Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

The Royal Guards camp would definitely not be built in the city. Orville walked all the way to the outskirts of the city before arriving at the camp gate.

The camp guards knew him and let him in after confirming the emperor's documents. However, there was one thing that made Orville feel strange - the soldiers looked at Orville with a subtle look, and seemed to be mixed with sympathy in addition to respect.

However, he did not pay much attention to these and walked directly into the barracks. Then he soon knew the general reason.

What came into view was a wide training ground, where many soldiers were training, and Tia, dressed in military uniform, was standing in front of thousands of soldiers and scolding them.

"How did your previous commander train you? You don't have the qualities of a professional soldier at all! You can't keep up with the daily basic training, you don't take good care of your armor and weapons, and you can even slack off when you are on guard! How can you be called a qualified soldier? I think you are not as good as the fire brigade and the security force in Rome!!"

Tia scolded them all over, and the soldiers below didn't dare to refute them. They basically lowered their heads and pretended to be dead. Orville thought it was fresh and didn't disturb them. He stood aside and watched the show.

After Tia was satisfied with scolding and calmed down a little, she said: "I don't want any dereliction of duty to happen again. If it happens, you don't have to continue serving. Farming with your family or doing some small business may be the right path for you. Centurions, continue training according to my previous plan. After that, I want each of your centurions to have one-on-one training exercises."

After that, she retreated alone in a rage, and Orville didn't show up. After Tia returned to her office tent, she informed the other party's attendant that she had something to talk to her about.

After a few minutes of delay, after Orville entered the other side's tent, Tiya seemed to have changed into a different person, lowering her head and dodging her eyes, occasionally looking up at Orville, as if she was really a girl in love.

Orville joked: "You seemed very excited before, what happened here?"

Tiya was stunned, then immediately broke her composure and her expression turned cold, and then snorted: "Those soldiers dared to ask for bribes while on duty, and dared to cheat during training. It's really unreasonable. The empire gave them three times the salary of ordinary soldiers, not for them to do these dirty things. If I don't punish them, it will be difficult to correct the morale and discipline of the army."

Tiya's tone was a bit gloomy when she talked about these things, but Orville didn't care. It was better to say that he was more used to it. In his eyes, Tiya was indeed inconsistent with the style of ordinary shy girls.

After thinking about it carefully, Orville suggested to the other party: "You should severely punish the act of soliciting bribes. You can't let these people disturb the people, especially the citizens of Rome. I think the punishment should be stronger, otherwise there is no way to set an example. It's better to make them not dare to commit the same crime again.

As for the training, this is a peaceful era, and they are the guards who don't need to fight on weekdays. Over time, they will naturally relax. Otherwise, you can organize each century and let them compete. The last team will be punished, and the first team will be rewarded. You can share some money or give some food. In short, don't let them train in vain, so that you can fully mobilize their enthusiasm."

Orville's army has actually done this a long time ago, and the effect should be said to be good, and it doesn't cost much money. Tia had seen it before in Britain, so she naturally had an impression.

She nodded slightly: "I'm going to do that, starting tomorrow. I may need your help. I need your officers to share their experience with me and do some research."

"Then you'd better hurry up, because I'm going to leave late tonight."

Tia's hand reaching for the kettle paused slightly, and she looked up at Orville: "So soon?"

"Not soon, or now I have to go. I came to you to mobilize troops. My father allowed me to take a battalion of soldiers out of Rome. Here is the document. Please review it and give me your approval."

Orville reached out and handed the document to the other party. Tia frowned and scanned the document, then frowned again and cooperated to complete the mobilization procedure.

She considered: "How long will it take you to come back?"

"It may be as short as a few months or as long as one or two years. I can't say it, but I will do it as soon as possible." Orville told the truth.

Tia opened her mouth to speak, but in the end she didn't say it. Her fists kept clenching, but in the end she still loosened powerlessly.

She sighed as if resigned to her fate, then stood up, opened her arms, and hugged Orville tightly. It was not until Orville felt his bones creaking that she let go of her arms.

Tia stared at Orville seriously: "It's meaningless to talk too much about love, but I will wait for you here. Fortuna (the goddess of fate) and Juno (the goddess of marriage) have linked our fates together, and we will meet again sooner or later."

Orville nodded heavily and kissed the other's cheek in response: "Of course, don't forget that Minerva, Jupiter and the goddess of Rome are also blessing us in the temple."

——

After all, the army is a serious place, and Orville didn't spend too much time with Tia, otherwise it would have a bad impact. After getting the certificate for mobilizing troops, he led the army out of the Guards Camp, and then according to his own plan, all the necessary personnel and resources were loaded on the last batch of transport ships in Ostia Port and left Rome.

Of course, there were many pirates in the Mediterranean at that time. No matter how many times they were cleared, it was only a temporary solution. However, this was a prosperous mainstream route. Secondly, it was estimated that few pirates dared to rob the transport fleet escorted by warships, so it was considered a smooth journey. They set out from the port of Ostia, crossed the Strait of Messina, arrived at the coast of Athens, and then passed through the sea hubs such as Rhodes to reach Cyprus.

According to normal logic, he should have turned directly to Antioch at this time to meet up with Cleopatra, but he did not do so. Instead, he passed through Antioch and arrived at the Kingdom of Palphi.

The reason was simple - he did not want the local Egyptian forces such as Berdinos to think that he was related to Cleopatra. They would definitely have some suspicions, but they could not confirm this. It was best for him to pretend to be stupid for a while.

After Orwell arrived in Palphi, he learned the latest and most reliable news from King Herod, who was paying attention to the current situation. It was similar to what he expected, but Cleopatra was more determined than he thought.