Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 161 Defeat
After learning about this, Orville couldn't help laughing and found Astolfo's behavior quite interesting.

If Rollo's fighting ability hadn't been so strong, maybe it would have really succeeded. Of course, there is no "if" in history. What happened is what happened. Orville will not be forced to withdraw from Britain because of being captured. The War of the Conquest of Britain will continue.

He did not make things difficult for the knights under Astolfo. Instead, he treated them as officers.

He looked at Astolfo who was sitting calmly beside him and asked, "Would it be convenient for us to chat?"

Astolfo was a very outgoing person, and he was not shy about being a captive. "Of course, no problem. I'm curious about some things, and I'm sure you are too. Don't ask about military secrets. As for chatting about family matters or discussing local customs, it's up to you. I'm also very curious because I've never been to Rome in the south."

After a brief conversation, Orville roughly understood Astolfo's life experience and general situation in this time and space.

Astolfo in the original world was the child of an English nobleman and a Frankish princess. He later served the Franks and became one of the legendary paladins. This world is generally the same, but there are some differences in details.

As mentioned earlier, Æthelwulf, the former king of Wessex, married Judith, a Frankish princess who was more than 40 years younger than him. This was a typical political marriage. When Æthelwulf died, Judith was only in her teens, still quite young.

According to the normal order of historical development, Æthelwulf's eldest son Æthelbald would do something that people would gossip about behind his back - he would marry his stepmother, a Frankish princess who was younger than himself. Originally this was a way to show goodwill to the Franks and win them over, but it backfired. The people thought that this matter was not something that should be told to outsiders, and it instead caused a destabilization of their rule.

Apparently, Ethelbald found a better solution in this world. He married the daughter of the Carolingian family, who was the prime minister at the time. The Merovingian royal family had been sidelined at the time, so there was no difference between marrying the prime minister's princess and marrying the king's princess. If you have to say, marrying the prime minister is safer. After all, the one who has soldiers, food and money is the boss. The most powerful person in the Franks is the prime minister, not the king.

Astolfo was a prince born into such an environment, the son of King Ethelbald and Princess Francesca.

Now that the Carolingian family has replaced the old king and become the new royal family, Astolfo, whose mother is a member of the Carolingian family, can also rightfully call himself the son of the king and princess.

Although he claimed to be the Prince of England, Astolfo actually did not stay in England for long. His cheap father died of plague when he was very young. The kingdom was inherited by his brothers, and later passed to Ethelred and Alfred. In terms of inheritance rights, it had nothing to do with him.

Later, he was raised by a Frankish mother in the Frankish Kingdom, and his cultural identity was more Frankish than Wessex.

Although the Anglo-Saxons in England relied on and recognized the Franks, they did not want to become their vassals. Of course, it was impossible for them to allow Astolfo, who had a sensitive identity, to ascend the throne and become king. This was also in line with Astolfo's own wishes. He was originally a free and unrestrained person. After he grew up, he simply left his family and became a chivalrous knight (as he called himself).

This time, he accidentally heard that the Kingdom of Wessex was in trouble. On the one hand, he wanted to be chivalrous and on the other hand, he also wanted to help his nominal hometown. Astolfo brought the rangers who followed him to the British Isles. Orville knew what happened next. They ran into him head-on. Astolfo wanted to fight the big with the small but unexpectedly failed.

This was the first high-ranking Frank nobleman that Orville had met, so he chatted with him for a while and learned some interesting things. The Romans were in a "last age", the number of gifted people had declined compared to hundreds of years ago, and there hadn't been a true God-chosen person for a long time. The Franks were different, the number of gifted people was relatively higher, and the content was very strange.

Astolfo's own ability not only strengthens his body but also strengthens his vision. In addition to the enhanced vision, he also has a very subtle ability - anyone who is touched by his spear will easily fall off the horse. Astolfo himself can't explain the principle, but in Orville's opinion, this thing is close to magic.

This was also the reason why he proposed a duel to decide the winner. However, he did not expect that Rollo would not play by the rules and would fight on foot with him who was on horseback. There was nothing he could do, and Astolfo could only admit defeat.

It seemed that he did not have much hatred towards Orville or the Romans. He just came here with an attitude of playing life. This made Orville have some other thoughts. Even if he could not get the other party to join the gang, it would not hurt to make friends with him.

…………

These things were just minor episodes at best. Orville and others arrived at the military camp half a day late, so it didn't waste much time.

He did not punish Astolfo and the others, but simply had them under custody, preparing to deal with their problems when he had time.

Belisarius and others were also surprised by what happened to Orville, but they did not comment on Orville's decision. They just continued to deal with their own problems.

The next thing Orville did was to fulfill his promise and reward everyone. Although there was no fight, he could still use this opportunity to win people's hearts. He didn't want to be known as a man who didn't keep his word. The person who got the most rewards was Rollo. In addition to money, Orville also generously granted him citizenship as a reward for his "rescue".

He had no time to rest and soon took over the army to continue the siege of Winchester.

After a short period of preparation, all the heavy equipment was in place and the siege could officially begin.

Similar to the siege of the Holy City, catapults, ballistae and other weapons were pushed onto the siege embankment and began to bombard the city walls day and night. But there was a significant difference: the Anglo-Saxons in the city did not have enough siege equipment.

Their technological level was not high enough to make a ballista or a very high-performance catapult, and Orville did not give them the opportunity to reverse engineer, so they were completely suppressed in the long-range aspect.

Orville ordered the siege engines to smash into a corner of the city wall. Although the wall was built very solidly, it could not withstand the day and night attacks of projectiles, and soon the stones of that section of the wall began to loosen slightly.

(End of this chapter)