Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 170 The dust has settled
"You can save your life by laying down your weapons. I won't kill anyone who surrenders!!!"

Seeing that the morale of the Wessex people was on the verge of collapse, Orville actually wanted to recruit Alfred, so he did not want him to die in the battle with Cuchulainn, so he began to persuade the Wessex warriors to surrender.

The effect was quite significant. Many Wessex soldiers on the edge of the battlefield surrendered immediately, but the Wessex people in the center of the battlefield who were blood-thirsty could not stop, and the Romans could not stop either, and they were still fighting each other.

Orville couldn't stop these people for a while, so he could only order the reinforcements coming from the periphery to take in the surrendered Wessex people. If he could save one, he would save one. If he couldn't save one, there was no other way. Both sides were elite troops, and they had to be prepared to be killed on the battlefield. Dying in a war with the enemy was also a decent way to die in line with the identity of an ancient warrior.

The battle was settled from this point on, but there was still one small problem - how to stop Cu Chulainn who was in a frenzy.

Alfred obviously wanted to surrender because he couldn't win, but Cu Chulainn kept chasing him, and even the Wessex soldiers around him who wanted to surrender did not dare to surrender, so they could only take up arms and fight Cu Chulainn to the death.

If you put down your weapons at this time, you may be killed by Cu Chulainn. It is better to hold up your weapons to have some resistance. It is human nature.

Orville frowned when he saw this, and used flag signals to Belisarius and Stilicho, asking them to take action to hold down the mad Cu Chulainn.

The three parties immediately changed their positions. The Wessex and Roman soldiers made way for their respective talented people to fight against Cu Chulainn.

After Belisarius and Stilicho joined the battle, Alfred was able to tie with Cu Chulainn after a hard fight, which could barely be said to be a slight advantage. However, this advantage could not end the battle: they did not want to kill Cu Chulainn, but wanted to control him and calm him down.

Killing someone in battle is one thing, capturing someone alive in battle is another, the difficulty of the two is completely different. Being able to suppress someone does not mean being able to capture someone alive. They were hesitant while Cu Chulainn let loose and fought fiercely, making the three of them feel a little frustrated.

Alfred might have some ulterior motives, but the other two did not want to kill Cu Chulainn, so they were just going to wait and see until Cu Chulainn was exhausted and then rush forward to control him.

But even though Cu Chulainn had fought for a long time before, and he had been fighting with the three men for more than ten minutes, he did not show any signs of fatigue. On the contrary, he felt more courageous as the battle went on. Alfred had fought the longest and was already a little exhausted. The balance of the battle was becoming a little delicate.

Jeanna wanted to go up at this time, but Astolfo stopped her: "Let me do it. We can't let him kill people indiscriminately. It might be dangerous if you go up."

If he had to rate the actual combat abilities of these talented people, Orville would give Astolfo 65 points and Jeanne 35 points. The gap between the two is still very large, so the things that Jeanne did in danger might be just right for him to do.

Orville glanced at him and did not stop him. Instead, he ordered his men: "Someone give him a gun and a sword, and make way for him."

Astolfo nodded slightly to Orville as a way of thanking him, and after getting the weapons, he joined the battle and the four of them started to beat up the mad Cu Chulainn.

The addition of one more person completely reversed the balance of the battle. Although the cooperation between the four was not at all skillful, after more than ten rounds of fighting, Belisarius still found an opportunity. He successfully knocked the spear out of Cu Chulainn's hand, and then the four of them rushed forward and directly pinned the opponent down.

Seeing this, the surrounding soldiers rushed forward and completely controlled the opponent. The soldiers hurriedly tied up Cu Chulainn with the reins for tying horses and the leather ropes for tying javelins. Only then was the dust settled.

Cu Chulainn showed no sign of calming down. He roared loudly with red eyes, like a patient in the late stage of rabies. Orwell watched him from a distance and gave an order. "Give him some water to calm his mind. Maybe it will help. If it doesn't work, you can only knock him out and take him back."

Orville guessed the correct answer by accident. When Cu Chulainn was mad, he really wanted to pour water on him to "cool down".

After several buckets of water were poured on him, Cu Chulainn regained some consciousness. His body shrank rapidly like a balloon, and soon returned to its normal size. He looked at the people around him weakly, and then immediately fainted, and no one knew whether he was dead or alive.

After the military doctor came over and confirmed that Cu Chulainn was still alive and breathing, Orville had him taken away to recuperate, while he continued to command the battle.

The battlefield became a little out of control due to the temporary paralysis of the command center, but fortunately the Wessex people were unable to organize a larger offensive, and everything was still under control when Orville resumed command.

…………

The Wessex people who came to attack first were either killed or surrendered, and they were completely under control. Orville ordered the soldiers to detain them and deal with them slowly after the battle was over.

As for the Welsh Celts who broke into the city, after suffering heavy casualties, they were forced to withdraw from the city and return to their own camps to recuperate.

The Roman soldiers still firmly occupied large sections of the city wall. The heavily armed legionary infantry blocked several passages and set up simple obstacles, while auxiliary soldiers using slings, bows and arrows or javelins followed and came to the city wall, suppressing the Wessex soldiers who appeared below the city and firing at them, making it difficult for them to attack the wall.

The battle situation was temporarily at a stalemate, and Orville was prepared to wait and then ask the other side to negotiate again and let Winchester surrender to the Romans.

He did not order his soldiers to open the city gates and let the civilians leave. Instead, he continued to blockade the city, but did not launch any further offensive against the city.

Then the first thing he did was not to negotiate with Alfred, nor to persuade the people in the city to surrender, but to start looking for a way for these Wessex people to raid.

He really couldn't understand how these several hundred people, which was not a small number, could appear so close to his headquarters when the city was surrounded by the army.

With the help of the light cavalry searching around and the intelligence provided by the Wessex soldiers, he soon found out the reason, which made him a little amused.

They had suffered losses from tunnels in the Holy City before, but they didn't expect that the same trick could work twice in a row. This time, the Wessex people used tunnels again, and came out of the city through the pre-dug tunnels. After making a circle, they launched a surprise attack on Orville's headquarters.

This reminded him that he should pay more attention to the enemy's engineers in the future, as it was not only the Romans who had the ability to do civil engineering.

(End of this chapter)