Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

So although there was still some room to spare, and the Romans' main line of pikemen was not having an easy time, panic inevitably spread after the flanks of the Pontic army were penetrated and the Romans were double-teamed.

After all, as a coalition force, the Pontic army still inevitably suffers from a common problem of coalition forces - the combat willpower and the ability to withstand casualties are completely different among the various parts of the army.

For example, although the heavy infantry on the flanks were surrounded, they basically continued to fight without fleeing or losing their will to resist. The performance of the volunteers sent from abroad was mixed. Some seemed to have a deep grudge against the Romans and insisted on fighting to the death, while others seemed to be doing errands, avoiding fighting or working as foreigners. Once the situation was not favorable, Friendly forces change shows a tendency to stay on the edge of the battlefield.

As for the spearmen, whose composition is quite complex and whose training level is questionable, it is even more worrying. When the wind is downwind, it is easy to say that they can attack more and less, but when they find themselves surrounded and attacked by the Romans from behind, , are the group of people who panic the most. After all, they are located in the square formation and cannot escape even if they want to.

The phalanx gradually became fragile, even to the point of collapse at the first touch. Even if Mithridates had transferred back most of the troops sent to intercept the Vikings, it would be of no avail and would not fundamentally change the problem.

Not only that, because the number of troops sent out to intercept the Vikings was too small, after the longship docked, the pirates, whose job was actually to do so, quickly lined up and organized the formation before the other party arrived, and then started to move forward. Fight with the opponent.

They won't be able to break through the enemy's formation in one go, but these Vikings will undoubtedly have the upper hand, and the opponent's defeat is just a matter of time.

The war was essentially over as the Scythian and other cavalry units were driven off the battlefield by infantry and cavalry, and the Romans surrounded the opposing formations, just as Hannibal had done at the Battle of Cannae. .

Like most formations, the Pontic spear phalanx could only defend against enemies coming from one direction. They were unable to withstand enemies coming from behind and flanks. The battle soon entered the so-called garbage time, and the Roman army began its final battle. cleaning work.

——

The situation developed as Tiya expected. As the encirclement gradually tightened, the opponent's army began to collapse.

There must have been many people trying to surrender to the Romans and give up resistance, but in normal times this might be okay. This was on the battlefield. Both sides were in a state of extreme excitement, and not many people had the sense to think about their subordinates. To show mercy, the two sides were life-and-death enemies just a few minutes ago.

No matter how good-tempered or kind-hearted a person is, they will not persuade or order their soldiers to be merciful at this time. The result is basically a massacre. The soldiers vented the fear and hatred in their hearts and began to take prisoners after a long time.

By this time quite a few Pontic or Greeks had actually been killed, leaving only a small number of people alive. Maybe the hatred will be passed on, maybe the fear will be passed on even more, and Orville doesn't know what the result will be.

He did not say anything to stop it, but only required that the troops must maintain their formation and not get separated. There was no problem with the military quality of the soldiers, and order was always maintained.

After the battle on the frontal battlefield was basically over, Orville silently commanded the soldiers to start cleaning the battlefield and asked the cavalry troops to search for those who had slipped through the net.

In the end, what worried him did not happen. The cavalry troops brought him reassuring news - they finally caught Mithridates who was trying to escape back to the city of Sinope to regroup, and were escorting him back to the camp.

He finally felt relieved, handed over the final task to his adjutant, and then prepared to rest. Due to the psychological pressure and heavy war command work in recent days, he had not had much rest. Now that the battle was over, it was time for him to rest. Take a good rest.

——

In the large tent of the military camp, the tied-up Mithridates was escorted in front of Tiya by two guards. As the heir to the throne, Tiya looked down at him, her eyes were a bit complicated. On the one hand, there was some hatred and dissatisfaction, and on the other hand, Tiya looked at him. On the one hand, it is understanding and sympathy.

On the whole, both parties are normal people rather than antisocial lunatics, and their actions are logical.

To Mithridates, their rebellion was justified, and Thea clearly recognized this.

After considering it, she said, "Are you satisfied now?"

The other party spoke without hesitation, and may have already thought of his words: "Of course I shouldn't be satisfied with the result. But I am very satisfied with my behavior. You should realize the fact that Not everyone likes your existence, and not everyone will kowtow to you.”

Tia sighed quietly: "We have realized this a long time ago, and it is difficult to make changes. What you do will only cause more people to die, because we will never allow this. And you The history of China has also proved many things. Although our governance has shortcomings, I admit this so I can understand you, but in addition, I am afraid that you do not have the psychological preparation and ability to govern a country well.

Under the rule of the Romans and under their own management, I am afraid that the former will be more orderly. It is the mission of the Romans to give stability and order to this world. You can resist it, but it will only proceed steadily as planned. "

"I knew this," Mithridates sneered, "I just want you to know that not all Greeks are sheep. After Alexander's death, we still have lions hidden in our hearts. Not everyone will let you slaughter them like lambs."

"Maybe. We feel your determination. I hope you can bear the result as well."

Tia said this to Mithridates, and then asked her men to take him away, and then send him to Rome to accept the trial from the emperor and the Senate.

After watching the other party leave, Tia sighed, and then she instructed her adjutant: "All the captives will be loaded onto the ship and sent to Athens to await the next step. You take people to Sinope to persuade them to surrender, and bring the other party's command flag."

"Yes!" The other party agreed without hesitation, and then continued to ask hesitantly, "What other conditions are required besides surrender?"

"If the situation permits, only the main culprit will be punished, and it has little to do with the local civilians. What we want is to calm the incident as soon as possible and get things back on track."

