Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 131 Peace Talks
A few days later, Vespa's appointment came.

Tia became governor of the province of Lugden Gaul, while Orville became the emperor's treasurer of the province and commander of the first phase of the British expedition.

After Rome entered the imperial era, it carried out some reforms in the administrative system, one of which was the separation of administrative power and taxation power.

The power of taxation was given to tax officials appointed by the emperor, who were responsible for taxation issues. The governors of ordinary provinces only needed to be responsible for taking money and spending funds, and did not need to participate in taxation. Octavian, the founder of the Roman Empire, believed that this would reduce corruption and curb the growth of the governor's power.

The provincial governors where the three major legions are stationed are exceptions. In order to deal with local powerful enemies, they simultaneously hold military power, administrative power and taxation power. Only by concentrating power can they deal with the powerful enemies of the empire.

In fact, the relationship between Orville and Tia is just a matter of transferring money from one hand to the other, but the formality still has to be followed. The appointment of Vespa is quite reasonable.

Tia is too idealistic. It would be difficult for her to collect taxes in a place where a war has just ended. It would be good if she doesn't announce a benevolent policy like "three years of tax exemption" at that time.

It's not that benevolent governance is bad. Orville is short of money for military expenses for the war, and now it has to find a way to reasonably and sustainably drain the pond to get military expenses from some local people.

The thing that Orville and Vespa share the same interests in is these little tricks to make money. He has no shortage of such ideas and sometimes he is quite ruthless. Although he has no formal political experience, it is just right for him to be the financial officer.

After all, he is a modern man with strong mathematical ability. Orville is not worried that he will not be able to figure out the accounts. He has accumulated some management experience when running a hotel and leading troops in battles. Vespa will also give him special treatment, so he is still confident.

After suffering a defeat on the front line, the Frankish king Pippin the Short was still unwilling to give up and wanted to find another opportunity to fight another day. However, with the end of the Gallic War and the gathering of the Roman legions in Trier, he realized that the situation was not good, so he silently prepared to negotiate peace with the Romans and began to cut his losses in time.

He could probably guess the reason. The fundamental reason why the Roman army had not yet switched from defense to offense was probably because of its financial emptiness. They did not want to further expand the war and increase expenses, so they came to negotiate peace without fear.

Vespa was very unhappy with the new Frankish king, but there was nothing he could do. It was a fact that the treasury was short of money, and engaging in a tug-of-war with the other side was not a good option. A new peace treaty was the realistic option.

So, after several hasty "border frictions", the Roman Empire and the Frankish Kingdom, the two most powerful countries on the European continent, reconciled. In order to show his sincerity, Pippin the Short compensated the Roman Empire with a sum of money, equivalent to about 400 million dinars. From a national perspective, this amount of money was better than nothing.

Vespa was anxious to end the war, so he reluctantly accepted the peace treaty and asked Pippin the Short to disband his army immediately, which he did.

After Pippin disbanded his army, he soon followed suit and disbanded many makeshift armies. Except for the necessary 50,000 German legions left in the Germanic province as a defensive force, one of the three legions under Tia was withdrawn, which means that now Orville has one and a half legions left (half a self-funded legion) and Tia has one legion left. This is the force they carry to stabilize the province of Lugden Gaul and march into the British Isles.

It’s a little less, but there’s still room for maneuver.

Vespa left these four million dinars to Orville and Tia. This was their financial support for the next period of time, which was probably enough for one year's military expenditure, assuming that there was no expansion of the army or upgrading of equipment. It was probably a challenge for them to find a way to solve the remaining money.

After all matters in Gaul were dealt with, Vespa prepared to return to the court. Tia originally wanted to stay in Lugden Gaul, but as a war hero, Vespa wanted to hold a triumphal ceremony for her and Aurelian, and to praise Tia's military achievements and popularity, so she had to come forward in person.

Orville could also participate in the triumphal ceremony, but since he did not fight in any major battles and his contributions were not small but a bit difficult to talk about, he did not steal Tia's limelight. As the temporary governor of Lugden Gaul, he will be responsible for dealing with the remaining local rebels and laying a solid foundation for Tia.

In addition to showing up in public, Tia also had her own mission when she returned to Rome this time - Orville reluctantly gave Tia the 500,000 dinars he had extorted from various nobles in Gaul, and also gave her a list, asking her to prepare manpower and supplies according to the contents on it.

Shipwrights, blacksmiths, oarsmen, accountants, architects and other talents will be needed soon by Orville. The best place to find these talents is near Rome, so Tia will handle these matters by the way.

Although she was a little bit clumsy sometimes, she was still quite reliable in most situations. Orville was not worried about her having any problems. He just hoped that she would save a little more money for him. It was not easy for Orville to earn his hard-earned money.

A few days later, Vespa left Trier with his large army and all the necessary personnel. Some of them would take part in the triumphal procession, but most of the soldiers would be dismissed along the way and sent back to their homes.

Their mission of "defending the country" has been completed. The empire can no longer support too many soldiers at the same time, so what awaits them is disbandment. This is also a good ending. At least they can all go home in the end instead of being sent to guard the border somewhere.

Now the highest-ranking person in Trier is the new governor of the German province and commander of the new German legion, besides Orville.

Since Orville and Domitia were members of the royal family after all, the other party did not mind temporarily giving up the Governor's Palace. However, Orville did not want to make the other party angry, so he moved out of the Governor's Palace very tactfully and found a villa in Trier to live in.

He planned to give the soldiers a few days off and not leave in such a hurry.

The war is over and salaries have been paid. Except for those who want to save money or have special financial problems, most soldiers will still enjoy themselves.

Bathhouses, arenas, banquets and even some gray and yellow places, Trier had all the facilities to satisfy the desires of these soldiers. Orville himself was somewhat of a mysophobe, so he declined some places, but he would not stop his soldiers from enjoying themselves.

After coming down from a highly tense environment like the battlefield, everyone needs to relax. In this era, he certainly has no reason to care about things that do not violate the law and seem reasonable and legitimate. He even received kickbacks from some businessmen. Some businessmen consciously gave money to him, the acting governor, hoping to be given the green light.

(End of this chapter)