantine would smile and shout,
"Exactly! In Rhomaioi lands, merchants and nobles are mostly using foreign coins instead of our own, we need to create a new coin similar to what the Venetians and Florentines have! We have our own system and currency, but others widely use the Italian's coins for trading because it's more stable, so I suggest we remint a new coin here, with a standard design rather than a new emperor once they come to power, one side with a double headed eagle and the other with something significant. I will send a message to John about getting confirmation for such a project, but I believe this would result in a steady process instead of having to change everytime a new emperor comes, along with encouraging trade in the empire through a stable exchange rate."
Constantine would then pull out 4 different coins, a gold ducat, a venetian lira, smaller silver coin, and a copper coin
"I think we should create a system similar to the venetians, it would be impossible to mint a gold coin due to the shortage in Europe, more costly than it's worth, so we would have to use silver and copper coins for this, a 1:20:240 system similar to theirs would foster trade throughout the region without creating a preference over their currency rather than our own. The copper coins being used for rural farmers and the poor as at least this generates some revenue other than none."
The merchant, Christophoros, would ask,
"I think this would definitely be helpful regarding Rhomaioi trade, Rhomaioi traders trying to use coins from the empire have trouble using them in other areas due to the instability of our coin, though the Italian's also have their coins change a little bit, though with the creation of this new system I think our merchants would be able to trade easier overseas."
"An excellent thought about the subject! I was wanting to hire a merchant to help with the inflation of prices in Europe between the areas you and many other merchants perform trade in, and communicating the exchange rate between different areas." replied Constantine
"I would be happy to accept this position my lord." responds Christophoros
Constantine then moves to his close friend Domianus,
"First, I brought you here because I want to create something new that has been discussed in the debates at the library hosted by the scholar Plethon. A professional Rhomaioi army to serve and protect Morea from invaders, I want Domianus to train the army and be the Megas Domestikos of the army of Morea, an exact figure of what will be possible is unsure, however once we conduct a collection of the households under our rule and figure out how much tax can be collected, we will do so."
"I'd be happy to accept this position my friend, I had a feeling you had something planned Constantine," says Domianus while smiling
He then moves over to Gemistos Plethon, and begins speaking once more,
"The aristocracy of Morea don't look upon the Palaiologos despots too favorably after being used to their autonomy for so long, it's happened before with them revolting or being against helping each other, however I think a way we can solve this is through the creation of something you had mentioned before Plethon. A new building will be constructed within Mystras to house a council of men to advise the Despot of the region, and give representation for the different areas in its own way, this will be made up of educated men from these regions and will probably consist of many aristocratic families, as they will be the most educated of the bunch. Your job will be to go around to gather people to join this council of educated men, but this won't be your only job as you'll also be tasked with gathering the number of households within each area so we can try and figure out how many men may be used for this Morean army."
"An excellent idea Constantine! I fully support this!" shouts the scholar Plethon
"I question however, why have my student Basil accompany us?"
Constantine then moves over to Basil, and announces his next ambition,
"Taxation here isn't centralized yet, which I will be having Basil work to do, I'd like him to follow with a policy of a flat excise tax here in the region on goods and also a small land tax, this will probably upset people, however it must be done to help with saving the empire. With the flat excise tax, it won't be hard to know how much will need to be paid, and with a land tax, it will generate a good number of revenue, you are an educated man Basil, much more than many in Morea, I will want you to move around with a few selected officials to determine the value of the land some of the people own and will lead the taxation effort here. You will also be leading it by hiring tax collectors from educated men whom you deem to not be corrupt. They will gather a select amount that's not too overbearing, and bring it back to you, their wages will be paid by you, not through the taxes."
"I would be honored for such, I don't have experience with such, but would be happy to learn overtime for this role." responds Basil
"Now! My trusted friend Sphranzes, I will be appointing you as governor of the city of Mystras, however your role not only is this, but will be as a diplomat for Morea as well, which I already have a task for you currently my friend, I want you to head to Ragusa to begin negotiating with the merchants there to bring trade here." speaks Constantine
"I will get straight to it Constantine!" happily responds Sphranzes
Constantine then looks to Nepotian and Thomas, and speaks to both of them,
"Nepotian, I have spent time reading about the Italians, and I have spent time looking at what they have accomplished, I have been told many things about what they have done through as well through the lectures given by Plethon through the many people whom go through there. What we need is to grow the amount of educated people and those with skills here, and through the debates we had come to an idea that greek men should be sent to study in Italy to acquire knowledge in the sciences of engineering, mining, metallurgy, craftsmanship, and shipbuilding. The current province is backwards in many ways and we must change this. You will be sent to gather candidates for this in aristocratic families to bring this knowledge back to the people, while also gathering individuals from the cities here who seem like good candidates for such. The men sent here will gain a larger viewing of the world rather than just that of rural Morea. For you, my brother, you and a few advisors will also be sent to Italy as well to hire men knowledgeable in such arts as described earlier to come and settle in Morea and work here, also encouraging others as well. There are many Albanians here from Theodore I's reign, and I don't see an issue with bringing more here to fill and work the lands. With this, we can begin reshaping Morea into something grand that can help restore the empire."
Both of them would respond favorably to their new position and the rest of the men would begin working on their new positions, Constantine would go up to his chambers after this appointment, thinking of what to do next.
'I think this is what we need to do, I don't know how much time we have until the Turks are angered and decide to destroy us once and for all, but I need to do as much as I can until then.'