Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

"I deeply feel that I am old and frail and no longer capable of fulfilling the responsibilities of the clan leader, so I hope to entrust the position of clan leader to my younger brother Alfred to succeed him."

In short, the exhausted Æthelred was ready to abdicate in favor of someone more powerful.

Orville could not be said to be happy with this outcome, but he had no reason to object. However, for the purpose of ensuring the stability of Wessex, he still gave some words to persuade.

"Are you sure? The rewards of this position are well worth the hard work. What you've done so far is pretty good. I won't object to you continuing to do it."

Aethelred shook his head slightly: "If something happens to you in the future, go find my brother. He is a person with better talents than me. He will meet your requirements better."

At this point, Orville didn't try hard to persuade the other party, but just let him go. Since the matter was all on Orville's side, there was nothing to say, just follow the other party's ideas.

Now theoretically speaking, the Kingdom of Wessex still exists, and Æthelred also transferred his kingship to Alfred, which made Alfred in this time and space also become the King of Wessex. However, this king probably won't be king for long. Soon this place will become a province of the Roman Empire, and King Alfred will probably become Senator Alfred.

…………

The matter in Wessex has not actually been settled yet, but the situation near Winchester has been dealt with. But before these Germans, Orville still had to take time to deal with the Celtics' unexpected situation.

There is a blood feud between the Celts and the Germans, and it is not easy for Orville to interfere or deflect, but that does not mean that the Celts should be allowed to do whatever they want.

They claimed that they would also implement a bloody policy against the civilians of Winchester and use the blood of the Anglo-Saxons to sacrifice the gods. Orville rejected the other party's request without thinking.

Seriously speaking, civilization is a relative term. The Romans left behind some customs that look very bloody and barbaric to modern people, such as gladiator and beast-fighting culture, but they also looked down upon customs that were more bloody and barbaric than their culture, such as human blood sacrifice, which is very common in Rome today. It seems to be a very backward custom.

From a moral perspective, Orville definitely didn't like human sacrifice, which should have been banned long ago. More importantly, he had to let the Celts know who would be the future ruler of Britain. Orville would not be unreasonable towards some of their demands that were not excessive and reasonable, but understanding and tolerating them did not mean acquiescing to their overreaching.

He quickly left an order to Belissa: "Prepare a sumptuous dinner for those Celts. Thirty percent of the spoils harvested in the city can be divided among them, and be given directly to Boudica, and distributed among the Celts themselves. Just be responsible. But they are not allowed to enter the city or plunder at will. This is my bottom line."

Belisarius nodded to Orville and went down to start arranging things.

Not long after, Belisarius came back with a headache and reported the situation to Orville: "Those people have great opinions, saying that the Germans must pay with blood... I tried to calm them down, but the situation not optimistic."

He is a kind-hearted person and does not want such casualties to happen. Therefore, although he and the Anglo-Saxons were enemies on the battlefield not long ago, his current position is slightly biased towards the Wessex people. a little.

Orville nodded expressionlessly: "Let the troops put on their armor, pick up their weapons, and stand on the city wall. If they insist on entering the city to defy us, let's start a war."

It is obviously necessary to beat the opponent. Orville needs helpers and not ancestors. If the Celtics here are so stubborn, he can only resort to force to solve the problem. No one wants to get to this point, but there is no choice but to fight if necessary.

…………

Orville put on his armor and went to the walls of Winchester surrounded by his own guards.

Now that the army has basically been assembled, he can clearly notice that his army is a little confused. He doesn't quite understand why the friendly troops who were fighting side by side just now suddenly started to fight each other, but his lack of understanding does not prevent them from obeying orders and putting on their weapons and equipment. to the forefront.

He stood on the city wall and gave a speech to the soldiers around him.

"My dear brave soldiers, I understand your confusion and confusion now, but everything we are doing now is necessary. What we are doing is to expand the territory and expand the borders of the empire to new The reason why we are now confronting these Celts is that these people defy the authority of the Roman Empire and ignore my orders. They insist on plundering cities and slaughtering people. .

Winchester has become part of the Roman Empire. I am naturally responsible for the civilians here. The Celtic behavior is unacceptable. This is the fundamental reason why I chose to draw my weapon. Do you still remember the Teutonic Forest massacre? This is because the local barbarians despise our authority. We must take precautions and not accept any contempt for our authority. If the Celts choose to raise weapons against us in order to satisfy their desire for destruction and revenge, Then they were naturally enemies of the Roman Empire. "

These words and language may be a bit difficult for the big soldiers to accept, but Orville's words are mainly to cheer himself up, and the effect is pretty good for him.

He stood on the wall, staring at the Celtic camp in the distance, paying attention to the movements over there.

The Romans were well prepared, as if they were really ready for war, but the Celts did not have such determination. They were not professional soldiers, their fighting willpower was not that strong, and they did not have a blood feud with the Romans. At the same time, they were actually very clear about one obvious thing in their hearts.

If they really fought, they would definitely not win. If Boudica brought all the so-called 60,000 people over, they might dare to try it because of their large numbers, but now the number of Romans is almost three times theirs, and their military literacy and equipment level are obviously several levels better than theirs.

Although they were very dissatisfied with Orville's decision, they were not to the extent of really fighting. After weighing the pros and cons, the Celts were the first to give up and retreated silently.

Orville silently followed the actions of the Celts, and actually breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

He was not afraid if a real fight came, but the fewer the enemies, the better. He did not intend to waste too much time on the Celts, provided that the Celts surrendered and knew the limits. Now the result was acceptable, and Boudica was not a stupid person.