Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Vespa was not a serious person on most occasions, and often made jokes with his subordinates that were inappropriate for his status. There are many such little stories recorded in the Biography of the Twelve Emperors of Rome.

When he was traveling between cities, the coachman suddenly stopped to shod the horses (which can be simply understood as changing the horseshoes and trimming the hooves). A litigant took this opportunity to approach the emperor and wanted to talk about something. As a result, Vespa didn't say anything at first. I ignored him and started arguing with the groom on the spot.

The emperor seriously discussed with the groom how much he had received in favors for this act, and then asked himself to collect taxes from these favors.

One of his attendants lied that a man was his brother, hoping to get him a job as a steward. Vespa asked the attendant to wait, and he used this time to recruit the person who applied for the job, and asked that person to give him the promise. Give him the recommender's money, and he immediately adopts that person as his steward.

When the favored servant mentioned the matter again, Vespa said directly: "You can find another brother! The man you think is your brother is my brother."

Even when Vespa was about to die, he still had a weird sense of humor. When he felt that his life was not long, he said: "Wow! I think I am becoming a god." (The emperor was canonized and became a god after his death)

His good attitude was so surprising, so after learning about this kind of thing, Vesper didn't care at all and instead laughed along with him.

"Are you really that beautiful?! That's such a pity. I wish I were twenty years younger. If I were 39 this year, I would definitely want to have a romantic relationship. Forget it if I'm 59. I'll be tired if I go to Alexandria again. Half-dead, I feel uncomfortable when I get there.”

Orville didn't dare to be as careless as Vespa. Vespa was the emperor and father, he was a minister and son, so he had to be careful what he said.

So he could only laugh and boast: "I still think you are going strong. You will have no problem living for another twenty years. You will still have time to enjoy women, food, money and power. This is a gift to the master of the world. This is domination." The gift he deserves.”

Vesper smiled and took a step closer to Orville, his mouth still grinning, but his eyes were extremely serious, and his cloudy eyes gleamed: "Twenty years? Why do I think it hasn't happened yet? I think it should be a few years?" "

Orville's smile immediately froze, and after a few seconds of silence, he chose to tell the truth: "Ten years."

Vespa's slightly tense body gradually relaxed, and he immediately showed a smile that seemed to come from the heart: "Yes, ten years is enough, ten years is enough, hahaha! By the way, let me tell you another secret. Well, don’t tell Domitia or Tia, and it’s best if Zenis doesn’t tell either..."

Orville looked attentive. He was really curious about the content. This was the emperor's secret.

"Actually, I also have mistresses outside, ranging in age from twenty to forty, but I never bring these women home or attend events in public with them. Sometimes I tell Tiya I want to patrol the city, and although I do these things, I will occasionally do other things." Vesper gave Orville an expression that you know. Orville had never felt that his godfather was so insignificant.

"You are really getting stronger with age, just like before, hahahaha..."

Orville could only continue to laugh. This time Vesper seemed to be really happy with the compliment, and he also laughed loudly. The two people's laughter with completely different emotions echoed in the reception room of Nuoda.

When Vespa was almost done laughing, he began to regulate his breathing by gasping for air. He was not in very good health, unlike Mucinus, the governor of Syria who was called an iron man. That man was really getting stronger and stronger with age. Spa is an old man in every sense of the word.

After waiting for almost two minutes, he continued: "Okay, let's talk about formal matters. Since you got the money from the Egyptian princess, I originally wanted to share with me the benefits that the eunuch Bodinos gave me. Son, but it seems that you already have money, so I will keep the money for myself.

Occasionally, you have to respect the opinions of the briber. I think Bodinos definitely doesn't want me to give you the money, but you and the Egyptian princess are planning how to chop off his head.

As for the matter of you and the Egyptian princess, I don’t know about it for now, and then I will write to Curio (Governor of Egypt) so that he doesn’t know either. But you should be cleaner when doing things. If you are caught, I will cover you. But the Senate is not that easy to fool. Once they make the matter big, I can't guarantee that I will not give up my car to save the commander, and then put him in charge. You were sent to some bitter cold place or something.

You must have your own reasons for doing things, and I don't need to be so clear about everything. Living like this is too tiring, and my energy doesn't allow it. But you also remember that as long as you do things for the sake of the Roman Empire, I will always be your father in the true sense. This is for sure. "

Orville originally wanted to explain more, but Vesper stopped him directly. He said that he was exhausted and needed to rest, so he sent Orville back directly and left without letting him say more.

…………

Overall, Orville was quite satisfied with the ending, and was even quite moved.

Vesper did not regard himself as an outsider. He told the truth about everything, and even tolerated some of his more dangerous over-the-line actions. Orville's matter was just reselling arms at a small scale, and endangering national security at a big scale. Moreover, he had nothing to do with the elders. The decisions of the court and the emperor were contrary to each other. From the emperor's point of view, this was very generous and tolerant.

Of course, the premise of these things is that Orville has a good attitude, and this matter is basically under Vesper's supervision, so that he can let Orville do things with confidence, which is also good for both parties and avoids unnecessary suspicion.

As long as the emperor nods, the Senate can hide it. Orville knows his position very well. He is a member of the emperor's faction through and through. Other wallflowers may have the possibility of switching camps, but he has no chance at all. .

With the acquiescence of the emperor and the Egyptian governor, and Orville also has his own fleet to provide cover with the Palfi royal family, the risk of the matter being exposed is almost zero. Even if it is exposed, it will be a long, long time later, so there is no need to worry about it now.

After confirming that things would work, Orville began to receive gold and silver jewelry from Ptolemy, which was a little different from what he imagined.

Ptolemy brought more than thirty followers. In the age of metal currency, he could not bring much. Everyone secretly stuffed about three kilograms of gold jewelry in the middle and lower layers of the luggage. Because gold was too heavy, Ptolemy The gold coins I brought here amounted to about 100,000 dinars, which was too much money to do anything serious.

But in addition, he also brought a lot of jewelry, which was the private collection of the Ptolemaic royal family. These things are priceless treasures.

Ptolemaic Egypt was the successor of Alexander. Their royal collection included precious treasures from Greece, Persia, Egypt and other places. Roman nobles who were not short of money would definitely be willing to pay a lot of money in exchange for these treasures. The question now is how to exchange these treasures. Get rid of things.

PS. I understand that Vespasian’s character is almost like this. A normal person would not keep accounts with his servants to keep track of “Vespasian’s fiery love account.” Roman historians also said that he was “overly enthusiastic about comedy and vulgar taste.” He predicted When someone said that a certain officer was going to be emperor, he just said, "That's a good relationship," and then gave that person a backhand promotion.

So at least I don’t think it ruins the character, at most it’s a little dramatic (Die Jia is free of controversy).