Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

Originally, Orville thought that the Herod family would be lucky to arrange two or three thousand people to come here, after all, their population and military strength were indeed average, but he did not expect that the other side would bring 7,000 people at once.

These auxiliary soldiers were not qualified to approach the city of Rome. They were supplied in the port of Brindisi in southern Italy. After the supply was completed, they continued to take the ship and went to the port of Genoa with the food, and then joined the regular Roman legion along the road to receive corresponding training.

Orville rushed to Brindisi first and inspected the quality of the soldiers there. It can only be said that it was slightly better than he imagined. At least not all of them were pale and thin, but that was it. A large part of them were at the level of strong men, and these men were not strong at all. They came to the auxiliary army just to beg for food.

But at least there were some troops that were still acceptable. Some were auxiliary troops trained by the Romans during the previous Palphic War, and some were semi-agricultural soldiers brought by the Herod family to temporarily serve as auxiliary troops. There was even a formal cavalry unit.

The Herod family also had their own ideas. Even if they were short of food, it would be too perfunctory to make do with refugees. Any Roman general would feel that this was an insult to themselves. Mixing in some high-quality troops was also a show of sincerity, which made the Roman generals less dissatisfied with him.

The auxiliary troops that were really sent over were the two thousand people who had undergone formal training, and the remaining five thousand were just a bonus, the kind who waved flags and cheered and served tea.

After meeting Orwell, Herod Architas II first thanked Orwell for his reminder, and at the same time privately promised that he would help him deal with the blacksmith shop. Then he did not stay in Brindisi for a long time, and drove directly to Rome under Orwell's reception.

After entering the city, the son of Herod Architas began his own operations.

He was allowed to attend the war meeting of the Senate as an exception, and then cried at the meeting, saying that after years of war in Palphi, he suffered a rare drought, and the natural and man-made disasters came together, and now the locals can hardly survive.

So he asked the "Romans who liberated the people of the world" to help him for the sake of the 7,000 auxiliary soldiers, otherwise his kingdom would be in danger of collapse.

Whether the liberated locals were willing or not, the proud Romans really believed this from the bottom of their hearts. They believed that they had brought order, stability and peace to the conquered areas. Now the territory they protected was threatened by disasters, and they should really do something to help.

Of course, it was also related to King Architas's good performance, and his father had some influence in Rome. His contemporaries had not died out, and many people chose to agree to help out for the sake of their friendship with his father.

There will be a batch of military reserve grain transported from Syria to Palphi, which is enough for 50,000 people to eat for three months. This is a relatively generous number that Rome can give. Now it is June. When the order to transport grain is passed, it will probably take September or October for the grain to be transported from Syria to Palphi. This batch of grain can help them survive the winter. The Senate and the emperor agreed to this matter, and the Herod royal family was even more happy to see it happen.

To put it more cruelly, this is a trade of exchanging people for food. Those regular auxiliary troops are generally used more appropriately, but the young troops are different. They are battlefield cannon fodder, human trigger enemy detectors, and human-shaped animals.

When the Herod family sent out these 5,000 people, they probably didn't think that many of them would come back alive. They were just a token of loyalty. There was no other way but to do so. There was not enough food.

Sending these people out can also ease the food pressure, and at the same time exchange for more external food, so that they can survive the most difficult reconstruction period of the past two years, and then things will be easy.

He also fought hard to win support, and put his sister Berenice as a hostage in Rome, so that the people of Rome could feel completely at ease.

Although she was sold in a sense, Berenice herself did not seem to be very dissatisfied, but accepted the result. After all, examples like Tia are very rare. At this point in time, most people cannot choose their own destiny, especially as members of the royal family.

She had been married to a small king in the Caucasus before, but the marriage ended soon because of political problems. She was sent back to Parphi, and before she could find the next marriage partner, she encountered the uprising of the party members and put it on hold.

Now that the uprising has ended, Herod Architas II should of course consider the next destination of his sister. He has no children now, so Berenice naturally became the most suitable hostage candidate, whether she wants it or not.

The Romans' understanding of hostages should not be much different from that of the Chinese during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Those who survived in a harsh living environment were called prisoners, not hostages.

Generally speaking, hostages would be taken to the homes of the upper-class Roman nobles from an early age, and receive Roman-style aristocratic education like their children, and be treated with good food and drink. If there were no accidents, they would be released almost immediately after adulthood. People who were influenced by Roman culture from an early age also had a high probability of becoming spiritual Romans when they grew up. These elite Romans would generally inherit the family business in the future, so it was very beneficial to the Romans' rule in various places.

To be precise, Berenice was obviously over the age limit, but there were no very strict regulations on this matter, so it didn't matter. Everyone knew that it was the Herod family showing their loyalty, and the Romans would accept the loyalty of the Herod family.

Tia took the initiative to ensure that the Flavi royal family would receive Berenice. The Flavi royal family was the protector of the Herod family in Rome, so this request was reasonable and there was no resistance.

To Orville's surprise, she reacted quickly this time and did things very neatly.

First, she moved between Vespa and several Vespa elders to find a way to quickly grant Berenice citizenship, on the grounds that Berenice, as a gifted person, should have Roman citizenship. Considering the other party's special status, this request was also readily granted.

Then Berenice lived in the Flavi mansion as a staff member rather than a hostage. The mansion was very large. After all, it was positioned as a palace. It was no problem to squeeze in a hundred guests. There were only a few people from the Flavi family living in it, so there were a lot of empty spaces.

Orville and Berenice were not actually very familiar with each other. To be honest, he was more familiar with Herod Archita II. After all, the two sides had always had business dealings, mainly because Tia had a good relationship with her.

So he was not particularly concerned about this matter. He had been busy reselling Cleopatra's treasure trove with Herod Architas II these days.