Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

On the surface, Cleopatra's reputation seemed to be damaged, but in fact, she gained the most.

She eliminated the most legitimate male claimant to the throne, damaged Orwell's reputation, and cleared out some nobles who were loyal to King Ptolemy. Apart from a little reputation, her losses were not much, but her gains were quite the opposite.

With this doubt, Orwell was not stupid enough to question the other party in person, but buried the doubt in his heart, and thus had a little more distrust of Cleopatra in his heart.

This may disappear invisibly with the passage of time, or it may become the seed of future differences between the two sides.

——

As time went by, the reinforcements that Orwell had been looking forward to finally arrived at Alexandria.

The reinforcements were basically his troops left in Rome or Marseille, as well as some newly recruited soldiers. These people expanded Orwell's soldiers from half a legion to a strengthened reorganized legion. Now he has about six or seven thousand legion soldiers in total.

Aurelian was supposed to help recruit new soldiers and send them to Alexandria, but under Diya's strong request, she, as the consul, finally carried out this task.

Diya led the soldiers to the military camp outside Alexandria, and then hastily handed over the command of the army to Stilicho, whom she knew, and she hurried to the governor's palace.

She had been to Alexandria before. Ancient cities generally did not change much in a few years, and there was no rule in Alexandria that prohibited riding horses. She galloped on horseback with superb riding skills, shuttled through the city like an arrow, and arrived in front of the governor's palace near the city center from the suburbs in more than ten minutes.

Orville knew that the other party was coming, and waited at the gate of the governor's palace in advance. When Diya saw Orville, who was leading the way, she jumped off the horse before the horse stopped, and came to Orville in a flash, circled around him, and carefully observed him from left to right.

"Are you okay? Are you injured?! How is the situation?!"

Obviously, Tia is a typical example of being too concerned. At this stage, she is not going to strip Orwell's clothes and check his body in the street like in the animation or comics, but Orwell suspects that if he doesn't say something more, she will really do it. At that time, he will be laughed at by his subordinates for a while if he doesn't die socially.

Thinking of these things, he hurriedly said: "No problem, no problem! I am healthy, unharmed and safe!"

The guards turned their heads tacitly at this time. Obviously, some people couldn't help laughing, but Orwell didn't care. He was very familiar with these guards and had been together for three or four years. It was okay to say that the two sides were friends in private, and it was okay to tease each other for fun. He was not a king who needed the so-called "lofty dignity and mystery". He just needed to pay attention to the occasion when relaxing.

Without being reminded, Tiya actually knew that she should pay attention to the occasion. She was a little anxious just now, so she didn't pay much attention to her image. After she reacted, she immediately straightened her expression and put on a businesslike demeanor.

"In accordance with the instructions of His Majesty the Emperor, 3,525 reinforcements have been transferred to you, and all of them have been stationed in the military station on the outskirts of the city.

Since you have more than one legion of soldiers, His Majesty the Emperor has decided to give your soldiers legion numbers. These soldiers of yours will continue to serve as regular legion soldiers. His Majesty the Emperor has granted you the qualification to form the 16th Legion. You can think of a specific name yourself, and give you the autonomy of this part.

In addition, His Majesty the Emperor ordered me to investigate the latest situation in Egypt, so I need to stay in Egypt for a few days before leaving. I hope you can cooperate with our work.

Considering that you wrote that you need a navy to help you manage the maritime trade of Alexandria, His Majesty the Emperor has considered it. Consider, you are authorized to form a small-scale navy belonging to the Egyptian province to maintain public order. Before the navy is built, His Majesty the Emperor authorizes the fleet stationed in the port of Misem in Capenia to assist you. The fleet commander Gaius Pliny Secundus will help you manage the navy until your navy has a preliminary framework. "

It can be said that it is all good news, but Orville suspects that "staying in Egypt for a few days before leaving" is Tia's own idea, because he wrote a very detailed report to Vespa and reported to him weekly. Vespa definitely knows enough about Egypt. Tia, the current consul, has a lot more meaningful things to do than wasting time on Egypt.

Obviously, this is a behavior influenced by personal feelings, but to be honest, Orville certainly doesn't hate it, and it really doesn't matter, so he just let it go. It's also good to have more helpers when you are most confused.

The remaining place worth paying attention to is the name of Pliny. Orville has an impression of him. This is the famous old Pliny in history.

In addition to being a naturalist and an encyclopedic scholar, his career resume is also quite impressive - he was born in a local upper-middle-class family, served as a cavalry officer in the German Legion, and is now a naval commander.

In Orville's opinion, this is obviously a person worth recruiting. The more talents the better, not to mention this generalist who knows a little bit about everything and is good at all of them.

In addition to him, his nephew and adopted son Pliny the Younger was also a talent, and was highly regarded by Trajan and others in later generations. He served as a provincial governor and a national treasury official. However, his letters were more famous in later generations. The format was rigorous, the content was rich, and they were well preserved. They were one of the must-read materials for understanding the history of the classical era. To some extent, his importance to historians in the field of classical history may even exceed that of Tacitus, the "Tyrant's Whip".

[Wait... Tacitus and Pliny the Younger? ! ]

While Orville was thinking divergently, he suddenly realized a very serious problem.

Among the hundreds of letters of Pliny the Younger, the most famous one should be the correspondence between Pliny the Younger and the historian Tacitus, because in the letters, Pliny the Younger described in detail a cruel and ruthless natural disaster as a personal experiencer.

This event is very famous in history, the so-called "Pompeii Doomsday", the volcanic eruption caused the entire city to be buried in volcanic ash, became a treasury for archaeological excavations, and also became a symbol of the disaster of this era.

The roles played by Pliny the Elder in this incident were: a naval commander who tried to bring disaster relief, and a naturalist who was curious about volcanic eruptions. These two identities drove him to rush into the dangerous disaster area to save people, but he was unable to return and died from the poisonous gas brought by the volcanic eruption.