Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Everyone present could see what was happening and could clearly feel that the prince had been hit in the sore spot. So even though they felt a little offended by Orwell's "stacked box" logic of Romans\u003eGreeks\u003eEgyptians\u003eNubians, they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Now that they knew the opponent's fatal flaw, which was actually just strong on the outside but weak on the inside, the following things would be easy to deal with. The Nubians would be eaten up by them. If Cleopatra wanted to, they would only suffer in silence if she raised the price of food. So this meeting must end with their victory.

After Orwell finished these lines, he sat down. Cleopatra continued to take over and began to negotiate with the other party. This time the scene was one-sided in favor of Cleopatra. The prince's bluffing was exposed, and he could only start to haggle with Cleopatra seriously.

In the end, the prince barely got a peace treaty that was similar to the previous one, and even the treatment was slightly reduced. This is the result of Cleopatra's "extraordinary kindness". If someone else didn't take advantage of the opportunity to exploit them, it would be good.

The agreement stipulates that the Nubians will immediately withdraw from Egyptian territory and guarantee that they will not invade again. At the same time, the Nubians will stop all communication with the Egyptian border guards and provide the Egyptians with a list, which is considered to be a betrayal of the Egyptians who cooperated with them.

This is also expected. The two sides are originally in a mutually beneficial relationship. It is not surprising that one betrays the other.

In addition, Egypt has also revised the trade agreement with Nubia. Egyptian merchants will import grain from other places and sell it to Nubians, upstream along the Nile River. Since the Egyptians are acting as middlemen this time, the price will naturally be higher than usual.

The Egyptians controlled the Nubians through food, but the Nubians had no way to deal with the Egyptians. A real war could not shake the foundation of Egypt. At the same time, in addition to gold, the commodities in their hands were by no means irreplaceable, such as livestock by-products and mountain products, so they obviously lacked resistance to Egypt's threats and coercion. The prince could only take this treaty back.

It seems that the Nubians still have something they want to achieve, but due to the current situation, they did not directly propose it, so they asked their side to stay in Egypt for a while.

Orville and Cleopatra readily agreed to the other party's request and took the initiative to provide a guide for the other party to visit. As expected, after seeing the Great Library and the Harbor, the other party quickly asked to visit the Roman military camp and the training of the Egyptian New Army.

This matter needs Orville's opinion, and Orville is happy to do so-he knows that he has a crushing advantage, so he is naturally happy to show his strength. Anyway, this will only help others recognize the gap between themselves and the Romans, and will not make them have some kind of honey self-confidence.

During this period, the only people who could have a chance to fight the Romans were at the other end of the Eurasian plate. They didn't expect to fight in this life anyway. For these "barbarians" with low development and small population, the Romans were indeed a difficult enemy to deal with. The more they could recognize this, the more beneficial it would be for both sides, and they would not have to fight.

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After sending away these people from Nubia, Orville continued to handle Egypt's government affairs.

Having said that, after the framework was set up, he could actually "rule with ease", and he had many smart and capable officials who could participate in administrative work.

In particular, Orville and Cleopatra also brought a lot of people from mainland Greece to migrate here, including some people with some cultural level. The two appointed them as grassroots administrative officials.

These people were new to Egypt and had no roots in Egypt. It was very suitable for them to be administrative officials, and it was not easy for them to become too powerful. Moreover, Orville also asked them to conduct an assessment every year and a half, and rotate every three years, waiting for an opportunity to promote or demote, so that this system can run relatively well.

The participation of these people enriched the number of grassroots officials, which is definitely good for grassroots governance. The so-called phenomenon of over-bloated administrative officials is now completely invisible in the Mediterranean world, and administrative personnel are not sufficient everywhere.

In addition to administration, Orville is also preparing to set up a supervisory agency to systematically and institutionally supervise these personnel, directly under the Romans and the King of Egypt. At present, the staff and details are still under planning.

He is going to use Egypt as his large-scale test field, and then use some experience and methods on the entire Roman Empire. However, Orville is not messing around. What he does is basically based on history. He just makes some localized improvements to some policies and then moves them to Egypt. Therefore, although it is a bit controversial, people with a discerning eye can probably see a little feasibility and reluctantly agree that Orville will make various adjustments and arrangements in Egypt.

He probably determined his position in the Egyptian political system. Cleopatra needed him to play the role of husband in some scenes, and also the role of reformer and protector in some scenes. So far, he has been able to adapt to this change.

Although there were some criticisms among the Greeks and Egyptians, and there was a tendency to intensify, the situation was still under control, except that the evaluation of Cleopatra herself was somewhat polarized.

Some people think that she is a national hero who feeds the tiger with her own body, while others think that she is a shameless villain who sells out the interests of the country by covenanting with outsiders. It will take some time to make a final judgment. As long as the words are not too harsh, Orwell and Cleopatra will turn a blind eye to all these remarks.

Time passed day by day, and when the days were gradually becoming dull, Orwell heard a very surprising news from the Sinai Peninsula - [Boneless] Ivar came back alive, with his fleet and a full load of spices and luxury goods.

A few months have passed, and now it is already late spring. Orwell even doubted that they would not be able to come back, but fortunately the result is good.

After this voyage, regardless of the losses and gains, Orwell can claim that his men have opened up a sea route from Egypt to India, which is almost unprecedented.

There is no doubt that the Romans can hardly sail, and it is really difficult for them to make ocean voyages in the 1st century, so most of the trade between the empire and the Indians was done by people on the Arabian Peninsula, and there was a middleman who took a cut.

Even if the middlemen were not Arabs, they would be someone else, such as Nubians, Ethiopians, Parviz or Parthians. In short, the empire was always being exploited by the price difference.