Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Considering that the Nabataeans had about 10,000 warriors as recorded in the literature, the enemy's power was not particularly large, at least it was within the reach of Orwell or Cleopatra.

What we need to consider now is whether it is worthwhile to make enemies with the enemy, and whether a negotiation is better than a war.

If it is not necessary, Orwell does not really want to fight. On the one hand, Rome's current national conditions are not suitable for large-scale expansion, and on the other hand, he himself should not be a very warlike person. If he can achieve his goal without bloodshed, he will definitely prefer a bloodless approach.

Seemingly seeing Orwell's hesitation, Cleopatra reminded him in time: "Think about history, my friend, what will the Nabataeans do after their rise?

Have you forgotten the example of the Idumaeans? They dream of completely controlling the Red Sea to obtain the power and gold in it. If they succeed, the next step is to invade our Mediterranean Sea. If they succeed here and the Romans are cut off, then your rule here will not last long. The best way is a punitive action and then let the other side return to where they should be.

Romans Isn't this enough? If you don't do it, someone else will. You may be more gentle. We need that land and the people on it now. This is an indisputable fact. "

When Orville mentioned the name of Idumaean, he thought about it in his head for a few seconds before he realized that this was a nomadic people in the south of Parfi. They had a very close relationship with the Parfi people. The ancestors of the current King Herod were converted Idumaeans. During the Battle of the Holy City, the Parfi warlord also asked for the assistance of the Idumaeans. They were a group of people with a strong presence in the local area.

The land where the Nabataeans are now located originally belonged to the Idumaeans, but later the Nabataeans took over and seized it until today. It seems that Cleopatra wanted to remind Orville through this incident that the locals are not trustworthy. They are a group of ambitious guys. Instead of trusting them, it is better to strike first.

Orville was not very supportive of this approach: "As for this incident, we should not resort to force unless necessary, but I don't object to threats and intimidation. Just do what you do first and see how the other party reacts."

If you want to expand foreign trade, it is necessary to ensure the smooth flow of trade routes. At this time, these sailors around the Red Sea are very eye-catching in the eyes of the Romans. The Romans actually did something similar in history. About 20 years later, Emperor Trajan came to power and also sent troops to conquer this land to ensure smooth trade. It can be seen that it is indeed necessary to control or at least deeply influence the forces on this land.

At present, Orville does not plan to send troops to occupy it for the time being, which will increase the workload of his soldiers, and it is not clear what will happen in the future.

——

After Jeanna and Domitia came to Egypt, another acquaintance of Orville also came to Egypt.

The person who came was Berenice, the sister of Parfi. She did not have any important business with Orville, but simply passed by and paid a courtesy visit to the local dignitaries.

At the beginning, Berenice was taken to Rome as a "hostage", but the overall treatment of this hostage was quite good. Vespa was very polite to her, mainly because Tia liked this intellectual sister and had always had a good relationship with her.

She also served as Domitia's "guardian" for a few years. When Orville and Tia were fighting in Gaul and Britain, they were inevitably too busy. Sometimes Domitia was taken care of by her. Because of this experience, Berenice's status in the hostage circle was also invisibly raised a lot.

Vespa gave her quite a lot of preferential treatment, such as allowing Berenice to return home to visit relatives. This time was the first time Berenice returned home after being away from home for several years. It was mainly to visit relatives and some religious affairs. She came and went in a hurry and did not stay in Egypt for a long time.

This time, Berenice's hasty appearance suddenly reminded Orville of a very important thing-Herod Agrippa II did not have an heir, and he himself was not young, in his forties, and he himself had no heirs yet. According to historical circumstances, there should be no more in the future, and he will die normally in more than ten years.

Due to the extinction of the royal bloodline of Herod, the Kingdom of Parphi was changed to the Province of Parphi, and the things that happened later will not be elaborated.

Orville should now think about how to deal with the affairs of Parphi appropriately. There is still time and there is no rush, but now we should find a suitable solution.

——

The gears of time turn slowly but uncontrollably. A few months passed quickly, and Orville welcomed the first sowing activity hosted by himself and Cleopatra.

The flood arrived on time, and no major natural disasters occurred. If you have to say, some temples took this opportunity to cause trouble, but they were quickly suppressed by the well-prepared army.

The affairs of the Valley of the Kings did not attract much attention. The few nobles who jumped out to talk about it were also taken advantage of by Cleopatra to settle accounts. After more than a year of various struggles, the country was basically stable.

Orville had a little spare energy and turned his attention to places outside the Kingdom of Egypt, to be more precise, Nubia and Nabatae.

First of all, it was the Nubian issue. This time, the Nubians took the initiative to find him, hoping to form an alliance with the Egyptian royal family. Knowing about Cleopatra and Orwell, they did not come here to make trouble. The person they wanted to marry was Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe.

They seemed to want to use this marriage to declare their backers to the Aksumites, that is, the giants of the Egyptians and Romans in the north, so that the Aksumites, who were as powerful as the sky, would not dare to act rashly. This kind of behavior of taking advantage of the power of the tiger must pay a price. The envoy who came to propose marriage was the Nubian prince who wanted to marry (that is, the person Orwell had seen before), and he proposed quite sincere terms.

First of all, there were exotic beasts, jewels, slaves and gold. The large amount made Orwell have to look at it straight in the face. Secondly, it was a promise that Nubia would move closer to the Kingdom of Egypt after this, and even return to its previous status as a vassal state of Egypt.

They clearly hoped that Orwell would help them fight against the Aksumites, and from a geopolitical point of view, this was also beneficial to Orwell. Nubia is a typical landlocked country with river transportation but no navigation capabilities, while Ethiopians are good at sailing.