The implication is that there is no need to investigate further, otherwise the local area will inevitably be another bloody storm. The adjutant understands Tia's thoughts very well. Although he does not agree with this approach of cutting the grass without removing the root, after all, Tia is now the commander, so he did not say much and prepared to do it truthfully.

——

After the decisive defeat on the front battlefield, the leader was captured. From various aspects, there was no need to fight. It was not known whether the Romans' promises were true and reliable, but most people were still willing to believe that this was a part of their own advantage. Therefore, although many local residents and volunteers still had the will to resist and wanted to rely on Sinope's imperfect defense system to organize defense, a simple and smooth coup still frustrated their intentions.

The nobles of the surrender faction in the city chose to control the city gates and various strategic locations, and welcomed the royal division to bring the Romans into the city. At the same time, an internal cleansing campaign began, which was considered by the surrender nobles as a means of showing loyalty, and many people died as a result.

The Romans were happy to see it happen, and they sent soldiers in without much effort to complete the occupation of Sinope. The war was basically over at this point.

With the collapse of the main resistance center and the surrender of the army as a whole, the Pontus issue completely became a regional trifle, and a small number of troops were sent here to continue to clear out the rebels.

Apart from the problems in Asia Minor, there are two more points that need attention - one is the fence-sitters on the Black Sea coast and the towns occupied by the Pontic people, and the other is the Scythians who support the Pontic people's rebellion.

These two have little to do with Orwell. Tiya will naturally assign an officer to deal with this matter. Orwell's remaining task is to maintain local law and order and do the final finishing work.

Tiya knew that she might not be able to grasp the scale and achieve the appropriate punishment effect, so she handed the specific arrangements to Orwell. Orwell also knew the other party's acceptance limit and began to arrange it based on this standard.

Mithridates and all his confidants were naturally imprisoned. The remaining nobles who fled to Pontus were basically considered to be diehards and were ready to be detained. Those volunteers who failed to escape were also locked up.

In addition, Orwell also selected some prisoners who looked strong and fierce to be locked up and taken away together.

These people will eventually be taken to Rome. On the one hand, they will be judged by the Senate and the Roman people, and on the other hand, they will participate in the triumphal parade.

In fact, there was no need to take away those prisoners of war and most of the volunteers. Those who deserved ransom would receive ransom, those who deserved amnesty would be pardoned, those who deserved to be sold as slaves would be handed over to slave traders who heard the news, and those who deserved to be killed would be killed on the spot, but Orville needed to consider the effect of the triumphal show.

Foreigners with different skin colors, appearances and clothes could make the locals look at the general's achievements again. The onlookers were more likely to think that the general had experienced a glorious and difficult war and finally won a brilliant victory. This logical thinking would naturally increase the general's prestige.

In addition to these people, Orville also carried out routine punishments on the locals - house raiding, ransom payment, demolition of city walls, unified collection and destruction of weapons, etc., which were naturally not less. Orville would not be soft on necessary punishments, and he deeply understood the necessity of these punishments.

At the same time, he also took a slightly bloody attitude towards those tough rebels. He announced that from now on, any rebels who were caught would be sent to a public mine thousands of miles away for forced labor, and those with serious circumstances would be killed on the spot and crucified.

On this basis, he did not overly affect the lives of local civilians. The looting and extortion of the locals were more limited to wealthy merchants and nobles with accumulated wealth. The impact on civilians was relatively small, and it might not even be as big as the trouble caused by the taxes collected by the Pontic people themselves.

He barely let those fence-sitters go, but it was inevitable that these people would lose their skin and hand over hostages to Rome.

The treatment of various places was basically based on this. As for how the emperor wanted to further deal with the Pontic people and Greeks, that was the emperor's business. Orville and Tia did not have the power to help the emperor make decisions at present. They could only do the finishing work for the war, that's all.

...

After Sinope surrendered, many of its subordinate cities also surrendered. This crushing defeat caused the Bosporus Kingdom (Crimea) and other places that had been forced to surrender to the Pontic people to return to the embrace of the Romans. At this time, Orwell did not forget one of his friends. Ovid had been there for almost two years after the Metamorphoses incident and was still in exile on the Black Sea.

During this period, Ovid constantly used his connections to request to return to his homeland, at least to change his exile to a more civilized place, but it was obvious that the network he could find could not make the emperor himself give him face, and his exile had no intention of being revoked.

Orwell had not forgotten the other party, and this time he did him a favor and let him return to Greece with others during the chaos to wait for orders. He was going to take the other party back to Rome, and he had already thought of an excuse, saying that Ovid wrote about the experience of the entire Bosporus Kingdom and the surrounding areas during the war, and wanted to present it to His Majesty the Emperor.

The high-sounding reason was that it was not convenient to stop it with Orwell and others, and Ovid's matter was not a big deal, so the matter should be able to be fooled like this. Orwell probably didn't care much after arranging it. He believed that Ovid could distinguish between good and bad, and could hand in a decent report. As a famous writer in history, even if he was a little unruly and had a bad reputation, he should still have this ability and could write something that was not bad.

He set aside some time to deal with Ovid's affairs, and then turned his attention to the matter at hand. He took some time to meet Mithridates himself again. He was still a little interested in this historical figure.

The meeting place was in a strictly guarded country villa. After all, he was a member of the nobles with a high status. Unlike ordinary prisoners who would be locked up in a prison with worrying conditions, the environment of the villa was still good. Apart from the lack of freedom, there seemed to be no serious problems.

Mithridates seemed to be prepared for Orwell to visit him, and looked at him with a subtle expression.

Orville stared at the middle-aged man and started to say a few polite words, but he was stopped by Mithridates, who asked first, "How do you feel now?"