Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

The population of this city and the surrounding areas is not small, there must be 30,000 or 40,000. Orville only needs 600 people, so there is a lot of room for selection. Based on the principle of not wasting opportunities, he tried his best to pick out the 600 people who are least worried, strongest, and easiest to manage.

Orville didn't have a single copper in his pocket, so he relied on the Romans to supply food and equipment.

Of course, he didn't think about horses and armor, but the equipment of light infantry was easy to fool. After Vespa gave the order, each legion took out a part of the spare weapons and easily filled the vacancies of these hundreds of people.

Hundreds of small shields, a small number of short bows and arrows, a sufficient number of javelin tips, and a small number of standard short swords, this is all their equipment. To be honest, there is no favoritism. The equipment of light infantry is like this.

When talking about the Roman legion, most people think of heavy infantry. In fact, the core is indeed heavy infantry, but in addition, each legion also has a considerable number of light infantry. This is not much different in the history of any world.

They were either new recruits who had joined the battle for the first year or foreigners. Their roles in the war were to contain and harass, transport supplies and build fortifications, or they could be cannon fodder to consume the enemy's physical strength depending on the situation. In short, the work they did was not very decent.

Orville was also at a loss as to how to train these people. Vespa meant to leave it all to him to play, and he had no idea how to do it.

After thinking about it, he decided to copy the policy of the historical Roman general Scipio. He could lead the army trained in this way to conquer Spain and North Africa, so it would not be wrong to copy it.

On the first day, the soldiers ran five kilometers armed, carrying all the food and weapons.

On the second day, they cleaned and maintained their weapons and equipment, and cleaned their bodies by the way.

On the third day, they rested and moved freely.

On the fourth day, they practiced hand-to-hand combat and the use of throwing weapons.

This cycle was repeated for four days.

This is the basic policy. Except for the day of rest when Orville did not plan to move, the rest of the training schedule must be adjusted according to the soldiers' mental and physical state. In short, it is a periodic and targeted training of weapon maintenance, physical fitness and battle formation. The idea is very clear.

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After taking down the stronghold of Waterdeep, the Palphians have actually lost all cities in the surrounding area. In addition to the countryside, there are only three small and medium-sized strongholds left.

Vespa's plan remains unchanged, and he is ready to take down all these strongholds before winter.

Vespa divided his troops into four parts - the main force guarded the prisoners captured during this period, and three troops were divided to deal with the three strongholds.

The number of garrisons in these strongholds is not large. Both are built on the mountain, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack like an eagle's nest. The Roman commander did not want to waste troops and mainly used siege.

They built bunkers, siege towers and battering rams on the hillside, waiting for the defenders to be exhausted, and then looking for an opportunity to take down these strongholds in one go.

Tia also received a mission from Vespa. She had to lead a cavalry to capture the isolated Camel Town in the north.

This was not a strategic stronghold and had no practical value. It was located in the northwest of the kingdom. The Romans did not even pay attention to this town at first. Taking it had great symbolic significance. After taking these three strongholds, Vespa could declare that he had completely suppressed the rebels in the north of the province, which was of great benefit to morale and also an important political capital.

Since the other troops were preparing for a siege, horses were not very useful. Attacking Camel Town only required taking the enemy by surprise, which would not take long and would not cause any losses. Therefore, Tia received cavalry support from other legions and led more than a thousand cavalry out of the city.

Orville rarely asked to follow the army, because if he did not do so, he would have to clean up the bodies with his men. Even if he did not have to do it himself, it was not a good job. It was better to go out and get some fresh air.

Riding on the weedy road, Tia held a map in her hand and began to discuss plans with several other commanders.

"A town without walls can be captured with just one surprise attack, and it won't be a big problem. The locals know that they have been isolated, so their will to resist should not be strong."

The opinions of several commanders are not very different, and they all mean this, but Tiya seems to disagree with this proposal.

"There has been enough bloodshed, and there will be more bloodshed in the future. I am tired of this method, so I will change the approach and persuade the city to surrender first."

These cavalrymen are not all Roman-style educated. Many of the cavalrymen trained as reserve officers are barbarian mercenaries. It's okay to expect them to fight bravely and fight ten against one, but don't make it difficult for them to expect them to follow Tiya's command.

Tiya is also very clear about this. The established practice is to acquiesce to their looting after breaking the city, and then a massacre. She just doesn't want to do this, and she can't directly violate the unspoken rules between her and the barbarian cavalry, so she thought of such a euphemistic way.

With the example of Tiberia's surrender first, and Tiya's military exploits, several commanders don't want to offend her face, and they all agree to this decision.

More than a thousand cavalrymen rushed over a long distance and soon arrived at Camel Town. The intelligence was slightly inaccurate. The rebels here had built a simple wooden wall, but it was of no avail. Tia judged that the wall could not stop them.

She personally rode to the gate of the town and announced loudly: "Within a radius of 100 miles, you are the last stronghold that has not surrendered. Cities stronger than you have not been able to stop any of our attacks. You are the only one left to fight alone. Accept Rome's surrender terms, and your property and life will be guaranteed. These agreements are still valid now, even though you are so rude and impolite.

It is absurd to resist without winning. If you reject my kindness and generosity, you will find that your city walls are destroyed by me like toys, and you will become a slave with nothing but appearance. Cherish your opportunity, this is the last kindness that Rome can offer!"

After speaking, Tia did not care about the other party's reaction, and led the army to set up camp outside the city.

This remark should be said to be effective. Before the camp was set up, several people came out of the city to negotiate with Tia.

Orville narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the people approaching from a distance, and whispered to a guard of Tia beside him: "Keep an eye on them later, be careful of those who want to fight to the death, I will take the leader's weapons, I want to take this opportunity to identify who the other party is."

The guard immediately looked at his superior, and after Tia nodded slightly to indicate her permission, he nodded solemnly to agree with Orville.

There were only five people in the group, and their actions were very orderly. They took the initiative to surrender their weapons and let the Romans search them.