Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

It is not practical to simply regard this woman as a beauty who brings disaster. From the perspective of an Egyptian monarch or a Greek successor, Cleopatra should be considered a good monarch.

Building cities, forming a navy, easing domestic ethnic conflicts, providing relief to disaster victims, and restoring the homeland. In fact, Rome at that time had already planned to annex Egypt. Cleopatra did rely on her diplomatic means of forming alliances to delay the annexation of Egypt.

If it weren't for this woman, Caesar might have annexed Egypt on the way when he chased the defeated Pompey to Alexandria. At that time, Caesar had defeated the main force of Egypt. For such a powerful monarch, as long as he was willing to spend a few more years, conquering Egypt could also become part of his achievements.

Back to Cleopatra herself, although many people accused her of greed and lack of long-term political acumen, in Orwell's opinion, not everyone is ambitious and has no weaknesses or mistakes. Cleopatra's education since childhood was not aimed at cultivating a monarch. Greek women only received literary and artistic education rather than political education. They were all self-taught in this regard. Compared with those almost eye-catching rulers in the middle and late Ptolemaic Egypt, at least she has something to be praised.

But that's all. Orwell will not be affected by the propaganda of this era. No matter how afraid he is of Cleopatra, he will do what he should do. This is business, nothing more.

Even if Egypt really becomes a hidden danger of the Roman Empire in her hands in the future, there is no need to worry too much. Caesar can conquer the main force of Egypt with a small number of troops, and other rulers in this time and space are not much different.

Can she beat [Best Head of State] Trajan, [World Restorer] Aurelian or [Last Roman] Belisarius? Orville felt that even if [Sacred] Tiya couldn't handle it, if it really came to that, it would only be Egypt that would suffer. Now Rome's national fortune was booming and at the peak of history, and Egypt couldn't stop it, unless Alexander crawled out of the grave to lead the army to fight.

This was the peak game of the classical era, and Cleopatra couldn't control it.

After the idea came to his mind, Orville did things much more happily: "I can provide the weapons that Her Royal Highness asked for quickly. I can get swords, spears, guns, and bows as long as you ask. There is no problem with the equipment for two or three thousand people or more. But armor is not easy to get. I only have 300 sets of extra sets that can be provided immediately. I can't take out more.

As compensation, I will build a blacksmith workshop in Palfi and continuously forge equipment. I will sell those weapons to Her Royal Highness at the market price, and the extra money will be counted as shares for Her Royal Highness to invest in. At that time, I will give her according to the shares. Your Highness, how about providing that part of the equipment for free?

The King and the Queen of the Kingdom of Palphi are my friends and partners. They are protected by my father. The commander-in-chief of the 12th Legion of the Governor of Palphi is my comrade-in-arms. The 12th Legion and I have fought side by side for a long time. I will set up the workshop there. At least no one else in Egypt will know the news. This should be a more reliable plan. "

Ptolemy's strength lies in his knowledge of astronomy and geography. He is not particularly familiar with these twists and turns. Orville said it well, so he could only agree vaguely.

Seeing this scene, Orville also understood a little in his heart-Cleopatra really had no one around her, so she had to let her teacher come out to take the blame.

Claudius Ptolemy was not born into a royal family, but was born in Ptolemy City in Egypt. Just hearing this name, we know that he or his family has received a lot of favors from the royal family throughout his life, and it is natural to repay the favor in this way. After all, intellectuals believe that scholars die for their confidants. The Library of Alexandria is a beacon of knowledge in the Mediterranean world. The Ptolemy royal family, who are willing to spend a lot of money to maintain it, are naturally the confidants of these scholars.

After making it clear, Orwell did not send Ptolemy away, but invited him to his house as a guest.

This is the mapmaking talent that Orwell has been thinking about. If he lets him go and something goes wrong, it will be a real sin. He must be strictly guarded and protected.

Ptolemy himself was also happy about this - the royal family members were polite and arranged him to stay in the emperor's mansion temporarily, which was a great courtesy for an intellectual.

The Romans were similar to the farming people on the other side of the Eurasian continent. They valued technology and despised science. They were only interested in understanding the optics, mathematics, geometry and other things that Ptolemy was studying at this stage unless they turned into some kind of equipment. They were not very interested in just talking about theory. Even if the Greeks were slightly better, they were not much better. The era was here.

Owell was willing to give such treatment, which showed respect. He would never be picky. Instead, he was quite moved and thought that Owell was a person who respected intellectuals.

After he left, Belisarius came up and said worriedly: "Your Highness, is this okay? If His Majesty knew about this, it would probably be very troublesome, right?"

After working with Owell for a few months, they had some friendship between the two of them, not just a relationship between bodyguard and master, so Belisarius was also worried about Owell's behavior.

"Of course it's not very good. I'm a bit overstepping my bounds by doing this. If someone else did this and was caught, they might be suspected of treason and collaborating with the enemy, so I have to go to my father to admit my mistake now. The key is to persuade him with emotion and reason."

These words reassured Belisarius. He didn't have to face any dilemma. The duty of the Praetorian Guard was to obey the emperor's orders. If the emperor had no problem with Orville, he wouldn't have to do anything more and just let nature take its course. Just fine.

…………

Leaving his room, Orville went straight to Vespa as he said, and told Vespa exactly what he had done.

He is very clear about his position. After all, he is the son picked up by Vespa. Vesper still doesn't fully trust him. Don't think that he doesn't know what he has done. There are many middle-level cadres under Orville. They were all Vespa's cronies transferred over, and Vespa basically knew exactly what he was doing, so he just had to nod for this matter.

Instead of hiding it, after telling the truth to Vespa, Vesper did not blame Orville, but instead joked with Orville.

"I heard Curio (Governor of Egypt) said that the Egyptian princess Cleopatra was a beautiful girl who captivated the country. Is this true?"

Orville answered truthfully: "If Caesar met her, he might be fascinated by her and forget his own duties and responsibilities. Of course, this is temporary. After all, he is Caesar, a man among men and a leader among leaders. leader."

When he heard Orville making fun of the national idol, Vesper didn't mind and instead laughed heartily.