Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Seeing that Belisarius didn't believe Orville, he explained to him: "There are raw silk and raw lacquer in it. These two things are very expensive in the Eastern Province. It took me a long time to buy dozens of them from the Spanish Province." The hundred-year-old yew trees were then transported to Rome. The wood of these trees was more expensive than the ships. Then I had people boil the isinglass, and only a small amount of fish maw was boiled out. Do you know how difficult it is to collect fish maws? There are also horns. I don’t know which horn is the most suitable, so I bought dozens of animal horns and experimented one by one. Animal horns are sometimes more valuable than the meat of the animal itself.”

After explaining it, Orville successfully dispelled Belisarius's idea of ​​mass-producing this thing. It was easy to use, and it was piled up with money.

In fact, he meant to scare Belisarius a bit, telling him not to think too much. Mass-produced products do not need such extravagant supporting materials.

In fact, the crossbow technology of the Romans in this world is stronger than that of the previous world. At least they did not make a hand-held scorpion crossbow, a weird and dizzying weapon. Their single bow and compound bow technology are both It is more complete than the previous world, and the amount of equipment is generally higher.

Nowadays, the Romans don’t like to use bows and arrows or crossbows. This is mainly due to habits and cultural issues. After they have fought for decades with people like the Parthians who are good at riding horses, they should have figured it out-compared to letting the Romans To cultivate a powerful cavalry that can kill the horse-riding people in a short period of time, it is better to let them suppress reality remotely.

Orville knows what the correct development process of long-range weapons should look like, and also knows what technologies are roughly used in it. All he needs to do is to achieve this goal. He only needs to give him dozens of skilled weapon craftsmen and various professionals, and give him It would be no problem for him to develop a more realistic and feasible crossbow improvement plan in a few years and a few months. He is indeed doing this, but it is not yet time to promote it.

Nowadays, the common thought of Roman officers is that "good steel is used on the blade." The blade is the elite heavy infantry of the legion. It is not impossible for the remaining auxiliary troops to use slings, broken bows, or spears to deal with it. There are good The best, if there is no good one, give priority to equip the legionary infantry. Anyway, except for the cavalry, the rest must make way for the legionnaires.

As the times progress, the power of long-range weapons and cavalry will continue to increase. The Romans, like other nations of that era, will focus on cavalry and long-range projection of power, and the importance of legionary infantry will therefore decline. Until it finally exits the stage of history.

Seriously speaking, this process is very complicated, and it is also inseparably related to the political, cultural, and economic evolution of Rome, but there is no need to go too far now.

For most officers, improving long-range strength means strengthening the power and importance of the auxiliary army, and even sacrificing some of the resources of the legionnaires to focus on the auxiliary army.

This is not just a military issue, but a political issue - the heavy armor soldiers are citizens, and there are many non-citizens and people who are treated differently in the auxiliary army. There is a gap in social status between the two. Changing the existing two-part military system will This means that the political balance has to be touched. This is something that officers dare not touch. Orville and even Vespa do not dare to touch it. If they do, they will die.

Another softer method is to equip the legionnaires with strong bows and crossbows instead of javelins. This is also troublesome. Orville proposed improving the javelin to make it more useful. As long as the officer nodded, no one would have any objections. But if you want to change the ancestral method of large shield, dagger, and javelin, the resistance you will encounter is no less than changing the political balance. many.

There are many issues involved behind this, such as the equipment composition of the auxiliary army after the change, the tactical strategy of the entire army after the change, and the political disputes between the old and new factions after the change. The energy and energy required to deal with these issues is very troublesome.

Orville chose not to touch any sensitive issues when he was in Rome, and he could just accumulate things in peace. He would wait until Vespa released him from Rome one day before talking about anything else. He had to be on the territory he could control before he could let go. Do things.

——

Finally, I accompanied Domitia to play in the farm for a while. She was very interested in the calves in the farm. It was understandable that city children rarely see animals. After she had enough fun, the three of them went back home with their guards.

When they arrived at the mansion, dinner was about to start. Something happened in the meeting hall today, but Vesper still insisted on the principle of not bringing political issues to the table, and followed his family's daily jokes, looking relaxed and comfortable.

Tia didn't look so natural anymore, she seemed worried.

Orville didn't bother her at this time. He just ate quietly, occasionally chatting to answer questions or joking. He always enjoyed this dining atmosphere, which made him feel like he was truly alive in the world.

After dinner, Orville, Tia, and Vesper stayed behind to discuss various events that had occurred today.

Today's meeting mainly decided on the specific matters of military expansion, but the specific combat plan has not yet been determined, and there is no need to discuss the details now. Orville only needs to know the general situation of the matter.

In addition, this meeting also brought an end to a series of previous events.

The manpower lost by the German Legion will be replenished, and the Senate and the Emperor will not impose excessive penalties on their previous "rebellion" behavior. The reason is that the punishment has already been done by the Danube Legion. They are really rude in their actions. He killed anyone who came into contact with the German legions, in order to avenge the humiliation they and Vitellius had done to him.

These soldiers who originally belonged to the German Legion will still be Roman soldiers, enjoying various preferential treatments and retirement benefits, but their garrisons will change, and the remaining members of the German Legion will be disbanded and reorganized, and arranged to various provinces as needed to supplement the local garrisons.

The defense of the German region will be handed over to the Danube Legion, which has been replenished. They will be replaced to become the new German Legion. This is a reward for their loyalty and correct standing. There is no doubt that the Gaul German side has more money and less frequent wars.

The defense of the original Danube region will be handed over to the newly recruited new Danube Legion. Although it is called a new legion, in fact, one-third or even half of its members will be Roman veterans who have been called back. They will serve for a few more years, and the model of old and new will be adopted to allow the recruits to quickly familiarize themselves with military life and form a basic sense of belonging to the collective.

In the Eastern Province, the Eastern Legion does not have a new round of military expansion plan, but the taxes borne by the Eastern Province will be temporarily increased to meet the needs of the Roman Empire's military expansion. Each province would also recruit a small number of soldiers, symbolically, and add these new soldiers to the German Legion or the Danube Legion. The Eastern provinces were generally wealthy and densely populated, and each province could at least send out several battalions with a total of more than 10,000 people, which could greatly fill the gap in troops.