Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

In the end, Tiya's legion was stationed near the important city of Trier, because there was a strategic reserve granary here, which could supply the military rations needed for the war.

Even though she had made detailed preparations for several months in advance, she was not in a hurry to launch military operations, but let the army run in first and adapt to the local climate.

The auxiliary soldiers in her army were either Egyptians or Parvi people. The climate there was very different from this side. Now it was mid-September. To be honest, it was not a good time to start military activities. The best time should be in early spring around March, but there was no way to continue the war under this condition.

After her three fully staffed legions arrived, the Franks who were originally restless on the other side of the river became much more obedient. The defenders of the Germanic Legion were worried all day long, fearing that the Frankish king would not think about it and go to war with the Roman Empire directly, and they would be the first to be attacked.

In fact, the Frankish king had already assembled his army and was ready to go, but it seemed that he had to postpone the expedition due to domestic political turmoil, which prevented the war between the two countries from breaking out immediately. It can only be said that Vitellius chose a good time to go south to Rome, just in time for the problems in Frankish territory.

Under Tia's supervision, the various strongholds and outposts along the Rhine River soon began to operate again, and the various functions of this line of defense returned to normal. At this time, the Franks seemed to have really given up, and there were fewer spies and scouts who could be observed.

Because Vespa's large army had to bring winter supplies with them, the composition was even more bloated, so they arrived at the German Legion's garrison half a month later. Vespa immediately took over Tia's defense work, and his team paid attention to various abnormal movements along the Rhine River.

At this moment, Tia could rest assured and turn around to prepare to deal with the Gauls.

She used to be very bold during the siege of the Holy City, but now she is relatively cautious. It's not because her personality has changed, but more because this kind of battle really can't be too bold, it's easy to overturn.

That was a siege, and it was determined that the enemy was desperate, so being bold could boost morale. Now it was a security war and an offensive war, and if she was not careful, she would be easily ambushed. After all, the Gauls had lived under the Romans for more than a hundred years, and many leaders of the rebel army came from the Roman military system, and they really knew the Romans very well.

If something unexpected happened, it might cause the Teutoburg Forest tragedy to repeat itself - the locals, led by leaders familiar with the Roman army, caused heavy damage to the legion or even wiped it out, and she could not bear this responsibility.

For her first battle in the Gaul war zone, Tia chose Reims, the important city closest to her. After taking it, it was not difficult to control the villages and towns along the Marne River with this city as a node, and it was also very feasible, just right as a test.

Before attacking Reims, it was necessary to take two small towns near the city, one of which was slightly larger and called Mur, and the other was smaller and called Bercy. Orville was responsible for leading people to attack Bercy, and Tia led the remaining troops to attack Mur.

It was not difficult, just a test, and the march and attack began soon.

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Seriously speaking, the task of attacking Reims only needs one legion to complete it, and the remaining two legions can attack the other two cities at the same time. Tia's attack plan this time is very safe, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Orville just follows orders.

It took a long time to reach Bercy from Trier. Orville did not encounter any decent resistance along the way. Except for a few stupid teams that occasionally confronted Orville's legion head-on, Orville did not encounter any real enemy.

But outside the front battlefield, things became much more troublesome. The locals obviously did not welcome their arrival. The grain transport team from Trier encountered four surprise attacks along the way. Although they all failed, it was still a bit troublesome.

In addition, there were many phenomena such as attacking sentinels, intercepting messengers, and not cooperating with Roman soldiers. One or two times was acceptable, but Orville was annoyed by too many times.

He wrote to Tia to report the situation, saying that he might arrive later than expected. As a result, the other party replied that the situation there was also not optimistic, and the marching and advancement speed was very slow.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Orville and Tia made a report, asking them to deal with these harassment problems. As expected, Tia agreed. She was not good at dealing with these things and could not bear to do it.

After getting permission, Orville quickly "invited" the heads of various villages and towns in the current occupied area to his camp. He wanted to hold a good meeting with these people.

…………

The original plan was to be in the tent, but because there were too many representatives from the villages and towns, the tent could not accommodate them, so they had to hold the meeting outdoors.

There were almost three hundred representatives present, just at a level where Orville could speak loudly so that everyone could hear him, but not so loud that his throat would break, which was acceptable.

They sat cross-legged on the grass, surrounded by Roman soldiers without weapons in their hands, and Orville stood in the center of the field, with no soldiers around him to cooperate.

He said straight to the point: "I am Orville Flavius ​​Vespasianus. You may not have heard of my name, but it doesn't matter, because I don't know your names either.

You need to know two things first. The first thing is that I am a so-called royal family. The current Roman emperor is my adoptive father, and I am also one of the military commanders of this war. My words have some weight, and can reach the ears of the emperor. If you have anything to ask or say, you can wait until I finish speaking. This may be one of the few opportunities for you to talk to the high-ranking officers of Rome.

The second thing is that I can understand you to some extent, because I was also a leader of the rebels three years ago, but fate is really interesting. It is probably God's will that makes me what I am now, because my God chose my father to be the Roman emperor. You feel that life cannot survive, and there is nothing wrong with choosing to resist. Those who do not resist are only worthy of being slaves who accept it. On the premise that I affirm some of your things, I hope to communicate with you well. "

After saying this, Orville was silent for a few minutes, and then the people below talked to each other first.

In Rome, he never showed off his royal status or mentioned his previous identity as a rebel leader. Most of the time, he just acted as a "Roman citizen". Now is the time to use these identity labels, so Orville will not hesitate to use them.