Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

After the meeting, Orville said a few words of dismissal as a matter of routine, and then signaled everyone to leave the meeting room.

In fact, he was the first one to leave, because he still had documents to review and revise, so he was a little anxious.

Just as he had stepped out of the meeting room, a rough voice suddenly came from behind: "Your Highness, I have something to ask you!"

After being called, Orville subconsciously stopped and turned his head to respond to the other party, but was pushed three or four meters away by a huge force.

"Assassin! There is an assassin!!" Orville heard such a shout from behind. Having undergone relevant training, he subconsciously lowered his head and grasped the hilt of the sword to draw the sword out of the sheath.

The sword tip almost brushed his scalp, and Orville felt that the long sword passing over his head did not dare to delay, and rolled more than two meters away with a not-so-decent roll.

Then he used his feet to push off the ground and stood up, looking warily at the place where he had just stood. There stood a German sage who was attending the meeting. He had been pierced by Stilicho's sword and was about to die.

The death of this man seemed to have triggered some kind of switch. Many Germans on the field stood up and rushed towards Orville - either with bare hands or with secretly hidden daggers. It was obvious that this was an assassination organized in a hurry.

Orville didn't understand why the man had a long sword in his hand just now, but it didn't stop him from reacting.

Without letting the guards or Stilicho take action directly, Orville silently drew his sword. He thought it would be better for him to solve this matter himself.

Swinging the long sword in his hand like an arm, he easily swung away the opponent's dagger, and then accurately stabbed the shoulder of the first person, making him temporarily lose his fighting ability. Then he calmly swung a few swords, blocking the short knives and daggers of several others, and quickly stabbed the shoulders or thighs of several others, making them temporarily lose the ability to move and counterattack.

Although these people wanted to trade their lives for Orville's and carried out suicide attacks on him, Orville kept his distance from the enemy. In the end, none of them came within one meter of Orville, and they were all quickly and easily dealt with by him holding a long sword.

While Orville dealt with the enemy in front of him, Stilicho also took the guards to control several other German sages who tried to participate in the assassination, and this farce-like assassination was completely curbed.

Until now, I haven't found any real talent in myself, but it doesn't prevent Orville from insisting on exercising. Although he didn't use the same training intensity as Tia, he basically took some time to exercise every day. Since he came here, he has been doing this almost every day. Over time, his physical fitness and combat skills have been pretty good.

He will not slack off in this regard, because it concerns his own life and property, and he doesn't know what accidents will happen during the war. Orville is a very cautious person. On the one hand, he has guards to protect himself, and on the other hand, he has a certain ability to protect himself. Not liking to go to the battlefield to chop people doesn't mean he is powerless.

At least, like now, it is not a particularly difficult problem to use the long to attack the short and one to fight many. These so-called wise men are local nobles, and their fighting power is not low, but Orville has a standard long sword of more than a meter in his hand. These people only have daggers, short knives or even bare hands to fight Orville, and the result will not be much better.

After doing this, Orville put away his long sword, slowly left the scene, and handed the follow-up work to his subordinates.

He can let his men shrink behind the formation for him, but Orville knows the temper of these Germans very well - the strong are respected, and they advocate force. No matter how good their brains are and how clear their ideas are, if they don't have a hard enough fist, they will be subconsciously looked down upon by these barbarians.

In order to prevent them from despising his authority, Orville needs to do it himself once, and this time should make the Germans remember it for a long time.

——

Finally, there were about fifty local nobles who decided to surrender to the Romans at the meeting, which was a considerable number. For those who did not come to the meeting and could not give a suitable reason, Orville was no longer polite. He ordered his soldiers to act quickly, sweeping the manors and small fortresses in various places to ensure that all the opposition forces were killed by him.

Some of these local ruling classes would be absorbed by Orville into the ruling system of the Roman Empire and become a member of the imperial bureaucracy, but Orville was not prepared to follow the practice of the Roman Empire on this basis.

Although the bureaucratic system of the Roman Empire did exist, it was not perfect in the eyes of Orville, a modern man. At least in his opinion, there were two fatal problems that could not be ignored: no specialization and excessive staff reduction.

Needless to say, the former, a senior senator of the Senate may have worked as a financial officer, prosecutor, naval admiral and provincial governor in his career. It is not that this is not possible, but it is ultimately not as good as specially trained officials.

For example, a senator who previously served only as a religious priest may suddenly be appointed to a position that requires professional skills, such as a naval commander or a financial officer. The tenure of these positions may only be one or two years. Even if the senator is really willing to perform his duties well, he will have to change his position soon after he adapts to his position.

Obviously, this is already a serious problem, but it is not over yet. Compared with the latter, the former is a small problem.

The Roman bureaucracy was overly streamlined, or severely understaffed.

Often, a province had only a few people working under the central government. To put it bluntly, the governance of the countryside was basically abandoned, and the governance of the city was not much better. The shortage of manpower made the governors feel that they had more than they could do, and they could not control the city with ease.

This problem forced the Romans to rely more on local people and local rulers when governing the province, which indirectly enhanced the independence and separation of the local area. This was harmless when the empire was strong and would be covered up by the powerful military force. Once the empire fell into decline, this would be a huge problem.

Orwell certainly couldn't stand these things. He wanted to make some changes within his ability, at least to make the bureaucracy of the British province closer to the future, and if there was a chance, to promote it to all parts of the empire.