Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Half a month passed like this, and another big event happened in the Holy City.

A riot broke out in the city. The restless elements captured the prince and two other prominent nobles who had royal blood and were responsible for guarding the public treasury. These people had just been imprisoned. Their allies and subordinates did not even have time to try to rescue them. They were in prison. His throat was cut.

This incident caused an uproar. Although the royal family had been expelled from the Holy City, the nobles who remained in the Holy City still had a profound influence. The death of three prominent nobles was a completely unacceptable event.

After that, Zealot activists began giving speeches in the city.

"Those nobles deserved to be executed! Law and procedure should not be left to traitors, who have always maintained close ties with the Romans and conspired to surrender to Rome and dedicate our holy city! Brothers, this is completely Unacceptable behavior, the priests have become the lackeys of the Romans in the Holy City. Only we are the ones who realize the freedom of the Parphi people. Only we are the hope of this nation. So brothers, follow us, we! Let’s achieve true freedom together!”

Remarks like this are not uncommon, and some people do turn to the Zealots who they don't like very much because of this. At any rate, they really want to fight the Romans.

Coercing the public opinion of these people, the Zealot Party forcibly elected a man of ordinary origin to be the high priest of the Holy City, and forcibly occupied the temple, driving out all the members of the Priest Party.

Although he has the blood of the first generation of high priests hundreds of years ago, he has long been reduced to a commoner and was born in a village near the Holy City. Maybe a stonemason is a very respectable profession for a low-level priest, and the Zealots also arranged for him a wife with a good background as a supplement, but in the eyes of the upper class in the Holy City, this is a provocation to them. The beginning of civilians declaring war on themselves.

In the gorgeously decorated living room, several upper-class nobles were discussing countermeasures.

The leader was a worried old man: "My four brothers and I have all served as high priests, and I think everyone here knows very well that only people who have received a complete education can better interpret God's will. Zealots are casual I cannot accept the appointment of a stonemason from a village as high priest."

Another man dressed as a wealthy businessman also said: "I don't have a problem with the poor stonemason, but the appointment of priests has always been our internal matter. The Zealots blatantly crossed the line and occupied "

These words resonated with more people. They were powerful figures in politics and business. For various considerations, they chose to join the common people in resisting the Romans. But now it seems that the royal family made the right choice.

The Romans would not interfere with their internal politics, would not loot the city without restraint, and would not occupy the temple of the Holy City as they do now.

Internal conflicts, coupled with successive defeats in external wars, have gradually begun to shake the hearts of these people.

The old man looked around: "I know that some of you have contacts with the Romans outside. I am not here to accuse you. I just want to say that after this problem is resolved, maybe we should discuss the peace talks. The problem."

Everyone nodded tacitly, acknowledging what the old man said.

Sitting at the bottom, the inconspicuous John Levi said at this time: "Those Zealots can incite the people, and we can do the same thing. Compared with the Romans far in the north, I think they are in the city now. The robbing Zealots are even less likable. How about starting from this point? If you don’t mind, I’m willing to help organize people to facilitate this matter.”

This was also an important reason why he was recruited. Although John Levi was a "foreign roughneck" that the nobles looked down upon, his men did not suffer many losses, and many scattered defeated troops gathered along the way. Just looking at the number of people He is also considered the number one figure in the Holy City.

Seeing that John Levi was so successful, the old man was quite satisfied: "Let you do this. We will provide you with all political and financial support, and we will take action when the time is right."

John Levi lowered his head and said yes, a cold light flashed in his eyes.

——

After half a month of training, Orville's soldiers have finally begun to take on human form, their physical fitness has basically passed the test, and they can basically complete simpler instructions and formations. Valerian is quite satisfied with this progress.

It is just late autumn now, and there is still some time before the spring war. When spring comes, these 600 people will be quite qualified Luo Xiejun.

Of course, apart from training, Orville did not forget about ideological construction, and his method was simple and crude - giving out money.

This is the blood tax they pay, the price for indulging the rebels. Maybe the town will give some compensation to the selected families, but here in Rome they only get food and accommodation, not a penny, and they don't get a share of the spoils. Orville paid these people his own salary. According to the standard of half of the regular Roman army, each person had an annual salary of 110 dinars of silver coins. They were paid after each training cycle and promised rewards for winning in the future.

Orville will definitely not give them the same treatment as the hoplites. This will make the Roman soldiers have opinions about themselves. Now this amount is just right, not too much but not too much. Especially in this war year, life is very difficult. If men eat and live in military camps, the money will be enough for their families to maintain a minimum life and ensure that they do not starve to death in this year.

The price of food here is very expensive now, almost doubled. One dinar can buy 7.3 liters, about 5.5 kilograms of wheat, and 110 dinars is 600 kilograms, enough to feed a small family.

Orville assured everyone that he would pay them as much as he said, and as long as they trained hard and fought bravely, there would be no deductions. In fact, he did so in the past half month.

It is difficult to find such a job with good treatment and regular payment every week. There are risks on the battlefield, but now being a coachman will be robbed by robbers, and being a farmer will be forcibly requisitioned by Romans or bandits. There are risks in everything, but at least this will definitely get you money.

Therefore, after starting to pay, the training has been much smoother.

With a salary of more than 100 yuan, they are not risking their lives, but they are basically responsible during training.

As a middleman, Orville got a commission. King Architas II paid attention to this matter personally and was paid quickly. He used the money to buy some spoils that the king didn't need, such as cloth, jewelry, bottles and jars. Architas II was also happy to do a favor. He was too lazy to pay attention to the whereabouts of these unimportant things, so he simply transferred them to Orville at a friendly price.

He didn't care about the spoils themselves at all. He spent money to buy the fact that "the royal family paid out of their own pockets to buy back the spoils taken by Rome". His purpose had been achieved, and he would not care about the quality of the goods like a merchant.

In a few rounds, Orville basically got these supplies for nothing.