Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Mucinus was well prepared. Orwell left with his men on the same day. It seemed that they moved quickly, but it took nearly two months from the time Orwell received the news to the time the army arrived in Asia Minor. These two months were enough for Mithridates to do many things.

He had already taken the central and western parts of the Asia Minor Peninsula, and at the same time, he had taken over most of mainland Greece. The local Greeks were dissatisfied with Vespasian, and they responded to Mithridates' call. In just half a month, only a few strong cities and corners were left in mainland Greece, and these places were struggling to hold on.

Orwell was still climbing mountains in Asia Minor, and he didn't know when he could fight the other side, but he was not very anxious. He began to study the terrain of Asia Minor and related battle examples on the spot to avoid being blinded at the critical moment.

It can be seen from the efforts of each military region that the commander of the Eastern Theater of this war is Orville himself. The armies of Parfi and Syria Province are under his command. This is a test for Orville. His ability is enough to command one or two legions now, and it is a bit beyond the scope to command five legions. I am afraid that it will be difficult to fight a real war.

This is not his fault, because this is a more normal situation. Rome has only a few dozen legions in total. The legion commander is a very high position, not to mention the commander who commands four or five legions. There are only three or four commanders in the entire empire. No commander was trained as such a commander at the beginning, so it is natural that he does not have this level of ability.

Orville asked himself that his military ability would definitely not be in the top three, let alone the top thirty. This world is a bit like a fight between gods. So during this period of time, he is working hard to train his ability to command large troops, hoping not to lose the chain during the war. In addition to Orville himself, there was another person who was also studying, that is, Lucius Septimius Odenaisus (hereinafter referred to as Lucius), who was sent by Mucinus to assist him.

Orville had no impression of this person at first, and thought that he was just an ordinary soldier of this era. Later, when chatting, he inquired about his background and found that he was not an ordinary person.

He said that few people knew him. His wife was more famous. She was Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, who had fought with Aurelian, the Restorer of the World. He was the husband of the other party and was actually the founder of the Kingdom of Palmyra. However, unlike his wife who was a tyrant, he was a more loyal Roman.

After the Roman emperor was defeated by the Persians, he still did not sit on the fence. Instead, he insisted on fighting the Persians and successfully drove the Persians out of Syria. He then defeated Quietus, who usurped the throne, and further helped Rome to re-consolidate its presence near Mesopotamia. Judging from these resumes, he is obviously a loyal minister and hero in troubled times.

Therefore, there are some controversial opinions about Zenobia. Some people believe that if Lucius had not died, Palmyra would not have become independent. The reason why Palmyra became independent was because Zenobia assassinated him and his eldest son and came to power.

It is not easy to say about these historical mysteries. In short, Lucius in front of Orwell is a very good general with a military ability of 27 points, which is more than enough to command one or two legions.

Orwell has no objection to him commanding a legion, and the right to appoint the commanders of the remaining four legions is still in his hands. After hesitating for a long time, he made the following arrangements.

The Ninth Legion [Spain], which is the legion he brought out, is directly commanded by him as his personal guard.

The 22nd Legion [Diotariana] was commanded by Stilicho.

Half of the 3rd Legion [Cyrenaica] came, and the remaining half was made up of reinforcements from various places. They were not that elite, so Orville handed them over to Trajan for command.

There was also an unnamed Egyptian Legion, whose commander was an experienced Egyptian general. Of course, Orville had tested his ability and could only say that he was barely okay, and could be used but not worth expecting too much.

In fact, after several years of training, Trajan's military ability has slightly surpassed Stilicho (24:26), but Orville still handed the second strongest legion to Stilicho. On the one hand, he was concerned about the seniority-based atmosphere in the army, and on the other hand, Trajan was more capable and should be better able to control the chaotic legion, with a lower probability of problems.

Sometimes the battle is not about who can better interpret the art of war, but who makes fewer mistakes. It doesn't matter if you can't be brilliant, you can win by following the rules, but you will definitely not win if you make big mistakes. This is Orville's military thinking.

——

During the march, Orville rode at the front of the team. Besides the guards, Constantine was also with him. He had something to ask this local (although the gap between Byzantium and eastern Asia Minor was very large).

"How is the situation in your hometown? Has anyone written to you?"

He answered truthfully: "I received a letter before leaving Alexandria. The situation doesn't seem to be very good. We have always had a hard time with the locals, and my decision to become a Roman made Mithridates not very happy. He has a problem with Byzantium, and it might even go to war."

Orville frowned slightly when he heard this. It seems that it has become a tradition for the Greek mainland and the colonial cities to be at odds with each other, and it seems that it has become a tradition for the colonies or radiation zones to be stronger than the mainland. This was the case with Syracuse in the past, and it was also the case with Rome later. Seriously speaking, Alexander the Great, who is now talked about by the Greeks every day, was originally regarded as a barbarian by the locals, but he was promoted because of his great achievements.

Even the former Pontic Kingdom was like this. Pontic was only influenced by both Greece and Persia, with the Greek influence being slightly greater. You can see this from the names of the local monarchs. Mithridates can be translated as the blessing of Mithra, and Mithra is not a native Greek god. When Pontic rose in the past, the first thing that was eroded was the land of the traditional Greek city-states, and the Greeks asked the Romans for help at that time.

But now the situation has changed again. The Pontic people and the Greeks can reach a united front in a sense, so some things will not be mentioned temporarily, but now they have not formed a united front against the city-states such as Byzantium, so Byzantium has always been at odds with these two.

Orville also did not want Byzantium to be weakened or plundered, as this would have an impact on his strategic plans. It was necessary to maintain a relatively strong Byzantine empire so that it could exert its influence in Greece and along the Black Sea coast.