While everyone was joyfully toasting and chatting, the prince was deeply engrossed in preparations to repel another Ottoman invasion.
The most pressing issue, undoubtedly, was figuring out how to retain the reclaimed cities. The local rulers, who had pledged their fragile oaths under threat, would likely cast them aside at the next Ottoman threat. Steps needed to be taken to prevent them from wavering.
Even though the new governing body called the “people’s assembly” had been introduced, most of the city’s old elite remained in place.
Until they fully settled in and developed loyalty to the empire, expecting these recently conquered cities to transform rapidly was overly optimistic. And this wasn’t the only problem; others loomed as well.
The resentment of Morea’s citizens towards Venetian merchants was intensifying by the day.
The joy of victory still suppressed this sentiment, but for how long? It was only natural to view Venice, enriched by its control of the Aegean Sea, with envious eyes—especially when the wealth they now enjoyed was seen as something rightfully belonging to Morea’s citizens.
Even though it was understood that the territories were yielded through agreements or transactions, controlling emotional resentment was another matter. From the prince’s perspective, who needed to maintain the alliance with Venice, this growing discontent was troubling. After all, he had introduced a duty-free policy to attract military action against the Ottomans.
At the time, it was an urgent necessity, but as time passed, it left a bitter taste. Venetian goods now dominated Morea’s streets, deepening economic dependency.
No doubt Venice had considered this as well, moving with the shrewd judgment typical of a nation driven by national interest. The prince, too, wished to rid Morea of Venetian influence, but…
If they were expelled, who would stand against the Ottomans?
Knowing that the empire desperately needed Venice, the Venetians could afford to be unyielding. Resolving the issue with Venice would only be possible when the empire became more self-reliant and Venice itself fell into crisis—a future still far off.
The final challenge was the shortage of bureaucrats and legal experts brought on by the rapid territorial expansion.
Despite the primacy of imperial authority, the empire had never abandoned its tradition of the rule of law. This tradition, stretching back to the days of the ancient republic, was seen as the foundation of the empire’s stability.
While the empire’s decline had led to a surge in private lawyers due to the inability to support all legal professionals, the collapse of organized educational institutions made it difficult to guarantee both the quality and supply of these professionals.
“Establishing an academy seems like the best solution…”
A comprehensive plan emerged in the prince’s mind: the creation of a specialized academy that could even accommodate foreigners. By encouraging the rulers of recently recaptured cities to send their children to study there, the academy could serve as both an educational institution and a means of securing hostages.
Through this education, these future leaders would naturally develop a fondness for Morea and loyalty to the prince, ultimately alleviating the shortage of bureaucrats and other skilled personnel.
If the academy were successfully established and attracted numerous foreigners, improving relations with Venice would become easier, as the plan was to entrust a sort of passenger service to Venice.
While it would be ideal to accommodate commoners as well, the academy would require operational funds, so it would likely have to select only the children of influential families. It was certain that these aristocrats, accustomed to luxury, would demand various entertainments for the long and tedious voyages.
However, hoping for such an outcome might be too much to ask.
Even if the latter goal wasn’t achieved, fulfilling the primary objective of securing hostages and future bureaucrats to strengthen control over the cities would be a significant accomplishment. With this thought, the prince leaned towards establishing the academy.
If it were any other ruler besides Konstantinos, the idea of an academy might never have been considered. Most would have focused all efforts on hastily raising an army to expel the Ottomans.
But the prince had never entertained such reckless thoughts from the beginning.
The Ottomans, having long since rooted themselves in the Balkans, had shifted their base from Asia Minor (Turkey) to the Balkans. If they sought the glorious throne of the millennium-old empire, it was certain they would also aim to seize Constantinople.
Would the Ottomans easily abandon the Balkans? Their resistance would undoubtedly be fierce. Two nations were locked in a struggle for the throne of the thousand-year empire; neither would concede.
Thus, the prince believed the struggle between the Ottomans and the empire would not end quickly.
Realistically, the empire had long been too weakened to drive out the Ottomans. More time was needed to restore the empire’s strength to the point where it could expel the Ottomans.
At the same time, the post-expulsion scenario also demanded attention. To revive a nation devastated by various calamities and civil wars, a sufficient pool of talents was essential.
The establishment of the academy would provide the strength to prevent the empire from collapsing in the long war. Just as the Ottomans had their elite Janissaries trained from a young age, the empire needed a comparable force.
The prince firmly believed that the foundation to reverse the imbalance in military power could stem from education. However, upon reaching this conclusion, he encountered the most significant obstacle in establishing the academy.
After much deliberation on how to overcome this challenge, the prince lowered his head with a somber expression.
“I have no idea which scholars to invite as teachers.”
The prince, who had fallen into this world—a visual novel world or perhaps the past—due to an unknown phenomenon, rarely leveraged the advantages of his origin. After all, most people only knew about the Hundred Years’ War when it came to the 15th century, and interest in Eastern Europe was unusual.
Even the prince himself was beginning to forget if he had ever lived in the future. His vast but shallow knowledge of the future had allowed him to accumulate cultural knowledge at an astonishing rate, and he was superior to present day scholars in many ways, but that was all. Knowledge that was too advanced often went uncomprehended.
One reason was that the prince had no time to apply his vast learning. Where was the time to write books when he was busy seeking alliances to confront the Ottomans?
Thus, a scholar who could best understand his current knowledge was needed.
Inevitably, the prince’s attention turned to the most renowned scholar in the Balkans of this era. Ironically, the scholar the prince focused on also regarded the prince as a worthy lord to serve due to his affection for the empire.
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