Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

A few days later, without any warning, a large fleet landed on Sicily, the southernmost island of the Apennine Peninsula.

Apart from the Imperial Guard, there is no truly regular armed force in the mainland. Even if the people in the Senate want to recruit soldiers from the mainland, it will take time. Now the other side's soldiers are probably still stationed in Rome and will not come to Sicily.

It is precisely because he can foresee this that Orville chose to rashly send troops to seize the island at this time.

Due to the lack of garrisons, both sides are essentially their own people. The landing legion soldiers did not do much burning, killing and looting, but only stated that they would represent the royal family to conquer the part of the Senate members who were treasonous.

When the locals heard this, it seemed that this matter did not have much to do with them, and they chose to give up resistance and let Orville arrange it in front of the bright blade.

The commander of the landing army was Stilicho. He was happy to see these people's surrender and did not make it too difficult for them. He was just busy collecting supplies, recruiting volunteers and organizing defense, and strictly guarding against the Senate army that might land on the island in the future.

Orville's plan was to seize Sicily first and gain a reliable fulcrum near the Apennine Peninsula to facilitate subsequent military operations.

The land on the mainland was not enough to satisfy all the people living on it. Since a large amount of arable land has now been converted to planting more profitable cash crops, the food self-sufficiency rate is even more worrying. Therefore, the mainland needs food supplied by Sicily and Egypt, otherwise it will inevitably starve over time. Now these two places are all in the hands of Orville, and the initiative immediately comes to Orville.

If Orville wants to drag the other party to death, it is quite feasible. As long as there is no food, the other party will definitely be helpless and can only admit his mistakes, but the current situation cannot be delayed.

Once this huge and bloated empire shows a tendency to split or weaken for too long, the friendly neighbors and subordinates around it may soon become nuclear and hydrogen neighbors and subordinates, and then start all kinds of trouble. Once the crisis of trust appears, it is not so easy to bridge. If the empire has not completely emerged from the state of division at this time, Orville and these elders will have to bear the blame, and they will die in the history books.

He didn't know whether the other party would bow his head, but he certainly couldn't drag it on, so further military activities were necessary.

In order to send more troops to the mainland, this requires a stronger maritime force, and the war on the mainland should appear as "civilized" and "polite" as possible, and not to gain too much opposition on the mainland. To achieve this, at least sufficient supplies are needed, which also requires the support of the navy.

Originally, a considerable part of the Greek navy was in the hands of the elders, especially the elders of Rhodes, who were the major shareholders, but Orville foresaw something when he put down the Greek rebellion, so he was very bold to burn the Rhodes naval port and completely burn the naval foundation of this place.

Since then, the Rhodes Navy has not fully recovered until now, which weakened the naval forces that the elders could mobilize, which was very beneficial to Orville.

After sending out the landing troops, Orville knew that the other party would succeed, but he did not follow the next batch of supply troops to Sicily, but went to the northern provinces of Parfi and Syria. He wanted to borrow the military forces there, especially the navy.

When he was about to set off, Jeanne stopped in front of the crowd.

Orville rode on the horse and stared at the other party curiously: "You'd better tell me something important. I'm in a hurry now."

"Indeed," Jeanne nodded seriously, "The angels told me that I should go to other places with you and then participate in this war."

"Is that the so-called revelation?"

"You can think so." Jeanne did not deny it.

Since she came to Egypt, she has not been very interested in the wars organized by Orville. Instead, she has been busy with helping the poor and preaching. For convenience, Orville also gave her the position of tribune, and the people have a very good evaluation of her.

Now she is interested in war. It can only be said that there must be something wrong when things are abnormal, but Orville will certainly not refuse the participation of a chosen one.

"No problem, someone give her a horse, follow us, and continue to set off."

Agricola was very tactful and led a horse, handed the reins to the other party, and the group set off again.

——

The first destination of the group was Nabataea, where he successfully recruited a group of sailors, and he asked these people to transfer to Alexandria on standby.

Then everyone came to Palfi. King Herod of Palfi and Orville were also long-term strategic partners. They had some friendship and deep interests. Of course, the other party would not refuse the conscription request, and he chose to increase the bet again.

A navy of Palfi and part of the king's private armed forces were mobilized. Orville planned to mobilize the other party's navy directly, and as for the army, they could stay in Palfi on standby first, and they did not need to use these people unless necessary.

Allowing foreign armies to set foot on Roman soil would cause controversy and would also damage the country's prestige and reduce the Romans' deterrent power in the eyes of other nations. Therefore, Orville tried his best to avoid this. Not only Parfit's army, but even the Egyptian troops were kept in place and on standby. Unless it came to the point where it had to be done, Orville would only let them be responsible for some security and transportation work and would not let them go to the front line.

The last target was the province of Syria. Mucinus was as reliable as ever. After learning the news, he had already prepared a legion of legionnaires just waiting for Orville to take them.

After the meeting, he only said one thing to Orville: "Vesper has already discussed the matter with me. He arranged everything before he died. You can take the army away for use, but I still have something else to do." I need to talk to you about it.

You should promise me that this whole thing should end in a way that is good for the Empire. "

Orville solemnly nodded in approval: "I promise this, and I will guarantee it with my life."

After Orville, on behalf of the late emperor, once again received the army from the Syrian Legion and left, Mucinus greeted his adjutant: "Get the remaining troops ready. What I am talking about is to attack Orville." Preparations for war between Vale and Egypt."

Lucius, who was trained as a confidant by Mucinus, was quite puzzled: "Aren't we in the same camp as him?"

"This is the case for the time being, but it may not be the case in the future. Follow my orders specifically. This is the emperor's wish. It may not actually lead to a fight, but be prepared."

"Yes!" Lucius didn't dare to ask any more questions and could only agree.