Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

When the battle was halfway through, the Frankish prince called his men to prepare to retreat or meet the opponent, and the result was as expected - the Scythians could not bear the casualties and withdrew from the battlefield.

If the Franks encountered this situation, they would probably send out their excellent cavalry to harvest, but it was obvious that the cavalry strength on Orwell's side was not very sufficient, and there were Frankish cavalry next to him, so he did not risk sending his cavalry to chase the retreating army, but just continued to squat.

Obviously, this formation lacks the most basic mobility and aggressiveness. It is difficult to move, let alone go out to chase the enemy. Obviously, the Romans did not have this plan, but just quietly defended in place, and seemed to be fighting these Scythians to the death.

The prince knew that the other party had this confidence. The longboats of those northerners had very shallow drafts and could switch freely between inland navigation and sea navigation. The longboats could carry supplies to meet Orwell, and he might be able to squat here for three to five weeks.

Even so, there was no need to continue the battle at this point. The Scythians in front had already lost confidence, and continuing the battle would only be another massacre.

Cleaning up the mess in silence, the Scythians retreated silently and gave up the offensive against the Romans. The battle was undoubtedly a complete victory for the Romans.

——

Orwell thought the results were still good. The only drawback was that he did not have a strong cavalry force, so he could not kill and chase the remnants, and it was difficult to injure the opponent, but it was also okay.

He basically used the so-called Queyue formation, which was said to be a battle formation created by Liu Yu. To put it simply, it was a chariot formation, which was used to deal with nomadic peoples with strong cavalry, etc.

The core idea was to use chariots or horse-drawn carriages to offset the impact of the opponent's cavalry, forcing the opponent to stop in front of the chariot formation, and then let the opponent attack the well-prepared position.

The second was the powerful long-range firepower, which could calmly shoot at the opponent. Orwell's series of military and technical reforms allowed his soldiers to reach this level, which could suppress the long-range projection of most nomadic peoples.

The effect has been tested by successive dynasties in the Central Plains. As long as the operation is fine, it will definitely be quite useful. Even against those northern cavalrymen who are skilled in archery and horse riding and fully armored in later generations, these chariots can withstand it, not to mention these Scythians. To put it bluntly, they may not even be able to shoot through the large shields of the legionnaires.

First of all, in terms of infantry, he felt that the gap between him and the original version was not big. The main thing was that he lacked a cavalry force to attack. This problem could be made up later. After all, he had trained cavalry units in Egypt.

This tactic can not only deal with the Scythians, but also with the cavalry of the Parthians and Germans. This is to prepare for the future.

He is not too worried about "leaking the secret" and being stolen by others. His side is originally a civilization with strong infantry and lame cavalry. The other party will use it to deal with other nomadic peoples, which will not pose much threat to the Romans. Overall, this is a matter of no consequence.

This was the purpose of his lone army's insistence on advancing westwards. He wanted to test the actual combat value of this tactic, get a satisfactory answer, and then go home after consuming the opponent's mobile force.

So after repelling the Scythians and ensuring the safety of the surrounding environment, he led his team back to the Sinope camp again to continue the confrontation with Mithridates.

——

While Orwell was consuming the opponent, all parts of the empire were not completely idle watching the show. Putting aside the various military mobilizations of the central government, the attitudes of various provinces in the empire towards the rebellion of Mithridates itself were also different.

The provinces with relatively complete Latinization, such as the mainland, southern Gaul, and Iberia, naturally believed that the Greeks, especially the Pontic people, were completely bored and looking for trouble, because the Romans had given the Greeks enough privileges and preferential treatment, and now they dared to shamelessly ask for more. For this reason, the emperor and local governors should strike hard, and they basically supported the central government of the empire.

After all, it was completely normal to make a few noises and protests. In their opinion, uprising or rebellion was a bit too much. Some Roman citizens or elite Romans even donated money and materials, or joined the army in person to show their support for the central government of the empire.

Vespa knew the intentions of these people very well, but he didn't say anything. The emperor would naturally give back later.

The situation in central Gaul, northern Gaul, the British province and many eastern provinces was somewhat different. Although the locals did not dare to declare that they supported the Greeks and also provided various resources and fulfilled their obligations in accordance with the emperor's orders, the civilians below still vaguely sympathized with the Greeks to a greater or lesser extent.

Either they were also influenced by the great shortcomings and virtues of the Romans, or they could better understand the current situation of the Greeks. They generally understood the intentions of the Greeks to rebel now and did not think it was an unreasonable thing.

But rebellion is rebellion after all. Armed uprisings have to pay a price. The price is either paid by the Romans or by the locals. They also understand this fact. The Romans definitely hope that the locals will pay the price instead of themselves.

Objectively speaking, Mithridates had done his best to contact and seek support at home and abroad, and his ability in this regard could not be said to be bad. However, there were still only a few responders. No provincial governor or local aristocratic family stood up with him to openly resist Roman rule. At most, the uprisings in some places did not gain any momentum.

They were not assimilated by the Romans, or had no hostility towards the Romans, but because they could see the situation clearly. According to their judgment, the hope of winning the war with the Romans was slim. Once people made up their minds and were afraid, even if Mithridates had the ability to write brilliantly and speak eloquently, it would be useless.

Outside the empire, the enemies of the empire could not provide him with much substantial help. At most, they could contain the Roman garrisons in various places so that they could not be mobilized. However, the current situation was not optimistic: even if there were only these Roman troops in front of him, it would be difficult for Mithridates to deal with them. Those soldiers on the border basically did not need to be mobilized, and it actually made little difference whether they were contained or not.

In the end, Mithridates only won material support and a small amount of manpower support for himself, which had no decisive impact on the overall situation. Basically, he still had to rely on his own strength to deal with these Roman legions.