Chapter 8: First meeting with the sultan
After entering the room, I saw my mother and sister sitting in a small lounge area I had created in these living quarters specifically for this trip so my family can travel in luxury not losing in comfort to any hotel in this era, well except for the small size of this lounge. After taking A seat I began to speak with my mother.
"Mother I wanted to ask how you feel about the accommodations?"
she looked a little happy answering "Actually I was a little concerned with the state of the ship I know the trip would not last but a few hours. I am still worried about your sister's comfort, but this is the most luxurious stay I've had on a ship."
"Mom, I am sure you know why I wanted to talk to you... I wonder why my father would call me to Bursa instead of just sending a messenger or a gift of congratulations, I sent him half the loot I obtained much to the detriment of my men I did what I was supposed to so why?" I asked my mother eager to hear her answer.
My mother immediately responded "My son I cannot claim to know Orhan more than any of his other wives, but I can say I have a decent understanding of the man who is father to my children. I'll be honest your father called you because he was happy, your father is a man who has countered many schemes but not a man who sets them he is what Greek historians call a warrior king.
-Now I will say though your father is an honest man, that does not mean he cannot manufacture an environment in which all his heirs are in one city, and they all have one thing on their minds and that is you! My son I know your father does not think your brothers will attempt to hurt you, but I say be as careful as possible."
"Is that so... okay mother thanks that give me a good bit to think about! I'll relax here with you guys... Hey, big sister can you call my lioness to come over here we can all spend some quality time together while waiting to arrive in Bursa" I said while waving to my older sister to do what I asked.
But this trip makes me a little uncomfortable, honestly, I believed for a while I was free to conquer how I like and have little oversight. But that may not be the case I assumed Orhan was reaching his later years, so he was done with the battlefield maybe he still has dreams of fighting more.
Maybe he wants to use my conquest of Gallipoli as a rallying call to his armies and vessels that it's time to conquer leaving nothing but scraps for me, in this case, I will defiantly kill everyone after my lands and future lands.
What I want my sultan to do is build a peaceful environment in Bithynia building the population and wealth in the region giving me a decent boost once I take the throne. Also, the longer they stay peaceful the easier it will be for me to destroy any of my brother's armies who have been growing fat on peace while my armies are battle hungry wolfs.
But the longer the ride is the more I think so I will switch my attention toward reform. I think I will make some army reforms I like the way the units are set in the game and that works for the game but for me, it doesn't help too many units to keep track of.
I believe the units can keep their unit-style formations on the battlefield but when it comes to leadership, we will have to change some things. I have two choices on this matter either follow the easiest method and apply the decimal system whereas the armies will have a 100-man leader, 1000-man leader, and 10,000 Etc...
This system is easy to implement, and it does not have too many drawbacks for me as it is a simple system. Compared to the legion system Rome had which was probably superior to any system after it well when dealing with massive amounts of professional troops and many borders to deploy such soldiers. The legion system may come in handy for me later on down the line when I may have an extensive number of professional troops and I could split these units up into legions with a set amount of each unit type depending on the region they are in and what enemies they are fighting.
Also, I want to create a system to separate my retinue troops from the regular standing army. I want the heavy cataphract units to continue to serve as my bodyguard, but I also can now recruit janissary units. These janissary units can be recruited in 3-unit types there is the heavy janissary which is like Varangian guardsmen.
There are the janissary archers which have a strong missile attack but very light armor and the janissary muskets which are also missile units, they are a unit made of all musketeers. I want to specify which roles the units in my retinue will have, my retinue will probably only serve in an army campaign whether that be offense or defense.
When there is no campaign these retinue units will be around the capitol or if we expand enough, they will be in all capital regions representing the crown's control. Because once I get another large city that the system recognizes I can start recruiting 2 units per turn in just one settlement so the snowball effect will kick in and the soldier's numbers will begin to rise inevitably.
But speaking of the janissary and Varangian guard... System what is the difference between the Varangian guard and the janissary heavy infantry they both come from Christian nations and fight with an attack-first mindset except one is armored in a traditional Byzantium style and the other is Turkish...
There are a few units like this the Byzantium cataphract and Kapukulu units are the same and the ottoman infantry and byzantine archer are the same units as well their only difference is the style of armor and small price differences... Wouldn't it make more sense to combine such troops that are the same and make them ottoman troops instead of the Turk faction and Byzantium faction?
