Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 151 King Aethelwulf

In places with excellent natural conditions, settlements and cities will naturally emerge, and people will choose suitable places to build their homes. Winchester in this time and space is such an example, and the city was established relatively early.

However, although it is called a city, it is not a man-made wonder like Rome with a population of hundreds of thousands or even millions. It is just a city with a population of more than 10,000 people.

In fact, it is not small. It is the capital city of the Kingdom of Wessex and the seat of the king's court. It is relatively developed.

Orville had already learned some necessary information from books, Vikings and local guides, including the general political structure and current affairs of Wessex.

Basically, Wessex from the end of the Seven Kingdoms era in the future was teleported here and given a strengthening patch. The King of Wessex at this time was a character that Orville had some impression of.

The former King of Wessex, Æthelwulf, was an accomplished and visible character. Not only did he improve domestic affairs at home, he also expanded territory. He took advantage of the decline of the northern power Mercia to expand rapidly. During his reign, Wessex, which was originally a minor country, became the most powerful country in Britain.

The reason why Orwell said that he had a sense of presence was that as the king of a small kingdom on the island of Britain, he had visited the city of Rome and the court of the Frankish king.

Æthelwulf had six children, five of whom were named with the word Æthel, Æthelstein, Æthelwys, Æthelbald, Æthelbert, and Æthelred. Æthel means prince or heir to the throne, and its main characteristic is nobility. You don't need to remember these people's names, just know this.

His sixth son was relatively the most favored one, named Alfred, which means "advice of the elves". Elves were considered to be a kind of wise life.

The remote geographical location did not hinder his long-term vision. King Aethelwulf took his youngest son to visit Rome, and lived and studied in Rome for a year. He learned a lot of new technologies and concepts there. Then, he did not return to Wessex from the province of Gaul, but took a detour back to his kingdom through the territory of the Frankish Kingdom, and established a family relationship with the king of the Frankish Kingdom.

Aethelwulf, who was already in his fifties that year, married Judith, a Frankish princess who was only twelve or thirteen years old. This was a purely political marriage without any love, but it also allowed the two sides to form an alliance and mutual assistance relationship.

In fact, Orwell did not quite agree with this kind of political marriage, because if there are common interests, they will cooperate even if they don't get married. If there is a conflict of interest, then relatives and even brothers may sometimes become enemies. This is just an insurance to show outsiders and to make oneself feel at ease. Especially if Athelwolf worked harder, he could have been Judith's great-grandfather.

Among Aethelwulf's children, there were five boys. The three older ones inherited the country, but they died early due to war or plague. In the end, the two younger sons inherited the kingdom. One of them became king and ruled the country, and the other became an assistant to the king.

His assistant was Alfred, later known as Alfred the Great, a great man deeply loved by the British and British historians.

As for the current King of Wessex, it is Alfred's elder brother Æthelred. In fact, the two brothers have a harmonious relationship. They can be said to be model representatives of the early feudal era, with true brotherly love and respect for each other.

Ethelred was not bad either, and had some ideas about both military and civil administration, but he was born in a bad time. He was seriously injured in the bloody battle with the Vikings and eventually died. Although his brother had a son, it was not appropriate to let a baby govern the country in such a troubled time, so this time it was Alfred's turn to inherit the throne at the age of 22, who was about the same age as Orville.

The rest of the story is pretty much like that. Alfred, who had the template of a protagonist, was good at domestic affairs, diplomacy and warfare. He kept the Vikings outside the national borders and unified England during the time of his son.

However, there might be some problems in the evolution of history in this space and time, and it might be the Romans rather than the Vikings that caused Ethelred to get into trouble.

Orville was not in a hurry to take over Winchester quickly, and the reason was very simple - he didn't want to fight a guerrilla war with the Germans in the forest swamps.

Æthelred led the main force of Wessex north to guard against the restless Vikings, so the rear was empty, and it was indeed easy to take Winchester by taking advantage of the opportunity, but Wessex's manpower was not damaged. If Æthelred was not stupid, he would not confront the Roman army head-on, but would rely on the large undeveloped swamps, mountains and woodlands in England to fight guerrilla warfare against the Romans.

In fact, Alfred in another time and space did just that at the beginning. He took the mass line and fought guerrilla warfare against the Vikings, which annoyed these Viking warriors who were brave but lacked professionalism. In the end, they had no choice but to sign a contract with the other party. Essex became the only Anglo-Saxon kingdom to survive.

By then, not to mention driving away the Romans, Orville would at least find it very troublesome and waste a lot of time. It might be a good choice to let the other side's manpower gather together and then solve them together.

And to be honest, he still felt a little weak. He was under the command of the Ninth Legion, which had been ambushed and annihilated in Britain.

This world seems to be very much about the destiny of everything - Jeanne d'Acre will eventually have a quarrel with Britain, Procopius will eventually write history, Aurelian will eventually fight the Gauls, and Cleopatra will eventually turn against her own brother. Everything seems to follow a similar trajectory.

Maybe the situation will be the same in the end. It never hurts to be careful. He has always thought this way. There is no rush anyway. This is not a racing competition. As long as he doesn't flip over now, he will win.

After doing these things, Orville looked at Jeanne Dacre who was riding a horse beside him.

She changed into a suit of chain mail. Out of respect for history, Orville really wanted to forge a suit of silver plate armor for her, but his craftsmanship level was not up to par and he could only make reinforced plate armor parts. After customizing a set of parts for her, Jeanna did not refuse but gladly accepted them. It seemed that in her eyes, necessary protective gear did not belong to the category of luxury goods.

"Did your God give you any advice or inspiration? I think now is the time to put it to use." Orville wanted to get some free cheats from the Lord of Hosts.

PS. The city's population is a bit exaggerated. According to the most conservative estimate, there were only 9 people in London in the 1000th century. Of course, I think this data is a bit too low. Around 3000 to 5000 people is what I think is a normal level (calculated based on the 2% to 4% urbanization rate during the Heptarchy era in Britain). It's still not a lot. Winchester should be stronger than London at this time, but not much stronger.

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(End of this chapter)