Chapter 22: The Ottoman Reforms

Chapter 22: The Ottoman Reforms

After my first commandment as the new sultan, my father gave congratulations and retired to the palace for now. My brother walked up to the throne kissed the hem of my cloak and then swore his allegiance, then got up off his knees and stood to the right of my throne. After he swore his allegiance to the ex-grand vizier Nizamuddin Ahmed Pasha, walked up got down on his knees, and kissed the hem of my cloak, he also got up and then stood to the left of my throne. After he finished, the rest of the viziers walked up and swore their allegiance and never-ending loyalty to me.

After this, I decided to continue to improve the administration. I said to the viziers here, "My viziers shall each have an administration office to oversee, my first merchant Germanus Zimisces shall now be known as the "vizier of trade and commerce". His role shall be to oversee foreign trade for the sultanate and monitor and receive the income from trade tariffs in all our ports this is your responsibility. You must expand your trade administration from my sanjak to receive the income from Bithynia as well. you must also expand the economy or enact my policies to the best of your ability."

He responded "My sultan, I shall see to it that your will is done!" he then stepped back in line.

next, I looked at my other merchant and said. "Gültekin Pasha my second merchant, your new position shall be the head of the bank, we can call you... The "Vizier of the national bank". Your responsibility shall be to take charge of our new banking system, enact the policies of the bank and expand the bank and our coffers to the best of your ability. You shall also oversee the coin mints, making sure the proper procedures are followed, and the coins are of high quality... Coins must not be minted to the point of inflation etc.."

He then stepped forward and said, "My sultan I will never let you down, my duties shall be my life."

next is my spy organization of course I said "next is Zengin Koca and Alp Uzay, Zengin will be referred to as the "vizier of foreign intelligence". He must gather information on any foreign intelligence needed for the continuation and expansion of our sultanate and religion, you shall not operate out of the capital as usual just continue with your expansion, but your budget will increase. Alp Uzay you shall be known as the "vizier of the secret police" you shall continue with your duties as usual, but you will now work your spy network locally tracking down any traitors or dissidents within our realm. Also, you will work closely with #1 and his trained men to complete the tasks of disposing of these "problems" quietly.

They both stepped forward in sync, both becoming visible as they seemed to blend with the crowd of men and acknowledged my command as well. Moving on I followed the same process, naming my diplomats the viziers of diplomacy, foreign and domestic. My two priests got the vizier positions of "chief cadi" and the other "vizier of medicine and wellness." My naming process is a little off, but I being the sultan can change it when necessary.

After this, I dismissed everyone but the core viziers that being everyone today who just got a new title. I want to discuss the reformation of Bithynia as it is very decentralized, this is counterproductive to expansion and very different from my lands. All my lands need to be similar in their rules, rulership, and administration, if everything is different even in such a small, concentrated sultanate the more I expand the worse the problem will get. First on our agenda for the meeting was court and administrative language for our realm, the left vizier said we should keep Turkish as it is our heritage and our right as Turkish nobles. Suleyman my right-hand vizier said Arabic as if we plan to expand and add more Islamic lands and spread further and further away from Anatolia Turkish will become more obscure a language for the people there, alienating them from the government.

I have to agree with Suleyman, this was my idea in the beginning but to hear someone else say it makes me happy. I decided today our court language shall be Arabic as our standard language, but this doesn't ban our Turkish language it just says that when doing official government duties and writing government letters or documents it must be Arabic. The next subject is the Turkmen beys who supposedly are my equal in rule here in Bithynia, in which I simply do not agree with such an arrangement at all we need to change this now. I had the left-hand vizier call the head of the Turkmen beys to swear allegiance to their sultan, as the new cadi decreed me the sultan of Anatolia and Rumelia. All who do not show up shall be labeled as rebels and traitors and stripped of their lands, military, and nobility.

Excusing everyone but the left and right hands... We also began to discuss my military reforms for not only Anatolia but for my army as well. I wish to create 2 distinct branches of the military, the salaried and the Timarli, or provincial. I want the local Beys to be made into my sanjak beys and governors of vilayets, to look over my lands and to tax them for me and them, but these men will be replaced after death will not be handed to their sons, they will have to prove themselves to achieve an appointment. These sanjaks and governors will hold horse tail standards and can call the banners of sipahis when we are going on a campaign. They will be responsible for recruiting the local auxiliary militia as well, as mercenaries, this will be the provincial side of the military.