Perfect finished this just in time to arrive near the dock, I got everyone up to go after getting the news we are arriving, and we went to the deck of the flagship. On the deck is My family, Mary, and Giada we are followed by 100 cataphract general's bodyguards and 160 Tsars guards (Cataphract horsemen) The sight has to be awe-inspiring to see 260 heavy calvaries walk through the city streets, the horses all walking together making this a war song no one wants to hear.
After walking through and out of Mudanya a small port city in Bursa province it took about 3 hours by horse to get to the walls of Brusa. After making our way into the walls and through the outer city, we arrived on the road to the palace.
Walking in a line with me at the front a few guards behind me then my family and servants than the rest of the guardsmen leaving no room to spare on these streets. We marched forward to the palace, crowds began to gather on the side streets, and many were hanging out of their windows wondering what this army was doing in the city.
But then I gave the order to begin tossing the coins this is a tradition of the Romans, but I always wanted to do this and today is the best day for it. The citizens in Bursa were told through word of mouth the 4th prince would be arriving sometime this week to see the sultan. After my conquest in Gallipoli, I already have a big reputation and not even 2 weeks have passed which just shows how important such an event is.
So why not spread my reputation more by giving loot to the ottoman citizens, this is a tradition that every dictatorship should adopt not much money is thrown around but to the people lucky enough to get a coin or the people just seeing a prince giving away coins that he got by his hard work will make a lot of people happy with me. *Woo woo hoo!!!* The crowd continued to cheer as we paraded down the main street tossing coins of all denominations and randomized silver or copper statuettes and other loot.
When we reached the front of the palace, the guards were out in force probably over a hundred or so which is rare from what I know in my memories, but it makes sense because the crowd here is a real crowd of people there must be hundreds or maybe even thousands of people cheering and shouting.
Before we reached the gates I stopped and jumped out of the saddle to stand on my saddle so everyone could see me. After the crowd noticed me standing and holding my hand in the air the surrounding quieted down enough that you could hear me speaking "My good people tonight we shall celebrate our great victory we hope you can feast with us!"
This feast I had planned since I received my invite to see the sultan, I had my spies in the tavern here handle all the information gathering on all the people who tried to buy up the food in the market so I could not host a victory feast.
I planned to bring food here for a feast why would I waste coins when I just had a giant influx of supplies? I wouldn't but these people in the shadows had no clue I would do such a thing so they probably believed they achieved something or maybe they might approach me to offer me food for tonight's feast. I wonder who is behind this group of men...
After I spoke to the crowd I hopped back on my horse and walked to the gate requested entry as the son of the sultan and soon I was walking through the gates with my entourage two special mentions in this group my diplomat, and assassin 001 both of whom were recruited only recently. The woman headed off toward the part of the palace designated as the harem, 240 men went to the barracks next to the palace to relax and feed the horses while I had 20 men follow me 10 of my bodyguard the other the tsar's guard.
After being welcomed by the staff at the entrance we were escorted toward the resting area of the palace where we need to change into court attire. Currently, I am wearing a decorative armor I had produced for functions such as the parade through the city, but to enter the throne room you must follow the procedures.
The court rules are still pretty minor they are the standard rules for entering a Bey's tent not many differences but there are a few changes made by my late uncle the first grand vizier Alaeddin pasha. So, we just need to make sure we are clean and wearing civilian garb no armor in the throne room. Soon we went toward the bathhouse, the palace servants listening to mary are handling the items we brought along so we just need to bathe and the servants will handle the rest.
After little more than an hour we were dressed and heading toward the throne room. My clothing was really simple, I do not plan to show off my wealth unless it is giving it away that is the way of my grandfather Osman founder of the Ottoman state. This is an ideal to live toward so I shall live toward it, but soon we headed toward the sultan's court.
After a brief walk, we arrived in front of the two doors with two flashily dressed guards in front of them. I told the guards my name and after that he opened the door, revealing the city in front of me this entrance is on the side of the throne room so to see the sultan you must walk in and look to your right. But directly in front of the entrance is a beautiful open terrace showing the view of the city and the open bursa plains in the distance.
