Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 15 Funding
Tia stared at Berenice's back for a few seconds, then came back to her senses and looked at Orville: "What do you want to talk to me about? It's a poor lie to say that you happened to see me. Why did you come to the theater when you don't even have a penny in your pocket?"

I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but Orville always feels that the other party’s tone is somewhat unfriendly. Maybe he feels that he is being disturbed.

"I need your help because I have no money. It takes some money to set up an auxiliary army. We need to buy belts and carpentry tools. These are necessities."

Tia naturally wouldn't get upset when talking about military affairs. She thought seriously for a while, and finally said, "I can give you some money first, because in principle you have to ask the financial officer beside my father for money, which will take too much time. This is not the military expenses of the legion, but my personal wealth, so spend it sparingly."

Orville knew that this was the other party taking care of him, and he was a little touched but did not agree: "No need to do this, as long as you agree to let me deal with a part of the legion's spoils, I promise to make more money for you than usual."

As for the disposal of the spoils, there would be no problem with gold and silver, but there would also be many things that could not be directly converted into money, such as handicrafts and various tools. Orville had his eyes on these things, and he wanted to be a middleman.

Tia didn't expect Orvel to make such a request, but she didn't refuse: "Okay, you can sell my spoils. They are worth about 50,000 dinars. A similar price will do. I won't blame you if it's less. I have to go to Caesarea to visit my father in the next few days. You can take this time to get things done."

The denarius was a silver coin used in Rome. One coin weighed about 3.5 grams and was considered a currency that people could use on a daily basis. It had a relatively large face value.

This is certainly a huge sum of money. In that era, the annual salary of a soldier is about 225 silver coins. If you convert it and only count the salary without counting the bounty, severance pay, food, equipment and other expenses, you can employ soldiers for a whole year, which is enough to support two centurions at your own expense.

If we take into account Tia's military exploits over the past year, she can actually be considered a representative of "integrity and honesty". There are almost no villages in the places she captured. They are all towns and legitimate strongholds with huge stores of wealth.

On the one hand, she didn't like excessive plundering, and on the other hand, she was very generous in rewarding her subordinates. In the end, not much spoils fell into Tia's hands. Of course, it was also related to the fact that she was not short of money.

"No problem, I won't let you down."

After getting permission from Tia, Orville turned around and headed straight for the palace.
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In the empty palace, Orville was acting heart-wrenchingly.

"Your Majesty! I really don't want to see our country's treasures being lost overseas! I begged the commander of the 12th Legion for a long time before she reluctantly agreed to give me the right to resell the spoils! If we don't intercept these treasures in the country, it's hard to say where these things will end up!"

This look makes anyone who sees it sad and anyone who hears it cry, as if he is really a good young man who cares about his country and his people.

King Architas II is now the only orthodox ruler of Parfit. Although he is criticized by locals for being weak and like a puppet, he is actually a ruler with some ideas. He can fight with the army, issue some reasonable decrees, and do some people-friendly activities with the people.

In fact, he could be considered a master who maintained the status quo, but he was just unlucky and encountered such a turbulent time.

Wearing a crown, he looked at Orvel with a strange expression. His sister said that he was a good young man who cared about the country, so he agreed to meet him. In reality, it was indeed true, but the other party's focus seemed a bit strange. "Your starting point is good, this is very good, but is it necessary to mobilize so many people for a mere 100,000 dinars of property and ask you to come to see me in person and ask me, the king, to buy it?"

Despite the loss of the original capital and a large amount of wealth left in the Holy City, Agrippa II was not poor. On the one hand, his father Agrippa I was a capable man in the history of Palae and left him considerable property. On the other hand, Vespa gave him a lot of captured rebels. Agrippa chose to sell them as slaves according to custom. Now Agrippa's treasury was full.

In his opinion, if it was valuable wealth worth several million dinars, it would be understandable to ask him to purchase it on behalf of the buyer, but for one hundred thousand dinars, there was no need to ask the king to come forward at all. His sister or any wealthy businessman in the city would be able to take it.

The corners of Orville's mouth curled up slightly, and he knew that it was basically stable.

"Regarding this issue, I think you should take a long-term view. What I have now is only the commander's spoils. If you decide to keep these treasures in the country, then most of her soldiers will choose to sell them locally and find you first. After all, some things are difficult to carry. By then, all the spoils of this legion will be left in the country.

The 12th Legion is the most meritorious legion. They got the best and most precious spoils. Apart from the spoils sent to the Roman emperor, which we cannot get back, at least one third of the remaining essence is in their hands. This will benefit your reputation and preserve our country's precious cultural wealth. It is a rare and great thing."

After this analysis, King Aquita was tempted. He was in urgent need of increasing his reputation. Otherwise, not only would the rebels not support him, but even those in the country who had not yet rebelled would not support the royal family. Any improvement in his reputation must be strived for.

This is not the end. Orville continued, "You also know that the commander of the 12th Legion, Tia, is the daughter of Commander Vespa, and it is the most outstanding legion. Do you think the rebels in the Holy City will surrender directly?"

King Aquita is not stupid, he will understand it with just a little reminder.

Obviously, there will be a fierce battle for the Holy City later. Vespa's daughter is very competitive and is as brave as any man in battle. Even if it is just to accumulate political achievements and military merits for his daughter, he will give priority to giving the Twelfth Legion more tasks, and this legion will still get more things later.

The situation in the holy city is very chaotic now. It doesn't take much to tell that a large amount of property and treasures have been seized by the rebels for their own use. These people will never be pardoned after the war, and their property will become spoils of war.

He never thought that Rome would lose this war. In his opinion, Rome's life was far from over. Even if 50,000 people failed this time, the Roman emperor would just send another 100,000 people next time. It was completely impossible to fight against this country with the strength of half a province. He only needed to mobilize the elite legions in the north to watch over the Parthians. The Parvi people would have no ability to resist at all.

Perhaps Vespa would keep some of it for himself to appease himself, but more of it would become the soldiers' spoils of war. If there were no restrictions at this time, those things would eventually flow overseas.

This is not just any town, it is their holy city for thousands of years. There are countless holy objects and treasures in it. If he cannot protect these things, even if the rebels are defeated, he will not be able to be king for long, and the people who obey Rome will not obey him.

This nation places gods and religion above the royal family. A royal family that cannot protect gods has no need to exist. If this taboo is violated and the Romans can take away their belongings at will, I am afraid that even the nobles will no longer support the Herod royal family.
(End of this chapter)