Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 119: Battle of Caen
Orville found it interesting to see the other party trying hard to explain and persuade him, and he felt relieved.

In history, Belisarius was a very generous general with considerable personal charm and was very popular among the people. Not only did he have outstanding military capabilities, but he also had no obvious moral flaws. Except for the time when he used bloody means to rescue the emperor and quell a rebellion, he rarely harmed local residents. He advised Orville in this way more because he did not want to harm local civilians and keep the intensity of the war within a certain range.

Orville didn't want to refuse such a request: "I understand what you mean. The war will be as bloodless as possible, with only necessary casualties. I will do my best to achieve this."

Belisarius nodded slightly to express his gratitude to Orville.

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The siege of Orville was proceeding at a leisurely pace, but almost at the same time, three crucial battles were about to break out.

A battle took place in Rennes, the core city of the Gallic uprising. Aurelian had strategically detoured to the city of Rennes and attacked the city walls with great momentum. The walls fell within three days. Aurelian requisitioned a large amount of food and fodder reserves that originally belonged to the rebels in the city, and then turned around to deal with the rebel leader Bagauda who hurried back to support.

A battle took place near Caen, a city on the coast of the English Channel. Tia faced the Gallic army that had gathered near the city, waiting for her arrival. Her army had two legions of more than 10,000 people, while the enemy had more than 50,000 people, but most of them were temporarily organized militiamen. Except for a small number of noble cavalry who were a little difficult to deal with, the rest of the people had very poor combat effectiveness.

The last battle took place in Cologne, an important node in the Germanic Legion's defense line. The main forces of both sides met here. The Roman Legion faced the Germanic army led by Pepin the Short. The Roman side had more than 40,000 troops, while the German side also had more than 50,000 elite troops.

If the Romans lost even one of the three battles, their situation would become very delicate.

If Aurelian lost, he would not be able to withdraw, and tens of thousands of people would be trapped near the city of Rennes and unable to escape; if Thea lost, the Gallic army would attack Auvers next, and then might invade Narbonne Gaul or the Germanic provinces; if Vespa lost, the result would be the most catastrophic, the Germans could invade Gaul, and the royal prestige would be destroyed.

So to sum up, no battle can be lost, otherwise the progress of the war will be slowed down at best, or the territory will be strategically contracted at worst, both of which are unacceptable to the Romans at that time.

All three parties are gambling, betting that they will not be the loser, but there can definitely be only one winner in the end.

To put it in Caesar's way, the dice had been cast, and all three parties had made up their minds. The Gauls sought independence and freedom, the Germans sought hegemony, and the Romans wanted to maintain their dominant position. No one was willing to give in, so only war, the ultimate way, could determine who was right and who was wrong.

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Parading on horseback in front of the army, Tia began to give a loud speech. Behind her were more than 10,000 well-trained warriors - including Romans, Egyptians, Greeks and some barbarian groups from the edge of the civilized world, but now they were all part of the Roman legion and obeyed the orders of Tia, the Roman general.

Long black strips could be vaguely seen on the distant hills. They were the Gaul army, which far outnumbered the army led by Tia. However, she was not afraid, but felt her blood boiling.

"Soldiers! You have proved your outstanding quality and determination with your heroic fighting, and now the last useful force of our enemy is presented before your eyes. Obey orders and do not be afraid. You are real warriors. You have been trained in the art of war, so you have become well-trained soldiers. Compared with you, the enemy's warriors are just a group of rabble. They cannot obey orders and are only full of passion. There is no need to worry. Make your family proud! They will soon realize that there is no need to worry about any irreparable disaster, because Rome's powerful army will stifle all disasters and risks. We are indeed at a disadvantage in terms of quantity, but we have an absolute advantage in quality. We don't have to wait for others to send troops to support us, because if no one shares the fruits of victory with us, our victory will become even greater and more glorious!"

"We must win! We must win! We must win!!" The atmosphere has been set, and everyone is excited and ready to meet the enemy's challenge.

The armies of both sides slowly approached each other. The flat terrain could not hide any suspicious military forces. This battle relied on the courage and endurance of both sides, leaving relatively little room for technology to play a role.

The Gallic army was mainly composed of poorly trained villagers who were armed with spears or simple projectile weapons and gathered close to the Roman army's positions.

Although the Roman army had fewer people, the auxiliary soldiers sent by Egypt were very professional. They were good at both slingshot and archery, and could boldly shoot at the enemy in the front in the form of a skirmish line.

Due to their loose formation and better accuracy, the Romans temporarily gained the advantage in the first round of shooting, and the Gaul infantry was suppressed and moved slowly.

Tia was observing these so-called soldiers at the front of the army and frowned - she was very reluctant to admit that they were soldiers. Many of them were holding farm tools or sharpened sticks as weapons. They could only be called mobs or something similar.

Most of them had no armor or decent shields. It seemed that they just picked up the production and living tools around them and came to fight.

Although everyone is treated equally on the battlefield, she still feels a little uncomfortable fighting against such an army.

After discovering the problem with the infantry's advance, the Gauls sent out their own cavalry to drive back the Roman light infantry, trying to get them back behind the heavy infantry line.

Obviously, the enemy commander was also a man with certain military literacy. He knew that the Roman legionary infantry had several heavy javelins that could be thrown, which could cause great damage, so he did not intend to enter the range of the Roman heavy javelins, but only intended to disperse the light infantry.

But the problem is that the range of the heavy javelin in the past was generally only a dozen meters. Tiya's army has replaced it with the new light javelin recommended by Orville, with a range of forty to fifty meters.

Originally it was used to deal with the enemy's heavy infantry line, but now it is suitable for dealing with cavalry units that are becoming more and more present on the battlefield.

Empiricism is lethal. They misjudged the range of the Roman army's javelin. The cavalry troops that came to disperse the light infantry suffered concentrated fire from the javelins of the legion infantry. Two rounds of javelin volleys were fired within just a few seconds. In an instant, the enemy's cavalry vanguard suffered heavy losses.

Even if people could survive, horses would be seriously injured and lose their ability to move if hit. The only advantage of Gaul was more and better cavalry units. After losing this advantage, their chances of winning were very slim.

(End of this chapter)