Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Trajan had made corresponding preparations in advance. The mountain roads in Asia Minor were rugged. Even if the local army was composed of locals, it was impossible to disperse and march on the rocky and densely wooded hillsides, so it was necessary to march along the narrow road.

At this time, even the most experienced army had to use a long snake formation. If Mithridates was more careful and sent out an excessive number of scouts, he might be able to find the enemy's traces, but he underestimated the enemy this time and thought that his mobility was fast enough, so he only sent out a regular scout team to observe the situation.

Trajan's soldiers hid well and moved smartly. The previous scouts either did not find the enemy or were killed. In short, the news was not spread out. Mithridates did not have the patience to wait until all the scouts were retrieved before continuing the next move. Orwell might still be biting him from behind.

After a few times, Trajan seized the opportunity on this necessary road.

Trajan risked splitting the army into two groups, deploying them on two possible roads, and also divided his troops to defend the city, so the number of ambushes Mithridates faced this time was not large, only about one legion, and the ratio of his troops was about ten to one.

If they were facing each other on flat ground, Mithridates would not find it difficult, but this terrain was quite unfavorable. They could not deploy their formations, and were cut off at the same time. The Romans were well prepared and the phalanx of 100 people was relatively small and easy to deploy, which was a huge advantage for them.

Putting aside the equipment level, technical tactics and combat willpower, in almost the same situation, a formation against a formation without a formation was almost a massacre. Often a soldier had to face three or four Roman daggers, and two fists could not beat four hands.

The result was self-evident. Mithridates' troops suffered heavy losses even before they encountered a large army. Trajan noticed that the enemy's troops were too many and had a tendency to reorganize their formations, so he decisively ordered the army to retreat in time, leaving the ground in a mess.

Mithridates' formation was not well organized, and he was also worried that the other side had reinforcements, so he did not continue to chase them. He quietly cleaned up the mess quickly, and then continued to march, and the matter came to an end.

From the results, it seems that Mithridates won the victory, but everyone knows that this is not even a miserable victory, it can only be said that there was no defeat, that's all.

Mithridates and the people around him didn't look very good, but they continued to maneuver and prepared to fight the Romans. Now there is not much room for retreat.

………………

On the other hand, the situation here in Orville was barely optimistic. After stabilizing the Greek mainland, things were not so urgent.

The next target is naturally the rebellious Pontus region. The core of the opponent is the Asia Minor Peninsula on the Black Sea coast. As far as the current situation is concerned, it is not a rich place, and it is difficult to supply. It is very troublesome to fight, so Orville is still ready to take a boat.

He plans to sail the fleet to the Dardanelles first, and then set off to other places on the Black Sea coast to land directly in the opponent's hinterland. The navy was being mobilized under his orders, and during this time, Orville dealt with some miscellaneous matters in mainland Greece.

It is undeniable that mainland Greece still has considerable wealth accumulation. After the uprising, the rebels looted or destroyed a large amount of property of the Senate, which could weaken their power. At the same time, after the money passed through the hands of the rebels, it went around and around and came to Orville. Orville was not kind enough to return the money to the elders, not to mention that this was not realistic at all, and it was a bad debt that could not be settled.

So most of the money was sent to Emperor Vespa. It was up to him to decide what to do with it, and the remaining small part was used as a supplement to military expenses.

Orville was also happy. He turned around and rewarded a large part of it to his men, and then gave the rest of the money to Constantine, asking him to recruit several battalions of soldiers as assistance.

The Byzantines proved their ability and loyalty through war, and it was reasonable to rely on them a little now. They would assist the Romans in maintaining law and order in various parts of the mainland. Considering that the natives have always considered themselves superior to the Byzantines, this is a good opportunity for them to be proud of themselves, which is exactly what Constantine wanted.

He also reciprocated, and a large part of the recruitment funds flowed back to Orwell - Constantine tried his best to purchase weapons and equipment produced by Orwell's military factory, and the money was still Orwell's.

Orwell could also understand Vespa's thoughts, and simply took this opportunity to sort out the Greek affairs. He did the same thing. Anyone who was suspicious or hostile to the Romans but could not escape was controlled and waited to be escorted to Rome to listen to the emperor's orders.

After doing all this, Trajan's troops were basically in place and could continue to march along the coastline.

Orwell did not hesitate and boarded the fleet to Pontus again, preparing to land directly in the enemy's hinterland and defeat the enemy in one go.

Now Mithridates had just suffered a defeat, and his morale was low, so it was very convenient to take action. If the enemy is given time to recover, the war will be further prolonged and the economic losses will be greater, so the best way at the moment is to act as quickly as possible under the conditions permitted.

…

At the same time, Alexandria, the capital of the Kingdom of Egypt, was not very peaceful.

Orwell believed that the situation in Greece was more serious, and Egypt was now basically self-sufficient, so a large number of troops were transferred from their posts, which was a difficult test for Cleopatra.

Historically, the Romans stationed two legions here. Previously, Orwell stationed three legions, which was a bit excessive, but it is obvious that the current force is not enough, especially when various forces are ready to move.

Objectively speaking, Cleopatra wanted to control the situation, but the situation was not optimistic. After Orwell left, local forces quickly began to rebound, probably in secret with the Greeks. The situation in the south was barely suppressed by the border guards and Nubian mercenaries, but near the Nile Delta, her thousands of guards felt more or less helpless.

She was quite confident in her administrative ability, but she was also very clear that she was not a material for fighting. Similarly, the current commander of the guards was not a general, and could only be said to be a mediocre person who could barely be used.

In this case, they could only barely maintain the law and order in Alexandria and its surroundings. Orwell could vaguely foresee this situation, so he also left a backhand for the other party - his cavalry troops in training and King Herod's noble cavalry troops were still in the local area and did not move.