Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

After that, Orville continued to welcome two things with a trembling mood - the birth of a new life and the smooth passage of the "death catastrophe".

For a long time before, Orville and Tia were in a long-distance relationship. Not to mention seeing each other a few times a month, it was good to see each other a few times a year, and they didn't care much about the relationship.

After that, Orville was much freer than before. He could stay in the local area. Originally, he or Tia had no defects in their physiological structure and belonged to normal people. After a few months of preparation, Orville naturally received good news.

He had a daughter. The doctor said that she was healthy in all aspects and was currently growing up.

The reason for the trembling was not that he was afraid of the other party's dystocia. Tia's superhuman physique probably didn't need Orville to worry about life and death. He was worried about the world line correction force. He was really a little afraid that Tia would have an accident in some years.

Fortunately, he was just overthinking in the end. Nothing unexpected happened until September 81 AD (the time when Titus died of fever). He thought that God let him off, or that some god saw that he had done a good job and gave him some compensation.

In the past two years, there were not many changes in domestic affairs. Orville promoted the reform little by little according to what he did in Egypt. The resistance he encountered was not high and was still within the scope of coping.

He made some adjustments in personnel arrangements - first, he was transferred to the position of consul, responsible for central political affairs. It was easier to do things with a legitimate title, and now his age met the requirements on various levels.

Belisarius was transferred to the commander-in-chief of the German Legion, and the governor of Britain was transitionally assumed by Stilicho, a mixed-race man. After that, he planned to hand over the position of governor to Alfred for a period of time, and the locals and Romans would take turns to serve.

On the other hand, he divided Egypt into two parts, the upper and lower parts. Although the nominal supreme ruler of these two lands was still the Egyptian king, two different governors assisted the king in ruling.

This is to divide the power of the governor. He has governed this land personally. This place is a bit too strong as a province. If it is allowed to play its potential, ignoring the issue of combat effectiveness and only looking at factors such as economic level, Egypt can completely compete with the local area. It is not wise to have an overly powerful vassal state.

Now Orwell and Cleopatra have a past, and it is really hard to say how future emperors will treat Egypt. Egypt is related to the food supply of the local area. In the two recent civil wars, the locals were threatened by the party that controlled Egypt to cut off their food. If they don't grow up, it can only be said that the ruler is too rough.

If you meet a tougher and more capable emperor, then Egypt is likely to be completely incorporated into the empire and become an imperial province. Unfortunately, most of the emperors at this stage of the Roman Empire were political and military strongmen with considerable action.

So, this matter is actually a matter of time, regardless of what the Egyptians do. The principle of innocent people being guilty of possessing a treasure, the outcome will be the same no matter what they do. The overly strong economic value here makes it impossible for the Romans to continue to allow it to maintain its independence, unless the Egyptians can use force to dispel the Romans' idea now.

Orwell has long been on guard against this. Egypt's economic level can fully support an army of 50,000 or 60,000 or even twice as many, but Orwell only allows the Kingdom of Egypt to have an army of just over 20,000 on the grounds that "it is protected by the empire and only needs to maintain a basic number of troops", which is completely inconsistent with its strong economic strength.

Cleopatra intentionally or unintentionally tried to recruit more troops from Orwell, but was strongly rejected by Orwell. Although Orwell promised him that "as long as he is alive, Egypt will remain safe and independent", this means that it will only last until the time when Orwell is alive, and he can't say what will happen later.

Cleopatra knew what the other party meant, and she also knew that she had no force to fight back. Any idea of ​​armed confrontation would be caught and decisively defeated, so now she had only one choice: to completely integrate into the interior of this huge country and exist as a noble within the empire.

This was not very difficult for her, so she happily chose to go to Rome.

——

The luxury cruise ship several stories high landed at the port of Ostia, and behind it was a fleet of servants consisting of more than a dozen ships. It seemed that Cleopatra intended to promote it well this time, so she was not stingy in many aspects to the point of extravagance.

The elders welcomed the arrival of the gold owner, but the queen's attitude was quite ambiguous, and she didn't even come out to meet the other party. This was normal. It was strange for the other party to greet her with a smile.

After discussing with the queen, Orville held a Senate meeting on her behalf.

Standing on the podium in the middle, Orville was wearing a heavy and stuffy toga with purple edges, observing the expressions of the people around him.

Cleopatra was allowed to attend the meeting as an exception, but she seemed to be in low spirits. She rested her chin on one hand and stared out the window in a daze. The other elders' eyes switched back and forth between Orwell and Cleopatra. The elders who had a good relationship with Orwell mainly looked at her with ridicule, while the elders who had a general or even hostile relationship with Orwell had a very subtle attitude.

Those eyes clearly showed distrust. Orwell knew what they were thinking. They were just worried that he would make a mistake in his position because of personal feelings. This worry was basically unnecessary.

After the redundant and long opening remarks, Orville spent a lot of time making polite remarks, and finally got to the point: "To sum up, although these Egyptians have their own country, I don't think this prevents them from being in the Senate. Get your position among them."

Someone replied to Orville: "There is no difference between us on this point. The question is how many seats you and the Queen want to divide."

All the senators present also knew what the emperor's faction was planning to do now. They wanted to make the cake bigger without threatening their existing interests. This was undoubtedly a good thing in their eyes. The problem was the allocation of seats in the Senate. Orville How many seats should be allocated on behalf of the emperor, and how much say the Egyptians should have.

"Between thirty-five and fifty seats. I think this is not an excessive number, not even one-tenth. What do you think?"

Orville looked at the people in the audience. After the civil war, the Senate would definitely go through a round of shuffling, but the actual changes were not big, because the original interest groups had at best been stripped of their skins, and they had not yet been damaged. Even though they are in such a weak state, most of them can still get their own position in the Senate.