Our salaried military shall be all the elite units I employ right now minus the spahi... they will become the elites of the provincial units and get lands and multiply their numbers like cockroaches! Our salaried men shall be the famous janissary units and shall follow some of their outlines through the leadership system will be different. I will also have the household guard or Kapikulu in the salaried men, these units will be sourced from my existing elites or trained by the experienced military men here in Anatolia to fill in the numbers for now. The armor and weapons will probably stay the same as the early janissaries just wore armor and weren't too fancy when it comes to clothing on the battlefield. My system recruits will still be recruited the same way except they will be filtered into these units because they will immediately be ready to fight as a janissary or kapikulu upon recruitment no changes necessary.

The Kapikulu will be broken into 6 distinct regiments, the first kapikulu sipahi a heavy shock cavalry will be recruited from my O.G. sipahis and my bodyguard units. the next will be the kapikulu Silahtar made up completely of my ottoman cataphract system recruit. Then we have the Kapikulu ulufeci a heavy cataphract bow cavalry, made up of the 240 tsars guard and 480 sipahis I will select, this defect will be split into 2 sides left and right. Next is the kapikulu garip similar to the sipahi bow cav. But being a standing troop makes it more desirable, this unit will be filled with my father's most loyal Turkmen horse archers, they will be further trained in warfare and armored, and this garip unit will be split into left and right.

I do not have enough elite foot archers to make a Solak bodyguard unit so I will leave them, for later. The janissary will be as follows :

<Janissary infantry> 9,120 men <Varangian guard, Hasham infantry, byzantine lancer infantry, Christian yaya infantry (from new lands)>

<Janissary archers> 6,240 men (These are men who are heavily armed and armored, who fight with the bow before the sword.) <Ottomann infantry, Orhans hybrid archer infantry>

<Janissary pikemen> 14,040 <Pike square units from Anatolia and Rumelia> (5000 of these have yet to be trained.)

<Janissary Grenadiers> 160 men <Naphta throwers> (THese will be expanded with time and the needs of our army)

<Janissary engineer corps> 2,340 men & 130 cannons (made up of my current cannon squad, 30 more cannons are to be cast and built) <All the foundries, armor, and weapon-making factories shall belong to this branch of the military in charge of distributing the proper arms at the right times, though this rule will be firearms when we finally can recruit some. Army engineers shall belong to this corps as well, building roads and bridges for our forces to use on a campaign and beyond.>

After finishing the military reforms of my future armies, I made a few more commands. Mainly the building of many waterwheels, in a specific area because there I plan to build a clothing factory, and a loom to match it both run by water-powered machines including the loom we finally managed to complete! We will also upgrade the existing and build more watermills, and windmills in this territory, no food or products that can be automated or quickened shall be done by hand.

I shall also build more aqueducts and plumbing in this territory, leading to a healthier life for the citizens here. Another big innovation we managed was the improved windmill, which is capable of pulling water from underground automatically no need for a well or river to slowly bring water to a farm. With this windmill, our farmers and livestock will have easy access to water making their lives a lot easier and allowing us to improve lands that were otherwise untenable before the windmill and its constant water supply to an irrigation system. This shall allow us to expand our per farm yielding numbers surely, benefiting everyone.

With a new clothing factory, providing more and more clothes in our markets, more and more people shall be properly clothed no more ragged clothing for the working class. I will expand this factory style all over the countryside, employing woman who is used to making clothes and using hand looms, making the factory run even more efficiently.

With just these few changes, my military capacity and my army numbers shall explode in a short time. But not only the military will expand, but my taxation income will also rise and rise the more centralized the lands become. I will also be receiving more income from foreign trade as we have finally established ourselves in many markets with the assorted products of our empire, my local commerce will not lag as my coffee shops are opening up in the towns and cities around my lands and are prosperous already. The new banks are doing well as they are not just competing with the normal moneychangers the citizens are used to, but we are actively hiring them for our banks, and they are bringing their clientele along with them. With banks allowing people to take a loan when things are tight, or when they have just made a huge trade transaction and their money is tied up, this is allowing my people to expand their income endlessly, I have no need to slow them down as the more they make the more I make as well.

Leaving the throne room and allowing all the viziers to continue their work, I went to my old room here in Bursa to wait for the beys to arrive, or not. Their choice shall decide their fate, join and keep the land or be transferred to another area but if you do not show up then I shall take everything that man has!