Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

No matter how slow the reaction was, the Ptolemaic royal family now understood that this was a conspiracy by Orwell and Cleopatra. They sent a large army to surround Soros Island the next day and sent envoys to try to negotiate with Orwell.

Orwell's reply to the other party was quite righteous - evidence had been found that the Egyptian governor Antonius accepted bribes, neglected his duties, and colluded with local people to damage the interests of the empire. According to the laws of the empire, he should be sentenced to death. The Egyptian Ptolemaic royal family colluded with Antonius and withheld tribute. They should also accept the emperor's review. Instead, he advised Berdinos and King Ptolemy to give up their stubborn resistance and accept the Roman investigation with peace of mind.

He did not admit that he had taken action against Antonius, nor did he admit that he had set fire to Alexandria. He even confidently pointed fingers at the Ptolemaic royal family. The subtext was that he did not want to communicate properly.

The Ptolemaic royal family, who were used to compromise and weakness, should have been more likely to choose to stop and cooperate with the so-called investigation because of the existence of the Roman emperor. But now they were forced by the angry citizens of the capital to take action against Orwell on Soros Island.

Most of the residents of Alexandria were Greek immigrants, and Ptolemaic Egypt also had some residual customs from the city-state civilization era. For example, the residents of the capital had a great influence on politics, and their wishes could not be ignored even by Bodinos and others.

In their view, the weak Ptolemaic royal family had repeatedly compromised with the Romans. Now the Romans were crazy and unscrupulous. They started to set fire in the city and even burned many ships. This behavior could not be tolerated even by the weakest rulers, otherwise the king would have no authority to exist.

In the eyes of the residents in the city, they were great Greeks, subjects under the rule of Ptolemy, the successor of Alexander, and the Romans were just a group of former barbarians and upstarts who made up a far-fetched claim that they were the so-called survivors of Troy. Their self-esteem was very strong, and they really couldn't bear it anymore.

So, after several failed attempts at negotiation, King Ptolemy had to bite the bullet and announce the mobilization of the army to launch an offensive against Orwell.

He didn't dare to declare war on the Roman Empire at this time, but only said that he would accuse Orwell of brutality to the central dignitaries of Rome, and then control the law-breaking Orwell for the Roman emperor. In short, he repeatedly emphasized one fact - Egypt still did not leave the Roman Empire, and this matter was just a kind of "personal grudge" between Egypt and Orwell, and it would not expand to a grudge against the entire empire.

Since most of the naval warships were burned in the fire, they were unable to carry out landing operations. The army piled up in front of the causeway, preparing to attack the Roman garrison on Soros Island through this narrow path.

At this time, the Romans had not yet completely built various obstacles on Soros Island, so someone needed to buy time on the causeway. There is no doubt that the one who took on this task was [Boneless] Ivar.

The causeway was only three or four meters wide. In order to fully demonstrate his strength, Ivar shouted his men away, took up a two-handed axe himself, and stood on the causeway to block the Egyptian soldiers rushing up.

The axe used by the Romans now is more like a mixture of an axe and a pickaxe. It is not used for fighting but for building camps. The axe used by the Vikings is not exactly like this. It is more like a special war weapon.

Suitable for chopping and sweeping, the axe structure can hook the opponent's shield, and the blade is wide and sharp. The weapon in Ivar's hand is a customized version of this axe after multiple upgrades.

Ivar's axe is like the dramatic weapons in some comics. The size of the axe is quite exaggerated. Coupled with the nearly two-meter-long axe handle, the overall weight reaches an incomprehensible 20 kilograms, which looks quite deterrent.

With Ivar's nearly two-meter-tall stature, this scene made the Egyptian soldiers in front of him hesitate. Finally, under the strong command of the superior, the soldiers reluctantly pointed their spears at Ivar and began to prepare to advance slowly.

The causeway was not long enough for the spear formation to be fully deployed, so the battle on the causeway was a complete melee.

Ivar wielded a large axe and swung it as if it were his arm, using it like a sledgehammer. All the soldiers who were hit either had their bones broken and fell off the causeway, or died on the spot.

This can be regarded as a one-man defense against ten thousand men. The other side seemed to have some concerns and did not send any more talented people on their side to come up. Ivar alone resisted on the causeway for a long time under the cover of the archers and spear throwers behind him.

After he was somewhat exhausted, he withdrew from the battlefield under the cover of his men, and then what awaited the soldiers of both sides was a protracted, bloody melee without rules and reason.

The equipment level of the Alexandrian garrison was good. After all, they were soldiers of the capital, so they would not be too bad for the sake of face. They all had armor and matching standard equipment, but these equipment were not good enough compared with the Vikings.

Not only were they lacking in weapons and equipment, but they were also not comparable to the northerners in physique and training.

I don’t know if it was because of the difference in diet structure or Bergmann’s law (the higher the latitude, the larger the animal, representative examples are polar bears and wolves) that applied to humans. The northerners were generally taller than the Egyptians or Latins, and even taller than their Germanic relatives, which gave them an advantage in this kind of melee.

Battle formations can make up for some of the physical differences, but they are useless in melees - big size means big strength, and big strength means advantage.

The Romans were used to being bullied for their short stature, so they strengthened their armor in places that were given special attention, such as shoulders, and used their superb skills and tactics to make up for some of their physical defects. This was not the case with the Egyptians.

They had not yet kept up with the version changes, and still had the weapons and equipment of the Diadochi era, and had fatal deficiencies compared to the professional soldiers recruited by Rome - most of these people were so-called "military settlers".

This is a practice that is somewhat similar to the military household system of the Ming Dynasty in the Eastern Dynasty, but it is not so perfect. Soldiers get a piece of land by serving, and their sons will receive certain military training when they are young, and take over their fathers' responsibilities when their fathers are old and weak, and continue to serve as soldiers.

The benefits are obvious, it is stable and can expand land, but problems are inevitable over time. Ptolemaic Egypt is now facing this situation - these military settlers have been at peace for too long and have neglected training. They lack understanding of the basic question of how to fight, and the result is disastrous when facing the Vikings who are as fierce as wolves and tigers.