I have to admire how fast the Turkification of this city is going, the city has been in ottoman control for 20 years, but it is practically unrecognizable from the previous city this is what I should strive toward in Thrace and Gallipoli.
After the doors open my entrance was announced by the guard to the throne room "Şehzade Alaeddin Osmanli son of Orhan Gazi, Sanjak Bey of Karasi and Gallipoli"
As I entered, I wasn't too surprised to see many more faces in the throne room than normal hopefully they aren't here to be my enemies I have no desire to be the catalyst of civil war... Just let me do my thing and you all will live happier lives.
I began walking toward the throne then dropped on both knees and said "I have seen my sultan, this son of yours begs forgiveness for not keeping in contact more and is very glad to see you are in good health"
Orhan just waved telling me to stand up and come a little closer to the throne after I got up and adjusted my clothing and moved forward a bit he said "My son I hear you have been doing well of late and the Romans have been hiding behind their walls afraid to even negotiate with you" After saying this he was wearing a big smile proud of my achievements. The two men behind my father also had small smiles and gave a head nod a sign of acknowledgment. But the men lined up beside me on both sides had split reactions some men looked a little greedy some looked upset and very few looked to be genuinely happy. My older brothers all except Suleyman looked pretty upset, definitely not happy about the situation but they still gave some fake congratulations.
After taking a glance at the reactions in the crowd I responded to my father Orhan with "My sultan I would like to continue my conquests after I return from Bursa. May I ask what your thoughts are of the strategic situation in Thrace when does the sultan think I should strike?"
My father showed a little excitement, satisfied I finally asked this question he obviously was expecting such a question and had prepared for it beforehand he responded very quickly I might add "Oh, so you want this old man's opinion? Well, if the young want advice from the old I can only be happy you will listen. I say make a short peace with the Romans but make them pay and draw funds from their coffers in Constantinople.
-When you make a peace with the Romans, they can then begin to focus back on their actual enemies which are themselves let them have some time to fight amongst themselves and then you can take down a weak and demoralized enemy and may even have the support of the locals who lives are ruined by the constant infighting." My father said this very confidently but this was also my opinion so I can only agree with such a sound strategy.
After listening to my father speak, I wanted to respond but I was cut off by a fellow son of Orhan, my brother Ibraheim who spoke up at this moment "Father I am sorry to speak out of turn, but I think we should be a part of this attack on the Romans why should my younger brother be forced to carry such a burden alone?" He said with a small smirk on his face clearly showing he was waiting for such an opportunity to say this.
My father looked to be thinking then he smiled and asked the grand vizier beside him what he thought about Ibrahim's suggestion the grand vizier said. " I would hope that my Şehzade Ibraheim understands that I do not want to shut down your suggestion it just does not seem necessary to move our sultan's armies right now. At this time your younger brother's army is funded and fed by him alone is extending our borders and filling our coffers with gold why should the sultan move his armies if his son is so capable to do it alone."
To my surprise, my brother nodded and stepped back and said "My sultan I apologize for speaking out of turn I just thought it was my right as an elder brother to offer my support" then he nodded at me and finally stepped back in line with the crowd.
This made me more suspicious my brothers have not interacted with me at all... Not that they had the chance as they were shipped off around my age to govern a city or cities with their mother and followers. I decided now I can speak "My sultan I thank you for the advice, I also wanted to give my sultan a gift will it be acceptable to bring it in?"
I said looking for the answer when he nodded, I waved my hand to the servant. Hauling this device in it took a good bit of manpower as the device is pretty big, made of mostly wood but has some solid big pieces made of iron adding to the weight of this machine. After the machine was brought I decided to demonstrate how it works and explain as I stood up and started to work, I began to explain its function.
"My sultan this device I created has plenty of applications it can be used for but only has one function and that is to print. This device has our entire alphabet here in these small metal pieces when I put them on the press here, I can make any kind of letter I want and make as many as I need." I began to use the printing press to make 2 identical letters to show the sultan the benefits of the printing press.
After I finished the crowd was astonished at how fast you could produce the letter. after I showed the letter I again said "my sultan this device can be used for many things but the most important is using it to produce books at a faster rate than ever allowing us to spread knowledge and keep our knowledge to pass down to further generations much easier."
After I finished speaking the crowd and the sultan was deep in thought for a moment until the sultan spoke "My son did you create such a device... This is a game changer for our sultanate we no longer have to spread our knowledge through the telling of stories alone. The biggest beneficiary is probably the royal teachers."
