Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Boudica's words were very confident and seemed to be well-prepared, but Orwell didn't think so. He thought that these Celts could at most be regarded as being recruited. Recruiting these people was to make them stop resisting. It would be a bit difficult for them to help fight.

In history, the Boudica uprising was said to have mobilized 120,000 Celts to participate in one go, and it was also a huge battle. It is estimated that because England was occupied by others, the corresponding Celtic population has also decreased, so there are only 60,000 people after a 50% reduction.

These 60,000 people sound quite a lot, but in fact, they are not a small number no matter how you count them, but this is the 60,000 people of the barbarian standard, and the main focus is a typical example of uneven quality and a family of old and young. The combat effectiveness of this kind of warfare cannot be expected.

For example, let's not talk about Caesar in the late Roman Republic or those fierce men and super-high-quality legionnaires in the early and middle stages of the empire. Stilicho, a general under Orwell in the late empire, fought such a bad battle.

At that time, the Roman Empire was already dying, and it could not gather many high-quality field troops. Stilicho faced nearly 400,000 troops. On the one hand, he recalled the border guards, and on the other hand, he tried his best to pull back the escaped soldiers and slaves to join the army. Together with the 30,000 barbarian allies, he gathered 70,000 miscellaneous troops.

These 70,000 miscellaneous troops defeated the 400,000 barbarians without much effort. Of course, this was related to Stilicho's own command quality, but it was also inseparable from the backward tactics of several hundred years before Christ, such as the whole family's wave.

It was not an exaggeration to say that the legionary soldiers could fight ten on the front battlefield against such troops, because in the official history, Boudica was indeed beaten like this by the Romans in the last battle.

The Gauls on the mainland were far better than their cousins ​​on the British Isles in terms of the intensity of war and the degree of foreign exchanges. To put it in a more dramatic way, the Gauls' military science was relatively high. Although they were slightly backward, they were still not invincible.

The Gauls had good metallurgical technology, and their military tactics used mounted infantry, light cavalry, and heavy infantry. Although they lagged behind the hegemonic countries in terms of organizational concepts, political concepts, and logistical concepts, they were generally at the same level as the Mediterranean world. The backward parts could rely on combat willpower and terrain to take advantage of these things.

But the Celts on the British Isles, although this statement is not very respectful of their bloody history, there are objective reasons why they were conquered by the Anglo-Saxons or Romans, and they were really backward in many aspects.

The Roman Empire is often compared with the unified countries such as the Qin and Han Dynasties, and there is no need to distinguish between the superior and the inferior. Generally speaking, they are of the same size and level, and belong to the more advanced level of the same era. The Celts on the British Isles, in terms of cultural and military levels, are basically in the state of those early tribal clans using horse-drawn chariots on the Central Asian grasslands.

In terms of military tactics, they relied on horse-drawn chariots and skirmish lines. In terms of culture, until the Romans came into contact with them, they were still in a tribal state with a system of communal wives. In terms of agriculture, they were still in a state of slash-and-burn farming. They still made sashimi like the Maori or Ainu (that is, the blue sashimi in later generations, the symbol of Scotland). They could not make dairy products such as cheese, had poor textile skills, and rarely settled in one place for a long time.

To be honest, in the European continent known to the Romans, there were no barbarians like this. The high EQ said that they were more simple and did not become listless due to long-term comfort. The low EQ said that they were in the original barbarian state.

It was precisely because of the long-term development stagnation caused by being away from the European continent that they performed disastrously when facing the Romans.

When Boudica's uprising was at its worst, she did inflict heavy damage to a Roman legion through surprise attacks and other means, but afterwards, Boudica was full of pride and fought a decisive battle with a Roman regular army of about 10,000 people. The difference in the strength of the two sides was about 15 to 1 to 20 to 1 according to different records. The final result was that the Roman army massacred the local Celtic army. It can hardly be called a battle or a war. The quality gap between the two sides can be seen.

The Celts in this time and space are relatively civilized and advanced, mainly reflected in the production and lifestyle and cultural customs. Orwell worked hard to understand the military, and it was not much different from the previous life, which was a very sorry state. So he didn't expect the Celts to make any outstanding contributions. It would be good if they didn't drag their feet and didn't lead the rhythm.

These are Orwell's own inner activities and actual thoughts. Of course, such words cannot be said openly. Boudica in another time and space may not understand the biggest gap between the Celts and the Romans until his death. It is a bit difficult for this time and space to let the other party learn without a teacher.

"I will verify the information with Jeanne later. If it is true, you have a certain strength. I can accept that you maintain a certain degree of autonomy, but there is a prerequisite. Everyone in the Roman-ruled area must abide by Roman law, and some appropriate laws must be implemented in your settlements. This is my requirement.

If you seek the wealth, culture and technology of the Roman Empire in the future, then you will be subject to more constraints from us. You must sacrifice something to gain something. This is a matter of course, is it okay?"

Boudica nodded after pondering: "It seems to be okay at the moment, but we need to discuss the details. We definitely cannot accept anything that is too unreasonable."

"Of course, this will be finalized in a way that satisfies you, and we should be able to reach a consensus."

Orville smiled, at least he was satisfied with the result.

Some scholars have a view that the more civilized a place is, the easier it is to conquer it, and vice versa, the more barbaric and desolate the land is, the harder it is to conquer it.

Since he also has a vested interest in it, Orville feels that the first half of the sentence is unfair, but he also thinks that the second half makes sense.

As for the actual situation in Wales and Scotland, there are many mountainous forests there, and the forest is the mother of these barbarians. It is very meaningless to waste time with them in such a place, because there is no value.

After spending a lot of effort to drive the barbarians out of the forest, the Romans only gained a piece of wasteland, which has no occupation value. Instead, it is better to let these barbarians enjoy freedom on their own land.

After coming into contact with the Roman Empire, it is only a matter of time for these barbarians to become Latinized and civilized. Even if the barbarians are not included in the rule, they will be assimilated imperceptibly. There are many such examples in history.

This is exactly what Orwell wanted. Although his plan was to conquer the entire British Isles, it did not mean that he had to use the army to conquer every piece of land.