Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 121 The Surrender

After sticking to the opponent's mobile force, everything else will fall into place.

Later, Tia killed the Gaul commander with her own hands. The Gallic cavalry, who had lost their commander, resisted for a while, and then surrendered and accepted the prisoners in custody of the Roman army.

After dealing with the cavalry problem, Tia turned to deal with the problem of the infantry line. In fact, the Gallic infantry line had begun to collapse. Some people with weak fighting willpower began to drop their weapons and run away, but there were still some who insisted on holding their weapons and fighting to the death with the Romans.

In any case, it was already a last-ditch struggle, and the battle was over here.

This kind of willpower and spirit is undoubtedly worthy of admiration. Tia does not recognize their qualities as soldiers, but at this moment she also slightly recognizes the local people's spirit of resistance. The brave can be respected by the enemy.

Having his cavalry disperse to capture the fleeing soldiers, Tia rode to the rear of the Gallic line with his personal guards, constantly shouting at them to surrender.

"The battle is over. You have already lost and there is nothing you can do to save the situation! Now retreat and lay down your weapons and surrender. I can guarantee that your lives will not be harmed. This is the last mercy. Cherish your chance!!"

Most people chose to surrender on the spot. At this point, their morale could no longer hold up. After their courage and passion faded, they had to fight with endurance and perseverance. For them who were just civilians, fighting to this point was the best they could do.

There were still a small number of people who insisted on attacking the Romans, and the legionnaires fulfilled their wishes and let them die gloriously on the battlefield.

After the last resisting soldier was stabbed to death with a dagger, the Battle of Caen was declared over. The result was a resounding victory for the Romans, who defeated the Gallic army composed of militia and a few regular troops without much effort.

"Leave some people to guard the prisoners, clean up the battlefield, bury and cremate the bodies, count the spoils, rest for two days, and then continue to march towards Rennes."

After giving the order, Tia returned to her tent to rest. Commanding the battle and swinging the sword consumed a lot of physical strength. After a few hours, she was already a little exhausted.
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More than ten days later, the Roman army camp outside Paris.

The upper-middle class Gallic noble who had been inclined to negotiate peace before now came to the Roman camp under the cover of night. Orville looked at the other party's uneasy expression and felt both funny and sad in his heart.

It stands to reason that issues like peace talks can be resolved by each side sending envoys, but the other party is now so anxious and panicked that he chose to come in person to negotiate.

The results of the three battles have been passed on to Orville one after another, and the Romans won in the end without any major problems.

Aurelian defeated the last main force of Bagaudah at the gates of Rennes, and the enemy barely escaped with their lives.

Tia defeated an army of peasants and a few real soldiers at Caen, beheading the enemy commander and taking most of the officers prisoner, clearing the way to Rennes.

On Vespa's side, the Romans relied on fortifications to block the Franks' offensive. Pepin the Short was a very capable military talent, but the Franks and Romans were not evenly matched in terms of national strength. He could not quickly capture the Romans' defense network that they had worked so hard to build. If he played strategic detours like Aurelian did, he would be easily caught by the Romans with their superior skills and tactics. In the end, he did not dare to gamble on this possibility and had to retreat after two failed attacks.

He had just seized the throne of the Franks two years ago and replaced the original Merovingian dynasty to rule Frank. Because of dealing with domestic factional struggles, he missed the best time to attack the Germanic provinces. I wonder if he regrets it now.

Having won all three battles, any discerning person could see that the Romans would be the final winners, and the Gauls were doomed and powerless to recover.

After Orville learned the news, he quickly delivered a message to the defenders in Paris and provided the head of the Gaul commander delivered by Tia as evidence. For a moment, the defenders in the city were naturally in a state of panic and didn't know what to do.

That night, the nobleman came to negotiate with him. In a sense, he was a talented person with great ability to take action.

"In fact, the plan Jeanne d'Acre revealed to us was this. She had originally strongly suggested that Bagaudat abandon Rennes and attack the two legions led by Princess Tia near Caen. But now it seems that Bagaudat has not adopted Jeanne d'Acre's plan. Only a small number of local nobles and a large number of villagers obey her orders."

Orville did not discuss the peace talks with the other party first, but asked the other party to provide Jeanne d'Acre and the Gallic army's battle plan, and the other party told Orville everything. As a top noble in Gaul, he was very familiar with these plans.

In the original world, Joan of Arc led the French army to launch a surprise attack on Paris, but the French king refused. This fate still cannot be escaped in this time and space, except that it was changed to reinforcing Caen, but the Gaul leader refused.

In fact, if they really followed Jeanne's battle strategy, the Gauls might not win, but they might even be able to struggle for a while.

If Bagaudas temporarily abandons Rennes and reinforces Caen, then Tia will have to use more than 10,000 people to face the Gallic army of nearly 100,000 people at the same time. The combat effectiveness of the army led by Bagaudas is not at the level of villagers. Facing such a large number difference in field battle, Tia may not be able to win.

After defeating Tia, the strategic situation became much brighter. It was possible to rescue Jeanne d'Acre from Paris and defeat the Orvilles, or continue to use sticky tactics to support Aurelian. But now that we have lost, there is no way out.

Not everyone has the courage to abandon the core area where they have deep roots and move to other places. Obviously, Bagauda is not such a person. He regards the city of Rennes as his last and most important fortress, which he must not lose. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The Gauls do not have the ability to confront the main Roman forces head-on on the front battlefield.

At this moment, Aurelian was clearing out the remaining enemies on the supply route between Rennes and Orleans. The next step was to clear out the last Gauls' stronghold in Brittany.

Tia is currently clearing out the remnants of the enemy in the forest mountains near Caen. After finishing this, she will go to Paris to pick up Orville, and the two sides will meet again.

Orville decided to quickly solve the problem in Paris before that, otherwise it would seem that he was being too lazy.

"Now is the time to prove your sincerity. As long as you make the right choice, I can guarantee that most of your property and rights will not be infringed."

(End of this chapter)