Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

"Michael didn't give me any advice. I think you should regard this action as a challenge and test for yourself." Jeanne rejected Orville's bad intentions and wanted Orville to find a way to solve these problems himself.

Orville shrugged and didn't care. He didn't want to rely on the other party from the beginning. He just tried his luck. Since there was no one, forget it. He had more than 10,000 soldiers under his command, so he didn't have to rely on the oracle to decide the war strategy.

"Then let's talk about some serious things. How do you think we should deal with the locals?" He asked casually.

Jeanne replied to Orville seriously: "The matter is done. No matter what, the result is already like this. We can't kill or expel all the Germans who come to Britain in the future. In fact, according to my understanding, all nations can coexist peacefully, but the prerequisite is to avoid the evil deeds of a few upper-class people against civilians."

The implication is that she doesn't want to expel all the Germans, but just wants to achieve harmony as much as possible.

Orville nodded slightly upon hearing this. The two people's ideas were not in conflict. Although later generations shaped Joan of Arc into a symbol of the French nation, she herself did not seem to be a standard nationalist in various aspects.

It can only be said that historical figures also serve political situations, and Joan of Arc is such an example. After the French king recovered, he consciously did not publicize the story of Joan of Arc because they did not want the people to think that the French royal family was saved by a village girl.

But after the rise of modern nationalism and romanticism, Joan of Arc became the object of praise by many literati and poets. It was not to praise Joan of Arc herself hundreds of years ago, but to promote the kind of enthusiastic nationalist enthusiasm derived from Joan of Arc.

After the end of World War I and World War II, a new trend emerged. Anti-traditional and anti-conservative views prevailed for a time. Joan of Arc, who became the representative of tradition and nationalism, naturally became the object of criticism by these people. Countless people tried to pull the saint down from the altar.

In recent years, the trend of conservative tradition has begun to rise again. In order to fight against people who disagree with their own ideas, they have brought out historical figures such as Joan of Arc and Saint King Louis to worship.

Historical figures who have been buried will not care about what future generations think of them. Future generations do not really worship these historical figures. They just want to find an endorsement for their own thoughts and behaviors in reality. It can only be said that history is like this. Orwell is quite curious about how he will be evaluated. He thinks that he can also leave a mark in history.

Some things about his past life flashed through his mind, but Orville's expression was still calm: "Of course, you will get what you want. By the way, when do you want to set off to negotiate the Celtic land? I think I have asked someone to figure out the route. I need to go around the coastline to the Welsh area, and then Ireland across the sea is also the target range."

Jeanna chose to solve the problem as soon as possible: "The sooner the better, we can't waste time. It would be best if you can give me a few ships to send me there now."

For the sake of the other party, Orville gave a little advice: "We or you Gauls haven't had official contact with the locals for many years. You and their language are not the same. Not necessarily the same. They might also be hostile to us Romans. Are you sure you want to go there now? "

Jeanne smiled: "I have solved this problem. There are several small towns on the coastline of Gaul. The locals secretly interact with the Celts on the British Isles. Some of them understand the local language, and some of the locals also understand Gaulish. Of course, you Romans have a hard time speaking Latin or Greek."

It is obvious that Jeanne has not been saving the world and the people for the past few months. She has also been preparing for the future, or saving the world and the people better. Whatever Orville understands, the result is good anyway.

——

After sending a small fleet to send Jeanne away, Orville continued to command the army.

If they really marched, they would reach Winchester, the capital of the Kingdom of Wessex, in about two or three days, but Orville was as slow as planned, and he built roads and barracks while marching.

Many dirt roads here are not big enough to carry horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts, so Orville would have the army expand and compact the roads so that the baggage trains behind could pass unimpeded. They would build bridges when they encountered rivers and cut down trees when they encountered forests, in order to leave a good passage for the people behind and to have a retreat when they encountered accidents.

It took nearly two weeks to walk a short distance, and the main force of Wessex had returned to support.

By the standards of a small kingdom, Wessex's actions were very fast. After the news of the Romans' capture of Portsmouth spread, the army was transferred back from the front line of vigilance against the invasion of Vikings to the vicinity of Winchester, and then the two sides began to confront each other around the city.

The reconnaissance cavalry sent by Orville estimated that the other side had about 8,000 to 20,000 people. The number was difficult to estimate because the Wessex people had entered the city, but it was basically certain that the other side's combat effectiveness was definitely weaker than that of the Romans.

Orville did not rush to besiege the city, but set up camp outside the city and waited for the other side's envoy to come. Just as he expected, two days later, the other side took the initiative to send a diplomatic envoy to negotiate.

The person who came made Orville very interested. The envoy was Alfred himself, who was the king's assistant at the time.

After the routine diplomatic etiquette, both sides began to get straight to the point. Alfred was the first to ask questions. Orville sat in his seat, leaning his head and listening to the other party quietly. He already had a bit of aura of majesty without anger.

"Your Highness, the Roman Empire has set rules since the God Augustus, not to blindly expand abroad. The purpose of the imperial army is to defend the country rather than to expand the territory. Britain is not the land of the Romans. We beg your army to retreat and rest. For this, we are willing to pay 5 million dinars of tribute and become an ally of the Roman Empire, contributing blood tax to the empire."

It can be said that the other party is still very sensible and realistic. He knows that the Roman Empire must bring something tangible back when it comes here, so he didn't think about asking the Romans to leave unscathed. He was ready to shed a layer of skin. Five million is a huge sum of money for a small country. Wessex, which has been fighting for years, can only take out this money at once.

If it was a Viking or an officer or governor who only wanted to make money, it would be acceptable for things to have happened this way. But unfortunately, Orville's purpose was not to make money or gain fame. He was seriously looking for a place to settle down.