This is also the reason why everything went smoothly after the victory of the civil war. Orwell did not intend to kill all these people, which would shake the foundation of his rule, but under this premise, he should also appropriately hammer some of these aristocratic families to maintain imperial power and peace. A balance between gates and valves.

Now this number does not sound excessive at first glance. After all, there are about twenty seats in southern Gaul. Egypt's status should definitely be higher than that in southern Gaul. It is not unacceptable to occupy more seats.

"This number exceeds the vacancies. Who do you think should be allowed to retire?" Another senator asked Orville to explain.

"This involves another issue." Orville asked his entourage to show a list engraved on a stone slab on the stage, and a copy made of parchment for the people in the audience to circulate. "I think now we should let the Senate To become more professional, elite, and organized, we should realize that some elders do not obtain eldership seats to contribute to the country, but just to get special seats in theaters, arenas, and racing venues. For the sake of the country, It’s almost time for people to retire.”

Orville's meaning is simple and clear: Priority will be given to those who are able, and it is still the same for those who fish, so don't occupy precious voting positions.

He pointed his finger at the people in the audience: "Look around you, how many empty seats are there? Although this is just a relatively ordinary meeting and will not decide any important matters, it is still the same when discussing such important matters. There are also people who are absent once or twice. It is inevitable that some people are present far less often than they are absent. Do you think this is unjustifiable?

There is no big or small matter in the country, and you don’t care about it because it has nothing to do with your own interests. You will only pay attention when it is related to your vital interests. Do you think this is a dereliction of duty? "

He once again looked at everyone in the audience with questioning eyes, and raised the topic to a life-and-death level. Now everyone could not refuse directly. They only said that it was indeed reasonable, and those who were often absent had indeed neglected their duties.

"So, I actually asked people to record the number of attendees at each meeting in the past two years and who was absent in a special diary. The people on this list are the elders who are often absent, and some of them have indeed retired from politics. I can understand if they only keep their honorary titles and don't come, like Nerva and others.

I think their positions can be kept for now and we will see the situation later, but I think the remaining ones should be changed. I did some calculations and found that there are fifty people in this group, which exactly matches the number of Egyptian seats I requested. Do you think this is okay? "

Now someone was unhappy: "Your Majesty the Consul, I have to remind you that Queen Cleopatra of Egypt is from the Ptolemaic family, and the Ptolemaic family is from the [Savior] Ptole. The secret family is the only remaining orthodox successor of Alexander."

These words are not so much a reminder to Orville as they are a reminder to others. There is something in the words about Cleopatra’s family lineage. If she wanted to, it was entirely possible that she would also contact the senators in Magna Graecia and obtain seats in Magna Graecia. As a result, people from this faction in the Senate might obtain dozens or even hundreds of seats.

Now, these seats will go to the emperor's faction, which is not conducive to their political balance. In the future, these seats may go to the successors of the Ptolemaic family, and then these people hold so many seats in the Senate. Clearly a threat, a huge threat to the entire empire.

This man could see clearly, and many of the people below were not stupid either. Once reminded, they reacted and began to whisper, and their eyes towards Cleopatra began to become less friendly.

Cleopatra didn't care about these things. She seemed to be staring at Orville, but in fact she seemed to be distracted.

Orville also knew this risk. He was not an Egyptian and of course he could not acquiesce in the passage of such a bill. He just asked for an exorbitant price first and then started bargaining with the other party.

He pretended to think hard for a while, and then tentatively said: "How about this? Let Egypt have forty seats first, and we can add or subtract them later depending on the situation. The remaining ten seats will be returned to those who have been deprived of their status. people, and the final result will be determined by a vote of the impartial Senate.

As for the 40 seats belonging to Egypt, 20 will go to Greeks and 20 to native Egyptians, giving priority to the bureaucrats who serve the Roman Empire. This should be fair, right? "

This made many elders unhappy again: "Natives? Do you mean those with dark skin? Let them sit in the elders' seats? !"

In fact, they are still white, but their skin color is indeed a little darker, but Orville did not argue with the other party about the depth of skin color.

For the Romans, the Greeks are indeed half of their own people. After all, they have the same cultural roots, but the rest are outsiders. They will not have a big knot in their hearts to give Greeks elders' seats, but they will more or less look down on foreigners. Giving them elders' seats will cause dissatisfaction among many conservatives.

Orville looked at the other party with a smile: "Caesar did it, Caesar succeeded in doing these things, can't we, the descendants, obey his ideas? It has been more than a hundred years since Caesar introduced the Gauls and Germans into the Senate. It's time to introduce some fresh blood.

I think there should be many people here who are mixed-race, right? Including me, since we were able to accept some fresh blood in the past, why can't we accept some fresh blood in the future?

I can accept Egyptians. You should know that according to history, my ancestors were slaves of Egyptians. I am not as repulsive to Egyptians as you are. "

"We are not repulsive to Egyptians, nor do we have any opinions on you and Her Majesty in this regard. It's just that it's not good to allow people who don't recognize our culture to enter the Senate. What Caesar did was to introduce people who recognized Roman culture. You are also like this. Are there such people in Egypt?" This statement is actually quite reasonable and has attracted many people to agree.

"Don't worry, I have already made such preparations. I have opened a school in Egypt that specializes in this area. Those bureaucrats can write in Latin or Greek, and they can also read many of our famous classics. In the future, I will also find a way to require their children to come to Rome for further studies. This is a must if they want to get a seat. What do you think of this? "

Orville certainly does not teach Egyptian native language in school. He tries to teach mainly Latin, supplemented by Greek. Education really affects people. After a long period of Greco-Roman education, it is not an exaggeration to say that these people are half-elite Roman or even whole-elite Roman.