Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Now it is not easy for opponents to raise objections. Orville did indeed do it flawlessly, and it was even exactly what they wanted to do.

They claim to be the ones who define civilization, and of course they hope to promote their culture to all parts of the world. Since these newly selected senators by Orville do recognize Roman-Greek culture, even if it is only superficial recognition, it is in line with their expectations.

Moreover, everyone is at the top of a country, and most of the time they are reasonable and use their brains, knowing that this is the right thing to do.

Allowing the Greeks to continue to be the dominant family in Egypt will, on the one hand, easily provoke more ethnic conflicts, and on the other hand, it will give the Greeks too much political energy, which is not good for them. In fact, it is not a wise move.

It would certainly be much simpler for the Greeks and Egyptians to reach some kind of balance, and the Romans to be responsible for maintaining a stable balance locally. Orwell also considered this aspect.

As for whether this would strengthen the emperor's power in the Senate to a certain extent, they had long been mentally prepared for this. After the civil war, Tiya only dealt with a few senators who had committed particularly bad crimes and deprived them of their seats, but she did not There was no punishment for the entire faction that started the civil war.

The punishment couldn't be skipped, it was just moved to now. Orville had already told them about this, and it happened to be solved accordingly.

Looking at this matter as the price of losing the civil war, it actually makes sense. Forty seats will not cause an absolute imbalance, but will only cause the Senate to lose part of their advantage, which is still within the acceptable range.

And no one is sure that these forty positions will always be subordinate to the emperor. The old senators obviously still have a chance to regain these positions.

It is the elders who are more or less surprised. It seems that today's situation was designed and planned by Orville when he first served as governor of Egypt. He can plan in advance specific matters for the future eight or nine years later, and can ensure that this matter will be achieved. Realization, this ability is actually quite rare.

But everyone was just relieved and didn't think too much. After all, there must be a reason why Orville was chosen as his son-in-law by Vesper. If Orville was a idiot, they would find it strange and think that it was Vespa. Pa Lao was so dim that he could no longer recognize people.

Now, the most they can do is sigh, the late emperor is indeed a great man of his generation, and his ability to understand people is worth learning, and they will not think more.

So after another round of bargaining, the two sides made little progress, and the matter was basically decided like this. It was barely a happy ending, at least that's what Orville claimed.

——

After coming out of the Senate, Orville did not go back directly to the royal residence, but followed Cleopatra back to her villa.

According to some classical-era writers, Cleopatra was so rich that a single pearl in her necklace would be as large as one of the finest villas in Rome.

In fact, although it is not that exaggerated, but considering the humanistic value, it is indeed possible to directly exchange it for a normal country villa, and you may even be wealthy.

According to Cleopatra, she planned to stay in Rome for a while this time. It was not good to live in the emperor's mansion all the time, so she spent her own money to buy another place to work first. It was a large mansion that fit her status. Still searching.

Orville only spoke to the other party after entering the villa: "I thought you would be more active. After all, this is related to your vital interests."

Cleopatra didn't care: "Have I not discussed everything with you anyway? I accept the current conditions. As for whether you can reach such an agreement in the Senate that meets my requirements, it depends on you. Trying your best, it has nothing to do with me.

All in all, you just need to find a way to meet the conditions. I have a lot of things to think about over there. "

"Okay." Orville was not in the mood to refute the other party, "What do you need my help with? You said it all in one breath."

"Just prepare the ingredients, chef, travel entourage, and city guide for me. I will naturally find a way to take care of the rest."

"Of course, you don't have to worry about these things, what about other things?"

"It's gone for the time being. By the way, do you want to have another son? It seems that your wife gave you a daughter, which is not conducive to the succession of the throne." She said in a joking tone.

"Forget it." Orville rejected the other party simply, without making any jokes.

He had to admit that he had made some mistakes in the past few years, such as sleeping with each other. He had also had some fantasies that normal men would have. In fact, if he persisted, it might be possible to realize it.

But after several years of entanglement, the remaining modern thinking finally took over. He later paid attention to keeping a little distance from the other party, especially after Tiya had a child.

He should deeply reflect on the mistakes he made. After a good communication with Tia, she reluctantly forgave him, and that's what happened now.

Cleopatra looked at the other party's serious look and knew that there was no point in talking about it further, so she could only sigh slightly: "I actually don't understand it very well. You Palphi people are obviously polyandrous, right? Also, the Romans say they are monogamous, but in fact they are very open-minded about mistresses, mistresses, and concubines. How can you have such weird moral standards? "

"That's the result, and if I produce offspring with you, it will be quite troublesome, right?"

"It's true, regardless of gender. I say now that it doesn't matter what you do, but in fact, if I have a daughter or son, the maternal instinct and the instinct to seek benefits for the family may take over again. Seriously. This doesn't seem to be a bad thing. Think about how good it would be to have an heir who inherited both the successor and the Roman royal family. From a legal point of view, it is impeccable and perfect. He can get both. Fang’s wealth.”

"In my opinion, there will be more trouble. You know, I don't want you to bring your family's methods of palace struggle into the palace. It is better for the heirs to the throne to fight each other to death than to kill the winner through palace murder, at least the former Those who are chosen are the bravest, and being petty and calculating does not mean that they can govern the country well. "

Orville had already picked up and said that in fact, the nobles of the empire now do not allow the Egyptians or Greeks to interfere too much in the core affairs of the empire. It is okay for someone like Orville to be alone, and it is only possible to enter the core level. It's just the emperor's surroundings. The Cleopatra family's surroundings are a bit too much, and it is impossible for the other party to become a relative.