I heard this and decided to pass an idea along to the sultan hoping to make my gift worth even more. "Sultan this is true... But the way to squeeze the most benefit out of such a device is to make not just books but people who can read them, with the production of more books we will have excess books to give out we can have these books in a public academy where the local children and unlearned men can become literate allowing for more books to not just be copied but created by the people spreading even more knowledge"
After hearing me say this was like a lightbulb went off in everyone's mind in the court clearly showing the benefits I brought to the state not just conquest, but the spreading of knowledge for the betterment of the people... they should just make me a saint haha.
After the gift was given everything else went smoothly no one spoke against me or attempted to weasel in on my conquests. The gifting of a printing press was just too much for clout alone then you add my conquests and no one in their right mind would speak against me in front of the sultan for now. After some time, the court was dismissed and I was invited to a family dinner with the sultan and my five older brothers all our mothers, and our three sisters.
This dinner was not bad no one talked about any politics or wars... But that is all it was... Is not bad that is all I can say about that. But the best part which is sad to say is my stepmothers and my half-sister are all gorgeous they are like models from the tv the ones you never get to see in person the type of pretty where you feel butterflies in your stomach for no reason other than just seeing these types of woman.
After dinner, we decided to stretch our legs, so I took a walk through the garden with my mother and half-sisters which was very peaceful and wholesome. In the morning we were all ready to head back to Abydos after some brief goodbyes we were off onto the sea and back to the city in no time. But one thing I noticed during this trip is that there are many islands in the Marmara Sea and there is no naval presence on these islands making them easy targets. I will have a spy go island to island and give me an overview of their forces and situation then I will decide if these islands can be of some benefit at the moment.
After arriving in Abydos, I noticed how vibrant and active the city has become, I knew our population would be increasing by the day I just did not expect it to be this much. The way Abydos is now I could create a sovereign state just with the backing of this city in a few months if I wanted to.
There have been many ordinary citizens moving in and becoming manpower for the various workshops and military production facilities. Also, the amount of merchants moving to our city day by day is astounding.
Though the majority of these merchants are Turkish and Greek by closer some merchants have visited that decided to move here from all over the place the furthest of them being Spain an Andalusian Muslim trader decided to call this place home after seeing our tax code and laws written in the square for everyone to see. This is only the beginning give it a few years and I wonder what city I will make my capital in the future I believe it will be a toss-up.
I begin to put in my recruits for the week coming up, I am planning to have infantry-focused recruitment from the system as we have a very populated pool of light horseman to draft into the army when needed so I am not worried about horseman more about a solid heavy infantry to hold the line against any forces in Europe, for now, that is where my focus lies.
In Abydos, we will recruit the new Janissary Varangian guard every week until the upkeep is too much, and recruitment brings my funds to critical levels. Or we can finally recruit the Janissary musketeers in which then I will want at least 4 units of these musketeers for one they are very disciplined, and their muskets are fairly reliable way better than arquebuses their accuracy is not much better, but the range of accuracy is about 200 to 300 yards longer.
I also plan to recruit a steady stream of the unit Ottoman hybrid archer in Canakkale for the weeks of peace to come. This unit is near perfect when it comes to balancing, they can not only skirmish and fire arrows but also hold their own in a melee because they have excellent armor even more so now that the Turk and Byzantine versions have merged the armor is excellent leading to great protection.
While also being flexible enough to allow for archery. locally I plan to train and arm at least 2 more Swiss-style Pike squares to bring their unit number to about 10 units in total. I also plan to add heavier cataphract horsemen using tribal warriors who are already expert horsemen I just need to equip them to add a larger horse to bear the load and have them do some light training for a few months and I believe they will be an excellent cataphract unit to add to my armies.
Because I can't rely solely on the bodyguard units as they cannot be recruited their numbers are stagnant and the system recruited heavy horse is only available at the next level of the castle that I can't afford to upgrade to right now so this unit is the best we can do. But after a few months of training and a few battles, these cataphracts will be considered elites.
We will also be producing and training more cannon units locally for our armies instead of system recruited as they can both be prepared locally cheaper and faster than the system can produce them. We will be mass producing our exploding arrow as it showed its prowess in our debut battle, I would like at least two volleys of these arrows shot at the beginning of every battle this will probably make our battles even more efficient.
