Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

After learning about this, Orville laughed dumbly and found Astolfo's behavior quite interesting.

If Rollo's fighting power had not been so strong, it might have really worked. Of course, there is no if in history. What happened is what happened. Orville will not be forced to withdraw from Britain because of being captured. The British conquest war will continue.

He did not embarrass the knights under Astolfo. On the contrary, he treated them as officers.

He looked at Astolfo who was sitting beside him and asked, "Is it convenient to chat?"

Astolfo was a familiar person. He was not restrained even after becoming a prisoner: "Of course, no problem. I am curious about some things, and I guess you are the same. Don't ask about military secrets. Chatting or discussing local customs is up to you. I am also very curious because I have never been to Rome in the south."

After a brief conversation, Orville roughly understood Astolfo's life experience and general situation in this time and space.

Astolfo in the original world was the child of an English noble and a Frank princess. He later served the Franks and became one of the legendary paladins. This world is generally the same, but there are some differences in details.

As mentioned earlier, the former king of the Kingdom of Wessex, Aethelwulf, married the Frankish princess Judith, who was more than 40 years younger than him. This was a typical political marriage. When Aethelwulf died, Judith was only in her teens, still quite young.

According to the normal order of historical development, Aethelbod, the eldest son of Aethelwulf, would do something that people would gossip about behind his back - he would marry his stepmother, a Frankish princess younger than himself. Originally, this was a way to show goodwill to the Franks, but it backfired. The people thought that this matter was really not worth telling to outsiders, and it caused the rule to be shaken.

Apparently, Ethelbald found a better solution in this world. He married the daughter of the Carolingian family, who was still the prime minister at the time. The Merovingian royal family at that time had been hollowed out, so there was no difference between marrying the prime minister's princess and marrying the king's princess. If you have to say, it is safer to marry the prime minister. After all, the one with soldiers, food and money is the boss. The most powerful person in Frank is the prime minister, not the king.

Astolfo was a prince born in this environment, the son of King Ethelbald and Princess Francesca.

Now the Carolingian family has replaced the old king as the new royal family, so Astolfo, whose mother is a member of the Carolingian family, can also legitimately call himself the son of the king and the princess.

Although he claimed to be the prince of England, Astolfo actually did not stay in England for long. His cheap father died of plague when he was very young, and the kingdom was inherited by his brothers. Later, it was passed to Ethelred and Alfred. In terms of inheritance rights, it had nothing to do with him.

Later, he was raised by a Frankish mother in the Frankish Kingdom, and his cultural identity was more inclined towards the Franks than the Wessex people.

Although the Anglo-Saxons in England relied on and recognized the Franks, they did not want to become the vassals of the Franks. Of course, it was impossible for Astolfo, who was sensitive about his identity, to ascend the throne and become king. This was also in line with Astolfo's own wishes. He was originally a casual, free and unrestrained person. After growing up, he simply left his family and became a chivalrous ranger (self-proclaimed).

This time, he accidentally heard that the Kingdom of Wessex was in trouble. On the one hand, he wanted to be chivalrous and on the other hand, he also wanted to help his nominal hometown. Astolfo came to the British Isles with the rangers who followed him. Orville knew what happened next. They bumped into him. Astolfo wanted to fight a big battle with a small one, but he didn't expect to overturn.

This was the first Frankish senior nobleman Orville had ever met, so he chatted with him for a few more words on a whim, and learned some very interesting things.

The Romans were in a "last days", the number of gifted people had declined compared to a few hundred years ago, and there hadn't been a true God's Chosen for a long time. The Franks were different, the number of gifted people was relatively higher, and the content was still very strange.

Astolfo's own ability not only strengthened his body, but also strengthened his vision. In addition to strengthening his vision, he also had a very subtle ability - anyone who was touched by his spear would easily fall off the horse. Astolfo himself couldn't explain the principle, but in Orville's opinion, this thing was close to magic.

This was also the reason why he proposed a duel to decide the outcome. Unexpectedly, Rollo didn't play by the rules and fought directly with himself on foot. There was no way, and Astolfo could only admit defeat.

It seemed that he didn't have much hatred for Orville or the Romans. He came here with a completely game-like attitude. This made Orville think of something else. Not to mention earning the other party to join the group, it would still be good to make friends with him.

…………

These things were just minor incidents at best. Orville and his men arrived at the barracks half a day late, which did not delay much time.

He did not punish Astolfo and his men, but only had them detained, preparing to deal with their problems when he had time.

Belisarius and his men were also surprised by Orville's experience, but did not comment on Orville's decision, but just continued to deal with their own problems.

The next thing Orville did was to fulfill his promise and reward everyone. Although there was no fighting, it was still possible to win people's hearts by taking this opportunity. He didn't want to be known as a man who didn't keep his word. The person who received the most rewards was of course Rollo. In addition to money, Orville also generously granted him citizenship as a reward for his "rescue".

He didn't have time to rest, and soon took over the army to continue the siege of Winchester.

After a short period of preparation, all kinds of heavy equipment were in place, and the siege could officially begin.

It was similar to the siege of the Holy City. Weapons such as catapults and crossbows were pushed onto the siege earth embankment, and then began to bombard the city walls day and night. But there was a significant difference: the Anglo-Saxons in the city did not have enough siege equipment.

Their technical level was not enough, and they were unable to manufacture crossbows or trebuchets with very good performance. Orville did not give them the opportunity to reverse engineer, so they were completely suppressed in terms of long-range.

Orville ordered the siege engines to smash into a corner of the city wall. Although the wall was built very solidly, it could not withstand the day and night attacks of projectiles, and soon the stones of that section of the wall began to loosen slightly.