To be honest, the empire does not need to rely on the power of the relatives to stabilize the situation. Instead, it will worry about the relatives interfering in politics. No one will say anything if Orville and the other party are "playing", but they cannot accept the other party, which is absolutely not okay.

"Well, actually, I can understand it. It seems that this business must be handed over to Arsinoe. She has been doing well recently, and she has found a very capable husband to help manage the property. I I have to thank you for not killing her at that time, otherwise I would have had a headache for a while."

"If you want, it doesn't matter if you find the right person to marry."

"I'm not interested recently. Let's talk about it later." Cleopatra waved her hand casually. "Maybe I will find my sister to adopt an heir or something. In short, I will arrange my posthumous affairs so that The way you Romans are satisfied. If you are willing, it is not impossible to adopt your extra daughter or son. This should stop many people's mouths. "

Caesarion (the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt, the illegitimate son of Cleopatra and Caesar) and the like, Orville felt that it would do more harm than good, and that it was sowing instability, and they did not need to rely on this method to maintain it. Rule would instead give the Ptolemaic family the opportunity to intervene in political affairs. This may be the reason why the other party is so active now, so he still thanked him and did not answer the call.

Cleopatra wisely changed the subject: "Let's talk about this later. You told me before that you might have to fight again. Is that true?"

Speaking of war, Orville's expression immediately became serious: "Basically, the enemy is a nomadic people from the prairie."

"prairie?"

"To the north of the Kingdom of Bosporus (Crimea) is an endless prairie. This prairie is said to stretch to the end of the world, which is the boundless sea that Alexander pursued."

After a few years, Orville used spies and diplomatic envoys to almost figure things out. The other party can basically be regarded as nomads who were dispersed and retreated to Eastern Europe. After a period of reorganization, they reappeared in front of Orville and others. .

There has always been a lot of debate about whether the Huns were Huns in history. At least in this world, there are indeed some descendants of the Huns who were dispersed and reorganized with the locals, and they occupy a relatively important position. The location should be said to have a certain Huns element.

As for why these people should have come into contact with the Roman Empire in the late 4th century, but now they came in the 1st century, it may be that on the one hand, higher productivity caused faster population expansion, and on the other hand, it was the Han Empire across the continent. I'm afraid that some kind of strengthening patch has been applied to it, which can disperse the nomads earlier.

Orville could tell from the armor and saddles of these people that their technological level was significantly higher than that of the real Huns in history. They were not exactly the kind of barbarians. At least they did not use tribal-level weapons such as bone arrowheads. Instead, he had his own metallurgical system, but he couldn't tell more about it. He didn't know much about this aspect of history, and objectively speaking, the Romans didn't record anything useful.

They had not had much dealings with nomads, and for a long time they collectively referred to the grassland nomads as "Scythians." Later, they realized that the Huns were different from the entire Scythians, but the records were still very unclear. bits and pieces.

"I heard that the nomads from the grasslands have recently had some conflicts with the Danube Legion, and there are also occasional wars with the Frankish Kingdom. Is the problem serious?"

"It's not that bad. It's better to say that these people are here to start a dispute now."

It is undeniable that the Huns did cause some trouble to the Roman Empire in history, but in fact, generally speaking, it was just like that. The threat they posed was completely inferior to that of the Goths and other ethnic groups. The Roman Empire was more likely to perish due to dramatic climate changes and internal corruption. Foreign invasion was only one of the reasons, not the fundamental reason. The contribution of the Huns is also open to question.

At least judging from the current situation, Orville judged that those nomads would be a trouble, but they were far from the threat of national annihilation.

The main problem is that the Romans had never dealt with nomads before, unlike the Eastern countries, who had rich experience in dealing with nomads. Moreover, the development level of their saddles was ahead of the Roman Empire as a whole, which meant that the cavalry in their hands would be more flexible and impactful than expected.

But at the same time, the Roman Empire these people faced was also in a prosperous state. There was no problem with national strength. It was a very large country in terms of size.

If there was no Orwell, he estimated that the Romans would suffer some losses in the early confrontation, at most a few layers of skin would be lost, and then they would soon summarize a set of effective methods to fight against nomads.

Now, Orwell has a whole set of methods to fight against nomads in his mind, so he would say "Fortunately, it's over now". At this point in time, encountering a nomadic crisis is not a major event that shakes the foundation of the empire, but in another three to five hundred years, it will be really different. If the Huns who invaded in the fifth century were a few levels stronger, there might be a chance that the Western Roman Empire could not withstand it.

"Really? It seems that you have a plan, which is very good. If you need it, contact me in time. I will help you with my own work. After all, the Romans suffered a great loss, and I am not feeling well here."

"If necessary, I will do so."

After chatting with the other party for a few more words, Orville returned to the emperor's residence. The new palace is now under construction and will be presented to the public soon, but it is not the time to unveil it yet. Orville is going to suggest Tia to move there after solving the problem of nomads.

——

Someone is waiting for Orville at the gate. It is Procopius who was transferred back to the capital to wait for orders. In fact, Orville also prepared a high position for him, such as the provincial financial prosecutor, but he seemed to think it was better to be closer to the emperor, so he chose to be one of Orville's adjutants.

Seeing him, Orville asked directly: "Is there no problem with the recent public opinion?"

PS. This piece of history is quite foggy, and the phenomenon of holding different opinions is quite obvious. The author has read a book and a half, and the time is really tight. I can only say that this statement is what the author thinks is in line with the current plot, but it is not necessarily true and credible.