Last but not least we will be producing a new unit specifically for city and castle defense this will be a unit used throughout my future empire to guard our keeps and protect our cities during siege attacks until reinforcements arrive. This unit will not see the battlefields much unless they decide to sally forth during a defensive siege, these will be our units that will garrison all our conquered lands in the future along with our police forces that will be trained later after the conquest though.
After sorting out the recruitment and training I set the recruitment up with the system. Then I sent the local recruiters the message to recruit 420 men for training to become part of our standing armies, Then I sent the recruitment letter to the local tribes that I need at least 400 well-trained horsemen. After they finish training, this will bring our standing armies' number to 3,510 excluding the general's bodyguard and future system recruits. So now that I have sorted everything out here let's head to the frontlines to force a peace deal with these Romans... Finally, something interesting I think I am becoming a warmonger.
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Host : Şehzade Alaeddin
Dynasty: Osmanli (Ottoman)
Current Allegiances: Ottoman Sultanate
Owned Fiefs: Abydos Sanjak, Karasi Sanjak, Thrace Sanjak (Partial)
Gold: 25,990 ducats
Tax Income: 4600 ducats
(23% Tax Bonus) (20% bonus on mining income in all owned mines)
Trade Income: 580 ducats (before upgrade 119 ducats)
(19% Trade Bonus for all system merchants)
Upkeep: 5000 ducats (Army 2500, Navy 2500, local forces included in upkeep)
Priests: 2 (available 0)
Merchants: 2 (available 0)
Spies:2 (available 0)
Diplomat: 2 (Avaliable 0)
Assassins: 2 (avaliable 0)
Expand Income Details +
Expand Recruitment Details +
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Traits: Admirer of Beauty -2 Command, 10% decrease to cost to bribe, -1 from squalor (increases public order and population growth)
Officer Training +2 Command
Inspirationally Brave +1 Authority, +4 Morale for all troops on the battlefield
Cheapskate 10% discount on construction costs, 10% bonus on tax income(decreases population growth and public order)
Very Cultured +1 Authority, +2 to popularity (improves public order)
Steppe Legacy 20% bonus to cash gained from looting
Harsh Taskmaster +1 Command, +1 Authority, -1 Morale for all troops on the battlefield, +20% to Movement Points (gives armies the ability to forced march), +1 to law (improves public order)
Legacy of Dread +2 Dread
Social Drinker +1 Command, +1 to popularity (improves public order)
Blessed With Vigor +2 Authority, +25% to Movement Points (gives armies the ability to forced march)
FathersLegacy(Level 2) +2 Authority
Generous 2% penalty on tax income
Womaniser +1 Morale for all troops on the battlefield
Budding Bureaucrat 4% bonus on all trade income, +1 to law (improves public order)
Aspiring Commander +2 Command
Engineer +2 Command when assaulting walls, +60 Build Points (required for the construction of siege equipment)
Mining Knowledge 20% bonus on mining income
Good with Taxes 10% bonus on tax income
Physically Flawless -1 Command, +1 Authority, +4 to popularity (improves public order)
Intelligent +2 Command, 5% bonus on all trade income, 5% bonus on tax income
Reasonable Ruler +1 Chivalry, -1 from squalor (increases public order and population growth)
Bends the Truth -1 Authority
Understands Logistics +1 Morale for all troops on the battlefield, +15% to Movement Points (gives armies the ability to forced march)
Good at Math +1 Command when assaulting walls 10% bonus on all trade
Stoic +1 Loyalty, 200% increase to cost to bribe
Promising Strategist +1 Command
Honourable Ruler +4 Chivalry, +2 Authority
Tactically Sound +3 Command when ambushing, +2 to line of sight (increases the range at which enemies are spotted)
Tolerant to Foreigners -1 from public security (reduces the chances of detecting and capturing enemy agents)
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Command<4> Ambusher Bonus +3 Attacking Walls +2
Authority<9>
Dread<2>
chivalry<5>
Moral Bonus +5
Movement Speed +60%
Tax Bonus +23% (20% bonus on mining income) (All owned Settlements)
Public Order Bonus +10 (When in Province)
Population Growth Bonus + 2% (All Owned Settlements)