Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

【Boneless】Ivar has not been in a good mood recently because the situation makes him feel powerless.

He is a loyal supporter of the idea that "force is better than hard work", and firmly believes that the Vikings can open up a vast world and free themselves from the dilemma of constant internal consumption in the bitter cold land of the north.

In fact, he has perfectly practiced this view in the first thirty years of his life. He relied on his bravery and his men to fight for a large territory, but since he met the Romans, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and he now feels deeply powerless.

No matter how many strongholds he looted and how many people he killed, it seems that the Romans will never be hurt and can always come up with new troops to fill the gaps. The huge size is a special property that all his previous opponents have never had.

Ivar worked hard to maintain a delicate balance. Most of the troops promised by the King of Denmark were originally deployed in the lowlands, but with the support provided by his brother 【Brave】Bjorn, he was barely able to maintain it.

Even so, this kind of hard support made him quite uncomfortable. He was under great pressure every day. He had to be careful and could not make mistakes. He danced on the edge of a knife in the hope of causing more losses to the Romans.

Every time it was late at night, Ivar would inevitably think more. In fact, he was a little envious of Rollo.

Although he did not agree that the northerners should surrender to any other nation, at least Rollo's goal was achieved. He won a vast piece of land for himself through war and loyalty, and it was fertile farmland that his original Norwegian Kingdom could not provide.

Now Ivar's territory is still uncertain, and he does not know how this war will end.

At this point in the war, it is no longer Ivar or a mere Danish king who can decide whether the war will continue. The one who can decide this matter is King Charles of the Franks. As long as he does not nod, the war will have to continue until the blood of the Germans and Romans is shed.

Ivar did not like this ending, but he had no ability to change everything. He could only preserve his own strength as much as possible in the rapid changes of the situation.

I don't know if it's good news, but I think it's almost over.

He subconsciously glanced at the letter at hand, which was sent to him by the Romans through neutral merchants. The Romans asked to negotiate with him, and Ivar intuitively felt that the other party must have encountered something. In recent times, the Roman general Belisarius has been particularly oppressive and wary of him. If Ivar still has spare energy, he may pretend to negotiate with the other party to buy time, and then secretly plan some new military actions to deceive the other party and make them bleed more.

But Ivar is just a Viking leader after all. Although he has thousands of Viking lions under his command, he can only pull these people out with all his strength. The high-intensity small-scale uninterrupted confrontation has been fought until now. In fact, he is also exhausted, so he thinks that he should really listen to what the Romans want to say.

…………

Orville chose the negotiation site at the border, but Ivar did not agree. Instead, he set the negotiation site at the Governor's Mansion, which is beneficial to the Romans. Orville had no reason to refuse this request and agreed to it happily.

So about two weeks later, a fleet of about fifteen longships entered the Thames estuary.

He stood on a high platform by the river, looking at the leading dragon-headed warship with interest - in fact, according to the Vikings' classification, not all ships are called dragon-headed warships, only the largest and most powerful ones are called dragon-headed warships.

Facts have proved that both the Romans and the Vikings have more or less an obsession with spectacles and face projects. Like the ship in front of Orville, at a glance, the length is almost 50 meters, almost exceeding the scope of practical ships, and has become a kind of man-made wonder.

The bigger the ship, the more money it burns. To make such a large ship, the human and material resources invested can be imagined. From his point of view, the cost-effectiveness of making such a ship is far less than making five or six long ships of the same type of about 20 meters, which are more useful and more flexible.

But he didn't need to say anything to the other party, because the Romans did something more exaggerated than this. The Caligula warship, which was more than 70 meters long, was still sinking in the lake. They were obviously more enthusiastic than the Hammer Wonders, who claimed to be in the civilized world.

These dragon-headed warships represent the highest level of Viking shipbuilding. The head of a dragon is carved on the top of the high curved bow. This kind of large ship that can cross the storms of the North Sea left a deep impression on the Romans, so much so that Orville recorded the Vikings' shipbuilding technology for future use.

Face engineering also plays a role at this time. Orville looked around at the soldiers around and found that their expressions were more serious. Obviously, these huge ships aroused their tension and made them be on guard against accidents.

Under the gaze of everyone, these huge long ships slowly approached the port, and Ivar took the lead and walked down from the ship.

This time he was dressed more formally, wearing a crown and decorative armor decorated with brass, looking like a general with outstanding achievements.

Orville glanced at the entourage and guards around him, but did not see other members of his family. It was obvious that he came alone this time and was afraid that the Romans would use the Hongmen Banquet as a tactic. However, this worry was completely unnecessary. Orville was a man who valued his reputation very much and did not want to ruin his reputation because of such a thing.

Besides, killing Ivar would not help. The Vikings' problem would not be solved. Instead, it would strengthen their determination to resist and increase the pressure on the army on all fronts.

At this time, there was not much clear diplomatic etiquette. The two sides greeted each other solemnly, and then exchanged some gifts and specialties. Then Orville welcomed the other party into the Governor's Mansion to discuss serious matters.

The people from both sides took their seats one by one. This time, Orville did not sit in the main seat. He gave his seat to Tiya. Ivar raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not say much. He just sat down according to the rules of the Romans.

"I think you should have something important to discuss with me? Otherwise, you wouldn't have bothered to send me a letter."

Tiya did not speak, indicating that Orville could communicate with the other party without worry, and she would not interfere.

"I think you don't need to continue fighting. It will just be a meaningless bloodshed. We can reach some agreements that are useful to both sides, so that we can all..."

PS. The largest long ship unearthed now should be more than 30 meters, and the 48m to 60m size is recorded in the literature, so the text is assumed to be true.