Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

This time the Nabataeans really felt the threat, but they had been dealing with the Romans for years and knew how difficult it was to deal with the Roman legions armed to the teeth. With their armed forces, they could only wait for the other side to make mistakes if they wanted to defeat the Romans. But Orville might not be a brilliant military commander, but he was definitely a very cautious soldier. He did not give the locals this opportunity. The locals could only watch the Romans advance step by step without any way to deal with it.

In this case, they naturally set their sights on the navy. After all, in their cognition, the Roman navy was relatively weak and they had an advantage at sea. With the decline of one side, they might not be unable to start from this aspect. As long as the Roman supply line was cut off, it would be difficult for the Romans not to surrender or retreat. At that time, they would have the initiative in the negotiations.

And Ivar had a similar idea. He wanted to solve the Nabataeans who were competing with him for business once and for all, so he was also seeking a naval decisive battle. In this case, a naval battle was inevitable.

——

The naval battle took place around the current port of Aqaba. The Romans had almost advanced to the vicinity of Petra, which left the Nabataeans with no choice but to fight a decisive battle with the other side if they did not want to sit and wait for death.

The ships of both sides were arranged in array along the coastline from east to west. Orville rode a horse with a team of cavalry to observe the situation with a telescope at the edge of the coastline so as to get the news as quickly as possible and make military arrangements as quickly as possible.

Unlike the naval battles in Orville's impression, which were neatly arranged, rigorous and orderly, and with clear division of labor among various ships, both sides were scattered formations made up of countless small warships. Basically, several small boats surrounded a larger warship and fought with this warship as the core. Rather than saying that this was a battle between two camps, it was better to say that this was a battle between countless small groups under the two camps.

Both sides had relatively large battle formations - one belonged to the King of Nabatae, one belonged to Ivar himself, and the other belonged to the Roman naval reinforcements. Pliny the Elder was very clear about his position and ability. After communicating with Ivar and confirming that he was not as skilled as him, he happily handed over the command to Ivar. The Roman naval commander is now Ivar, and the other side is a famous fleet captain, Orville is not sure of his specific name.

The sky is clear and the wind is calm. After ensuring that the formation is basically stable, both sides began to attack each other's positions, and the two sides were in a mess.

When the battle started, the commander of the other side made a big mistake. He identified a Roman five-layer galley as the flagship of the Roman fleet, and then assembled a large number of troops to attack the ship. Due to improper coordination, the formation was already a bit scattered at this time. Ivar seized the opportunity and led his fleet to attack a weak gap in the opponent's formation directly from the flank, embedding it like a wedge.

Ivar's command flagship is not very big. It can only be said to be an ordinary dragon-headed warship (the Vikings' name for large warships), but it is hung with a conspicuous black crow flag, which is the symbol of their family faction. Dozens of small boats behind it followed this warship and broke into the Nabataeans' naval formation and began to force a boarding battle with the locals.

They used hooks, wooden boards and other things to board the decks of enemy ships, or simply rammed into enemy small warships head-on, and then boarded the enemy ships for hand-to-hand combat. In terms of familiarity with hydrology or skills in driving ships, these Nabataeans may be as good as others, but in terms of close combat, they are obviously much inferior.

The Vikings who can come to Egypt are all strong individuals who have been selected from the best. They are tall and strong, and their mastery of the art of fighting is not bad. In comparison, although these Nabataeans have an advantage in quantity, their quality is uneven.

The Nabataeans' coalition simply requisitioned some merchant ships and the sailors on them. These people may not have seen blood many times in their lives, and they certainly cannot be compared with the northerners who can stop children from crying at night. This disadvantage is highlighted in hand-to-hand combat. Many ships were either completely killed by the Vikings with red eyes and aggressive momentum. The surviving sailors could only save their lives by jumping off the ship, or they could only barely hold on in a bitter battle. There were even embarrassing examples of turning around and running away.

After all, they were just doing business, and they were not prepared to fight to death. The Vikings came here for a clear purpose, which was to make money and seek glory. They might have been licking blood on the tip of a knife all their lives, thinking that they could ascend to Valhalla and enjoy endless feasts after a glorious death in battle. The spiritual worlds of the two sides were not very different. One side was an ordinary day-to-day person, and the other side was a well-trained warrior and robber. The former would naturally show their cowardice after fighting.

At this time, Ivar did not order his soldiers to show mercy or consider the overall situation in advance. Instead, he secretly ordered the captains of each ship to focus on killing the Nabataean sailors.

Ivar was not thinking about winning or not losing. He went to war with a clear goal: to weaken the Nabataeans' maritime power so that his people would have an advantage in the future and control the trade network of the Red Sea. Orwell was a person who paid attention to balance. He would not let the Vikings dominate alone. So after the war, once the Nabataeans were included in the Roman sphere of influence, they would soon be recruited by Orwell and then use their sailors and ships to work for the Romans. Ivar knew very well that the Nabataeans were local tyrants with more people and deep roots. In the normal trade competition with the Nabataeans, they, the northerners, might not be able to take advantage. Orwell would find a way to make the two sides reach a dynamic balance, so it was okay, but the Roman rulers after him might not have this kind of thinking. At that time, the Vikings' power in the Red Sea might become a castle in the air that would fall down at the touch of a button and be attacked by the locals.

Besides, Ivar was not thinking about maintaining balance at all. The best result in his mind was that the northerners would win all, and then the Romans would make a so-called dynamic balance among the northerners. In that case, no matter who won or lost, it would be their own business. With such a clear purpose in mind, these Nabataeans would be very conspicuous, but Ivar did not want to show too much danger in his daily life, so he could only take this opportunity to take action.

Ivar was a smart man. He had no doubt that the Romans would win in the end and Orwell would achieve his goal. Before Orwell achieved his goal, no matter the outcome of one or two small wars, he had to find a way to weaken the Nabataeans as much as possible, so that the northerners would suppress the other side in the future internal struggle.