These words indeed stunned Aksham-Sadin for a moment, but the scholar quickly regained his composure.
"Manuel, while I sympathize with and care about the plight of the Muslims under your rule, I am merely an ordinary scholar with no power or influence.
How can I guarantee that you will abide by any agreement…"
"Does that matter?
Only people like you would think it matters."
Before he could finish, Manuel interrupted Aksham-Sadin with a rather indignant tone.
Just then, Badars had also poured two cups of decent honeyed water and placed them before them.
In fact, if a Muslim wasn't sitting opposite him at that moment, Manuel would have preferred a glass of wine for himself.
Facing the cup of honeyed water poured for him by the attendant, Aksham-Sadin merely stared at it with suspicion, not daring to risk drinking it.
In response, Manuel immediately waved his hand relaxedly, then drained the cup of honeyed water in front of him.
Considering the attitude the other party displayed, and thinking that if he truly wanted to kill him, he wouldn't use such flashy and redundant methods, Aksham-Sadin still nodded imperceptibly and drank the cup of honeyed water given to him.
After this short interlude, they returned to their previous state of conversation.
"So, Manuel, what exactly do you want me to do?" Aksham-Sadin asked.
"It's simple, I hope you can stay in Pontus for a while longer and learn more medical skills.
It won't be long, just enough for you to understand roughly how to treat typhoid.
In return, I will show leniency to the ignorant accomplices of this rebellion, and the Muslims of Pontus will also receive a certain degree of tolerant treatment.
Of course, for the Holy Father's sake, it's naturally impossible to restore the privileges they enjoyed when the Beylik was in power."
Hearing this reply, the Mashriqi scholar did not readily agree.
Instead, his lips twitched slightly, and he sneered, "Manuel, please forgive my presumption in trying to guess your thoughts with such disrespectful ideas: Firstly, isn't how you deal with the Muslims within your borders entirely up to your own will, doing whatever you please?
Secondly, for our so-called agreement to be realized, it can only rely on your self-restraint, without any other truly coercive or restrictive factors.
Does such a verbal agreement really have any meaning to you?"
His reasoning directly and bluntly hit the core of the problem.
However, Manuel showed no anger or displeasure at this.
Instead, he calmly clapped his hands and asked back with a hint of helplessness, "Well said.
But aren't you curious why I'm keeping you in Pontus to study medicine?"
How could Aksham-Sadin know?
If he knew the reason, he would have long since thrown it out as one of his arguments against Bosphorus Caesar.
So, he merely frowned and gently shook his head, "I truly do not know, Caesar."
Manuel smiled, "How about trying to trust me once: you will have a day when you will need these abilities."
"???
"
Looking at Aksham-Sadin's old face, full of confusion, Manuel couldn't help but recall in his mind the reason he had made this request.
The reason for this proposal was that, to his knowledge, in official history, Murad II's eldest son, Ahmed, and beloved son, Sultan Aladdin Ali, both died of diseases suspected to be typhoid.
Murad therefore had no choice but to cultivate his fourth son, Muhammad—the future Ottoman Sultan, or rather, Padishah Muhammad II—as his heir.
Who would have thought that Muhammad II's political acumen would be beyond the imagination of his era, not only bringing about the downfall of Rome and sweeping across the Balkans and Anatolia, but also laying a solid foundation for the Ottoman's two centuries of hegemony and great achievements to come.
Fortunately, Muhammad was still a child now, and according to his historical knowledge, young Muhammad, because of his Greek heritage, was very likely to be neglected by his birth father at this time.
If his elder brothers had not died young from illness, he would have had no right to inherit the Sultanate of the Ottoman.
In other words, what Manuel wanted to avoid was Muhammad II becoming the Ottoman Sultan, just as in the official history of his previous life.
If the Ottoman ruler was a military and political genius, even if he managed to defeat the Ottoman under Murad's rule in the future, a high-quality monarch like Muhammad could revive him, rendering Manuel's efforts useless.
So, Manuel had an incredibly astonishing and bold idea: as long as Murad's beloved son or eldest son survived, wouldn't Muhammad have no chance to ascend to power?
Since that was the case, he had to find a way for reliable physicians to have access to treat these two princes in the future.
But if physicians couldn't get a recommendation, how could they go to the Ottoman court to treat illnesses?
At this point, political intervention was needed, but how could he, far away in Pontus, become an external force that could influence Ottoman internal affairs?
So, in the end, Caesar thought of the scholar Aksham-Sadin.
If he could teach him some rudimentary medical knowledge, then introduce him to some real medical experts, and also make some verbal agreements and promises with him, then Muhammad might truly have no connection to the Sultanate.
Of course, if he could, he would rather send assassins to directly stab all of Murad's sons to death.
But the Ottoman court was truly too tightly guarded.
Caesar's secret service had only managed to infiltrate a few informants with great difficulty, and he didn't want to expend them all for an assassination with a terrifyingly low success rate.
Given this, he could only choose other methods to prevent Muhammad from ascending to power, one of which was to ensure that Sultan Aladdin Ali or Ahmed did not die of illness.
After all, rather than imagining himself manipulating a known future divine ruler, he preferred to gamble that the other princes would not be as capable as that person.
But would replacing him with a potentially less capable leader truly solve the problem?
Manuel didn't have much hope for such things.
To completely destroy a regime's ability to rise again, he believed that dismantling its popular support, annexing its territory, and destroying its political system would be more effective.
But when he considered that history was not without wise and divine rulers who single-handedly revived shattered empires, he still chose to play some dirty tricks with the Ottoman's heir.
As for what effect it would have, only time would tell.
The above thoughts occupied Caesar Manuel's mind for less than three seconds.
After sorting through them, he immediately calmly changed the subject, "So, there's no point in saying more.
Do you accept my proposal, sir?
How about trying to bet on a Christian monarch keeping his word?
"Anyway, for a scholar now, there is no better way to relieve his predicament and save his fellow brethren."
"Trust me this once, I swear by my Holy Father."