Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Orville also found it interesting when he saw the other party desperately explaining and persuading, and felt much relieved.

Historically, Belisarius was a very generous general with considerable charisma and popular support. Not only did he have excellent military abilities, he also had no obvious flaws in his moral character. Except for the time when he used his sword to rescue the emperor and quell the rebellion. Apart from bloody methods, he rarely harmed local residents. He persuaded Orville more because he did not want to harm local civilians and controlled the intensity of the war within a certain range.

Orville did not want to refuse this request: "I understand what you mean. The war will be as bloodless as possible and there will only be necessary casualties. I will try my best to achieve this."

Belisarius nodded slightly and thanked Orville.

…………

The siege of Orville was going on unhurriedly, but almost at the same time, three crucial battles were about to break out.

A battle took place in Rennes, the core city of the Gallic Uprising. Aurelian had strategically detoured back to the city of Rennes, and stormed the city wall of Rennes with great momentum. Within three days, the city wall fell, and Aurelian requisitioned the city. A large amount of food and grass reserves originally belonged to the rebel army, and then turned around to deal with Bagoda, the leader of the rebel army, who rushed back for reinforcements.

A battle took place near Caen, a city on the coast of the Strait of La Manche (English Channel). Tia faced the Gallic army gathered near the city, waiting for her arrival. Her army had two legions and more than 10,000 people. There are more than 50,000 people on the other side, but most of them are temporarily organized rural warriors. Except for a small number of noble cavalry, which is a bit difficult to deal with, the remaining people have very poor combat effectiveness.

The last battle took place in the city of Cologne, an important node in the German legion's defense line. The main forces of both sides met here. The Roman legion faced the German army commanded by Pepin the Short. The Roman side had more than 40,000 people, and the German side also had more than 50,000 people. of elite troops.

If they lose even one of the three battles, the situation of the Romans will become very delicate.

If Aurelian loses, he will not be able to escape. Tens of thousands of people are trapped near the city of Rennes and cannot escape; if Tiya loses, the next step is for the Gallic army to attack Auvers, and then possibly invade Narbonne Gaul or the Germanic provinces. ; The result of Vespa's defeat would be the most disastrous. The Germans could invade Gaul, and the royal prestige would be ruined.

So in summary, no game can be lost, otherwise the progress of the battle will be slowed down at least, or the territory will be strategically reduced, neither of which is acceptable to the current Romans.

All three parties are gambling, betting that they will not be the losers, but there will definitely only be one winner in the end.

In Caesar's terms, the dice has been cast, and all three parties have made up their minds. The Gauls seek independence and freedom, the Germans seek hegemony, and the Romans hope to maintain their dominance. No one is willing to give in. Only war, the ultimate method, can decide who is right and who is wrong.

…………

Parading in front of the army on horseback, Tia began to speak loudly. Behind her were more than 10,000 well-trained warriors-Romans, Egyptians, Greeks and some barbarian groups from the edges of the civilized world, but now They were all members of the Roman legion and obeyed the orders of Tia, the Roman general.

Long black strips could be vaguely seen on the hills in the distance. They were the Gauls' army, which far exceeded the army led by Tiya in terms of numbers. However, she was not afraid in her heart, but felt her blood boiling.

"Soldiers! You have proven your outstanding quality and determination with heroic fighting. Now the last usable power of our enemy is presented before your eyes. Obey orders and don't be afraid. You are real warriors. You have been trained It is truly about the training of the art of war, so it becomes a well-trained soldier. Compared with you, the enemy's soldiers are just a bunch of rabble.

Make your family proud! They would soon realize that there was no need to worry about suffering any irreversible disaster, because the powerful Roman army would stifle all disasters and risks. We are indeed at a disadvantage in terms of quantity, but we have an absolute advantage in quality and do not have to wait for others to send troops to support, because if no one shares the fruits of victory with us, our victory will become even greater and more glorious! "

"Must win! Must win! Must win!!" The atmosphere has arrived, and everyone is excited and ready to meet the enemy's challenge.

The armies of both sides slowly approached each other. The flat terrain could not hide any suspicious military power. This battle relied on the courage and endurance of both sides, leaving relatively little room for technology.

The Gallic army was mainly composed of poorly trained villagers, armed with spears or simple projectile weapons, who gathered close to the Roman army's positions.

Although the number of the Roman army was smaller, the auxiliary soldiers sent from Egypt were very professional. They were good at throwing stones and archery, and they could boldly shoot at the opponent in the front in the form of a skirmisher line.

Due to the loose formation and better accuracy, the Romans temporarily took advantage in the first round of shooting, and the Gaulish infantry was suppressed and moved slowly.

Tiya observed these so-called soldiers at the front of the military formation and frowned - she was reluctant to admit that they were soldiers. Many of them also carried farm tools or sharpened sticks as weapons. They could only be called mobs. Or something like that.

Most of them had no armor or decent shields. It felt like they just picked up the tools for production and life from their side and came to fight.

Although everyone was treated equally on the battlefield, she still felt a little uncomfortable fighting against such an army.

After discovering the problem of infantry advancement, the Gauls sent their own cavalry to drive away the Roman light infantry, wanting them to return to the rear of the heavy infantry line.

Obviously, the other commander was also a man with certain military literacy. He knew that the Roman legion infantry had several heavy javelins that could be thrown, which were extremely harmful, so he did not intend to enter the range of the Roman heavy javelins, but only intended to disperse the light infantry.

But the problem was that the range of the heavy javelins in the past was generally only a dozen meters. Tia's army had replaced it with the new light javelins recommended by Orville, with a range of forty to fifty meters.

The original one was used to deal with the enemy's heavy infantry line, but now this one is suitable for dealing with the cavalry units that are becoming more and more present on the battlefield.

Empiricism kills people. They misjudged the range of the Roman army's javelin. The cavalry troops that came to disperse the light infantry were subjected to the concentrated fire of the legion infantry's javelins. Two rounds of javelin volleys were fired in just a few seconds. In an instant, the enemy's cavalry vanguard suffered heavy losses.

Even if the people could survive, the horses would be seriously injured and lose their ability to move if they were hit. The only advantage of Gaul was that they had more and better cavalry troops. After losing this advantage, their chances of winning were very small.