Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

"There is nothing wrong with this claim. The Gauls can indeed claim to be warriors. First of all, they are indeed braver and good at fighting. They were once the strong enemies of the Romans in history, and they even sacked the city of Rome, which was not strong and prosperous in the past.

And outside the battlefield, they do possess some virtues that a warrior should possess. Compared with the party members of Parphi, at least they would not massacre the Romans after occupying the city, and their leaders also had basic political ideas, and their performance on the ideological and moral level was not unreasonable. At least I would not think of Gaul now. Men were barbarians, and Caesar had purified many of their barbaric customs.

Although their tactics were somewhat sinister and despicable, they were never willing to fight the Romans head-on, and became fearful after being defeated. However, the behavior of a warrior should be like this, make use of strengths and avoid weaknesses, do not attack the enemy with shortcomings, and try to use their own advantages as much as possible. Therefore, it can be said that the Gauls are warriors, and they are excellent warriors. "

"Then you think they are pretty good?"

Orville was quite surprised. He didn't expect Procopius to give a positive evaluation. Historically, he looked down upon any non-Romans.

In fact, even if they were Romans, if the other party lacked moral integrity, he would still look down upon it and would make risqué comments or outright rants in his works.

Even [The Last Roman] Belisarius did not escape. Of course, compared to others, he was already gentle and considerate towards Belisarius. It was not so much that he looked down on him but that he hated him. In "The Secret History" He poked at the other person as a "turtle man" and disliked him for being too forbearing and honest to the point that he seemed a bit cowardly. This was his greatest degree of gentleness.

To be honest, Procopius is still a very sad person, because he was born at the end of the classical era and witnessed the end of the classical era and the beginning of the Middle Ages.

Augustine, who was born a hundred or two hundred years earlier than him, is considered the founder of Christian historiography in the Middle Ages, but he is still considered a historian in the classical era, and the last important historian. The key lies in ideas.

Why is he so good at complaining? The wise emperor Justinian who complained turned out to be "an imbecile who is sometimes vicious and sometimes submissive." Orville felt that it could be summed up in one sentence: "It is sad that the ancient customs do not exist."

Procopius may have been one of the last upper-class nobles who received a good cultural education in the classical era and still recognized the traditional virtues of Rome in his heart. He was still not assimilated by the empire at that time and still held the ideas of the old generation.

He could not understand the emperor's centralization policy, the empire's compromise policy, the emperor's indifference to cultural undertakings, the existence of the Senate in name only, and he could not accept this emperor who was born in a lowly position and did not understand the beauty of culture and high art. Extreme, blindly opposed to any reform measures in this era, simple admiration for the past, yearning for that era of rising sun, but he was born in the sunset.

This awkwardness resulted in the dark and cynical Procopius in "The Secret History", but obviously he was more objective and natural in this era. After all, everything he pursued in the other world could be found in this world.

Prokopius himself was not aware of Orville's interesting thoughts. He just told the truth and continued to answer Orville's questions.

"They are deserving warriors, but that's all. The Romans are beyond this category. Soldiers should appear on the battlefield instead of warriors. Only Rome has real soldiers. Other countries can at best be regarded as warriors and warriors. Just a martial artist.

They should be good as gladiators and retainers, but only the Romans have the ability and responsibility to rule the world. There is nothing to say about resistance. Nero was indeed not good at governing the empire. Their resistance is somewhat understandable. This is no longer Nero's era, and their resistance should stop. "

Nero was the one who took the blame. Anyway, the dead cannot crawl out of the grave to defend themselves. The governance of the provinces is the responsibility of each governor. Some governors are indeed dead and need to be rectified. But this kind of problem Proco Even if Bi knew it, he couldn't say it openly. The Senate had not died like Nero.

"I understand your understanding. Keep busy with your business. I still have to inspect the camp."

Orville smiled and shook his head, got up and left to inspect the auxiliary soldiers' camp.

——

Rather than saying that most of the auxiliary soldiers are soldiers, it is better to say that they are laborers who occasionally work part-time as soldiers. Anyway, Orville uses these people in this way. Except for a few elites, the combat effectiveness of these Palfi strongmen cannot be overestimated.

According to common sense, these auxiliary soldiers would be responsible for guarding the supply stations set up by Rome along the march. The march camps previously set up by the Romans would later become transfer stations for loading food and supplies, and a small number of soldiers would be stationed at these stations. , usually auxiliary soldiers do this kind of secondary work.

If it hadn't been for several months of assault training during the march, Orville wouldn't even dare to give them this kind of work, for fear that they would take away the food and run away. So far, their combat effectiveness is only "just barely visible." "Degree.

After all, they were semi-forced here, and Orville had no expectations for them. Belisarius and Stilicho were responsible for training them, and they only had time to teach them how to use slings and raise spears to charge forward. , and obeying some basic commands, which is far from the kind of soldier Orwell asked for.

It is not easy to achieve this effect by training overtime while marching every day. Many inferior armies in the Middle Ages were almost at this level. They could only make do for now.

Sitting quietly beside him, after Belisarius finished his training, Orville asked him: "How are the weapons and supplies needed for the siege prepared?"

"All the necessary things have been prepared, and we have already greeted the Vikings. They are willing to use ships to help our army fight, but there are many fortifications on both sides of the Seine River, and we also found hidden stakes buried in the river and iron chains. Obviously, they have long been prepared for the Vikings' attack from the water. It may be risky to rush in directly.

Our army does not know how many enemy troops there are in the city, but it is certain that there are at least 100,000 people living in Paris, including the country civilians who come here for refuge. These people are all our potential enemies.

And you also know the temperament of those barbarians, a group of bloodthirsty robbers who like to plunder. After all, Paris is also part of the empire. If they attack the city, it will inevitably damage the city itself, which is very detrimental to our future rule and will also make us lose the support of the local people."