Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

It is well known that the Romans believed in Greco-Roman polytheism at first. They were quite open-minded about gods and were not very opposed to worshipping foreign gods. In short, the more gods there were, the better. The more gods protected the country, the stronger it would be.

Based on this idea, they had many temples, most of which were unmanned. Even if there were priests, they were generally not hereditary. They were just a kind of state official, similar to financial officers and legal officers.

Their belief in gods was very pragmatic. What Orville and Tia said about asking for oracles was not really asking for oracles, but just going to the temple to inquire about the news.

In ancient times, information flow was slow. People who wanted to know the news would sometimes go to the door of a specific god's temple to inquire about the news. The temple was roughly equivalent to an information distribution center.

It might be a bit troublesome to really convert Berenice, but it would be easy to do after the matter was made clear.

She agreed to stay in Cyprus for a few days and said directly that her brother also had to delay time by himself.

Seeing this, Orville remained silent and began to think behind his back.

The Herod family represented by Berenice also had to keep an eye on the movements of Rome. I don't know if Berenice realized this, but Architas II also considered sending her here.

The governor of Syria was not subordinate to Vespa at all, but he did not send anyone to swear allegiance alone, but asked Vespa to deliver the letter on his behalf.

Architas II excused himself from coming because he had something to do, and sent his sister to take over. The problem is that the Parfi woman has no right to receive political education at all. She is a professional in religious sacrifices, but she knows nothing about politics. This kind of political representative is completely unqualified.

Tia on Vespa's side is barely qualified. She has no problem in getting along with people, but she is sometimes too naive. Vespa didn't want her to go to Rome at all, just asked her to delay time.

Orville didn't figure it out at first, but now he has been hanging around on the ship for more than ten days, and he finally understands it-the three parties are delaying time, waiting for the situation in Rome to change further.

Moreover, except for Vespa himself, it seems that the other two parties are hinting intentionally or unintentionally that they don't pay much attention to the current emperor. They know that the matter will not reach the emperor's ears at all, and this drama is performed for others to see.

In ancient times, whether in China or abroad, the Imperial Guard and the Border Guard were the two strongest forces. Putting aside the Imperial Guard, Rome had three border guards: the German Legion on the Rhine border to guard against the Franks, which was the strongest and largest in number; the Danube Legion on the Danube to guard Greece and other places and the Dacians; the Eastern Legion in Syria to guard the eastern provinces and fight against the Parthians.

The former is the strongest, and the latter two are not much different.

Vespa has five Roman legions, one of which is about five or six thousand people. Two of them are drawn from the Danube Legion, two are drawn from various provinces or recruited from new soldiers, and one is the original local garrison, plus more than 20,000 auxiliary troops, which is a great force.

If we add the more than 20,000 elite soldiers of the Eastern Legion and an indefinite number of auxiliary troops, not to mention the small governors of other Eastern provinces, this force can already compete with the strongest Germanic Legion and win.

It is hard to say what Vespa's plan is at this time, but in Orwell's opinion, the other two have some "persuasion" intentions.

——

While the Romans are worried about politics, the Parphi people are busy with war.

In the holy city, on the city wall, the former high priest Anna looked at the Idumea people in front of him as if they were facing a great enemy.

They are different from the honest Idumea farmers under the Herod royal family in the north. Although they are brothers of the Parphi people in detail, they are more rough and direct in character. They live a nomadic life in the desert in the south and have not been immersed in much of the atmosphere of agricultural society.

If they are just here to worship God, then Anna can barely welcome them, but there are 10,000 or 20,000 people in front of them, each with weapons in their hands, which looks more like robbing.

A burly man rode forward and shouted at the gate: "I received a letter for help, saying that unless we arrive quickly, the Holy City will fall into the hands of the Romans. You despicable traitor, you are going to sell the Holy City to the Romans! Let us go in quickly, I can still save your family."

Ana tried to reason with the other party, and after brewing for a while, he began to give a speech to the enemies at the gate: "The Holy City is full of tears and wailing. Everyone has been persecuted by those greedy demons. They are so crazy that they even transferred the robbery from the Holy City to the Temple. This is something I absolutely cannot accept. If you want to go in, you can, but you must accept the supervision of my soldiers and the people of the Holy City, and you must lay down your weapons."

This condition is absolutely unacceptable. The general was furious: "The city that belongs to all of us has shut us out, but it may be decorating the gate with garlands waiting for the arrival of the Romans. It's ridiculous!"

Ana opened his mouth to continue arguing with the other party, but suddenly felt an unspeakable pain from his chest. He looked down and saw a sharp knife piercing his chest.

John Levi drew out his knife and kicked Anna off the wall. After seeing him fall to death, he raised his head and saluted the Idumean general.

In front of the city gate, the Zealots hidden under John Levi also killed the gate guards. They opened the gate and welcomed the 10,000 or 20,000 fierce warriors into the city.

They rushed straight to the temple, and the main force of the Zealots who were locked up inside and waiting for an opportunity also opened the gate at this time, fighting the army of the Priest Party from inside and outside.

The number was not dominant, and a large number of leaders were killed in front of the city gate. They were caught off guard and attacked from both sides. The Priest Party fell into an absolute disadvantage from the beginning, which soon turned into a massacre. Although the inner courtyard of the temple had not been disturbed, the outer courtyard was already a river of blood and corpses were everywhere.

After killing all the soldiers of the Priest Party, the Idumaeans did not stop there. Instead, they rushed to the civilian settlement area. They looted houses in the city and rushed around to kill anyone they saw. In name, they were clearing out the remnants of the Priest Party, but mainly to plunder property.

The Zealots who rushed out did not stop their savior's plan. They were not decent people. They were locked up for a long time and were full of anger. They simply joined in the carnival.

Simon walked out of the outer courtyard with a sneer, but before he could go downhill to the residential area, a man dressed as a moderate priest party soldier rushed out from an inconspicuous place. Simon was walking in front, and the other party was very fast. He was stabbed in the chest before he could dodge.

Simon's eyes were wide open with anger. Although the people around him quickly stepped forward to kill the assassin, he was still fatally wounded and died soon. He was about to die with a weak breath.

"John Levi." He kept thinking about this name before he died.