Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Strictly speaking, the triumphant general this time could be Orville himself, because he personally commanded most of the battles, but without even letting Vesper hint, he took the initiative to give this achievement to Tia, so now it is Tia who is wearing gold and silver, a purple toga with gold inlays, riding a chariot pulled by four white horses, and walking in the team with dignity.

This is the second triumph in her life. Considering the perspective of a woman in her twenties, this is unprecedented.

Orville does not intend to usurp the throne. What he actually wants is to maintain the status quo, so he does not need a high prestige among the people. On the contrary, Tia does need a sufficient public opinion base to support her coronation as an emperor as a woman, so it is better to give this good opportunity to brush prestige to Tia.

Relatively speaking, he is still a man of integrity. He owes Tia and the Flavian family a lot of things after traveling through time. He can be the governor and commander, and his military exploits in Britain and Gaul are inseparable from the support of the Flavian family. In this way, he can barely repay a little favor.

Orville didn't care that his own triumph became Tia's triumph. He didn't have a strong sense of honor like the ancients, and his desire for power was just so-so. On the contrary, Tia has been hesitant to speak after knowing about it for the past two days, and always seems to be worried.

In this case, the triumph officially began.

At the front were some German noble captives who were brought over, followed by weapons and equipment seized in the war, rare treasures and various specialties from Gaul and Britain. At the end of this square were a large number of paintings and billboards depicting war scenes and war results.

They were carved on wooden boards, and the colors were deepened with expensive refined pigments. On the way, Orville asked the staff accompanying the army to work overtime to draw the paintings needed - the coalition forces besieging Wessex, the large army fighting Harold Godwinson, and Rollo leading the navy to attack the German camp. Various scenes were depicted on the drawing board, with exquisite and delicate style, bright and rich colors, and text introductions on the outside, writing the general situation and results of each battle, so that the onlookers can understand the situation.

In addition, there are a large number of billboards listing data: expansion of 60 million eugers (Roman area unit, converted to about 150,000 square kilometers), increase of 1.5 million population, increase of 20,000 auxiliary troops, increase of 17 gold and silver mines, and conquest of more than 80 cities.

However, the necessary thing for publicity is to play to one's strengths and avoid weaknesses, so Orville did not mention how much money his army had earned, because he had been losing money in Britain so far. Unless he robbed and exploited the locals severely, he could not squeeze out much fat from the people. He did not want to do this. What he wanted to do was to restore and establish a kind of order in the local area.

Behind the spoils of war parade was Tia in a carriage and generals such as Orville who followed behind. Behind the generals were the Roman legionnaires who returned to the capital to report. A little further back was a long parade of offerings - cattle, sheep, pigs, pheasants, and basically all the common offerings except for living people could be found in the parade.

Amid the sound of gongs and drums, the long parade lined up from the outside of Rome all the way to the main temple of Jupiter. Tia entered the temple of Jupiter alone, reported her victory to the main god, and asked for God's blessing and protection. After this set of complicated procedures were completed, the first half of the triumphal ceremony was basically over, and the second half of the triumphal ceremony - a sumptuous public banquet was held in the square.

Civilians and soldiers who returned victoriously drank heartily at the banquet, eating all kinds of rich food that they could not eat on weekdays. Generals such as Orville walked around the square for a while, and then their mission was over. Orville and Tia did not stay in the square any longer. After ensuring that the guests who stayed in Rome had their own homes, they returned to the mansion to meet Vespa.

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Compared with two years ago, Vespa was obviously much more haggard, his face was older, and his walking became much more frivolous.

Orville knew the historical situation. He probably had five or six years to live. In a few years, his physical condition would be worse. He was more or less powerless in this regard and could only watch and worry.

Vespa was very enthusiastic and smiled as he entertained his children to go home. The Flavian royal family had dinner together in the mansion. This was the first time in two years.

Political issues would not be brought to the table. In general, Vespa was enjoying the family life. Domitia proudly showed him the new skills she had learned in the past few years, Tia shared with him the experience and insights she had learned in Gaul, and Orville reported to him in person how much money he had made and where there were new business opportunities. He comfortably hugged Zenis (Tia and Domitia's de facto stepmother) and enjoyed the rare reunion moment.

This dinner lasted a particularly long time, and later it became a kind of Roman tea party. A group of people lay on the benches and ate and chatted. Although Tia rejected this eating style that symbolized decadence and enjoyment, she would not spoil the fun at this time.

The family chatted from dusk until eight or nine o'clock in the evening. At this time, Vespa felt a little tired, so he let everyone disperse and prepare to go back to rest.

After Tia, who was a little dizzy after drinking too much, went back to her room to rest, Orville was stopped by Vespa again. He was called into Vespa's room and the two had a private conversation.

"It must be a bit disappointing to talk about annoying political affairs right after returning from a triumphant victory, but this is something that must be done. You have to understand it, hahaha!" Vespa smiled and patted his shoulder.

"I understand this very well. What do you want to know?"

"As for the situation in Gaul and Britain, it is conceivable that you will give us problems at the Senate meeting later. Let's talk about this matter later. There is actually no need to say the same thing too many times. In fact, the people you need to convince are more the Senate.

You told me in code in the letter that there might be changes in the Ptolemy royal family in Egypt, and Berdinos will compete for power with the young princess Cleopatra. What exactly is going on?"

Orville has already reported such a big thing to Vespa, but due to the limitations of the form of letters, many things cannot be fully explained. Orville did not dare to reveal too much in the case of possible leaks. This matter is of great importance and cannot be missed, so he only explained the general situation to Vespa.