Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Some people very generally call the indigenous barbarians on the British Isles Celts. In fact, this is an imprecise and vague concept, which is infinitely divisible.

For example, now, the Celts in Wales and Ireland regard each other as mortal enemies. The hatred accumulated between each other over hundreds of years is even more than that of the Anglo-Saxons. The two obviously cannot be called the same branch.

If we narrow the scope to Ireland, the local area has never been a unified entity, and has always been in a state of bulk division. Due to the influence of a certain work, many people should have some impression of the Irish Son of Light, Cuchulainn, the Curran Bulldog.

His story tells about the battle between Upper Ulster and Connacht in Ireland over the bull. Before that, Irish mythology also recorded many such battles. Of course, this is a bulk geographical concept rather than a political concept.

Until the Vikings invaded, there was no unified political entity there. They barely chose a leader to fight against the Vikings. In this situation, if you tell the locals that you are a family with the tribe next door, the locals will not understand it at all. They just think that the people of the tribe next door are a little bit worthy of a fight and are competing with them for land and livestock.

In Orville's opinion, this situation is simply perfect for balance. By winning over a group and dividing a group, you can finally bring the locals under the rule of the Roman Empire with very few resources. This is a tried and tested approach in history. The most successful colonial conqueror may be Cortes, who conquered today's Mexico in this way.

Back to the point, now based on the central idea of ​​using it to death, Orville assigned many tasks to Jeanne. Although from the perspective of a diplomat, Jeanne seems to lack many necessary qualities - she is not familiar with local culture and etiquette, lacks a deep and systematic understanding of local conditions, and has a naive and cute understanding of politics

But Orville couldn't say why, maybe because Jeanne herself has a very special appeal, she can really help get some things done. Even the Celts in Ireland and Wales had vaguely heard about the story of Jeanne Dacre, the "Saint" of Gaul, which was a plus.

Apart from her, there was really no better candidate around Orville.

Orville could not trust the Gauls who were Celtic by blood. At least he knew that Jeanne would not engage in conspiracy and had no crooked ideas. She was really busy trying to get everyone to achieve the best result.

As for the Romans under Orville, they were naturally not lacking in literacy and vision, but a big problem was arrogance.

They would admit that there were some things about the barbarians that were worth learning from, and they would also think that the Romans had some shortcomings that needed to be corrected, but they would never think that the barbarians were superior to the Roman Empire. In terms of thinking, they inherently regarded the other side as a group that was naturally conquered. It was certainly not a good habit to speak condescendingly during interest negotiations. Who doesn't have a little arrogance and self-esteem?

If it is post-war peace talks, then there is no problem doing so. It is not wrong to have such an idea in this era, but what Orville wants now is to appease and seek common ground while reserving differences. Letting these people go will only increase his workload. He does not want to deal with various trivial issues of Celtic natives after defeating the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings.

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After spending almost half a day to solve the problem of the Welsh barbarians, Orville took over the convoy responsible for transporting baggage and supplies. He will take these supplies to the Winchester front.

Even the baggage team that transports food does not need a good manpower configuration. There are about 500 escort personnel accompanying the army, and there are 200 more people because of the addition of Orville's personal guards. In addition, there are about 500 laborers responsible for hard labor, recruited from Gaul or Britain. As long as a little treatment is added on the basis of providing food and accommodation, it is not difficult to find people to help.

Orville did not bring any entourage with him. After all, it was just to escort food, so there shouldn't be any big problems. He set off on the journey to Winchester Barracks.

The reason why they came here was because they rode directly on horseback. This time, the transportation of goods returned to the slow pace. The daily distance was about 15 to 25 kilometers. Since he was not in a hurry, Orville did not urge the team to march quickly, but just marched slowly according to the rules and regulations.

The journey that should have been no problem had an unexpected situation on the fourth day.

Orville was leading his men to move slowly along the temporarily opened road, but he suddenly found the shadow of the enemy cavalry at the edge of his vision in the distance.

They did not approach the baggage convoy, but disappeared quickly after confirming the location of Orville and others. Orville did not relax like the soldiers around him, but felt a little chill in his spine.

His military literacy was not excellent, but he still had basic military knowledge. This was not the enemy's main force, but the vanguard before the main force. Usually, they would be the main force after reconnaissance. If nothing unexpected happened, the enemy's main force would come up immediately.

Generally, only large-scale troops need to be equipped with such reconnaissance cavalry. Small-scale guerrillas usually ambush on both sides of the road. They lack sufficient observation experience and immediately press forward like a tide when they see the baggage convoy. He has already gained experience in the security war in Gaul, and it is basically this fixed mode.

There are only a few hundred people around him. It may be a bit difficult to expect to fight with the opponent with real swords and guns. It is impossible to run away easily. The marching speed with so many burdens is not fast at all. Now they don’t know where the opponent’s army is. It may be a few hundred meters away from them, or it may be a few kilometers away from them.

Now there are only two choices in front of Orville-either take a few confidants and ride away quickly, or stay where they are and hope that the opponent can retreat safely. Basically, there is no second choice for him.

The first thing Orville thought of was to escape. He was a cautious and timid person. Now he had no idea what the opponent’s military strength was. There might be thousands or tens of thousands of people. If they stayed, this was a number that they could not handle with just a few hundred people.

As the saying goes, "As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood." He believed that his life should be more important than the hundreds of people in front of him. Letting himself leave safely first was the most logical choice. The remaining hundreds of people might not die. Anyway, a gentleman's agreement was signed with the Kingdom of Wessex. The two sides would exchange prisoners when necessary. This should not take long. Maybe before that, the Kingdom of Wessex would surrender to the Roman Empire, and these prisoners might not be in danger of their lives.