Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 190 Assassination
After the meeting, Orville said a few words of dismissal as usual, and then signaled everyone to leave the meeting room.

In fact, he was the first one to leave, because he still had documents to review and revise, so he was inevitably a little anxious.

Just as he had stepped out of the conference room, a rough voice suddenly came from behind: "Your Highness, I have something to talk to you about!"

After being called, Orville subconsciously stopped and prepared to turn around to respond to the other party, but was pushed three or four meters away by a huge force.

"Assassin! There's an assassin!" Orville heard such shouting from behind. Having received relevant training, he subconsciously lowered his head and grasped the hilt of the sword, ready to draw the sword.

The sword almost grazed his scalp. Orville didn't dare to delay as he felt the sword passing over his head. He rolled more than two meters away with a not-so-gentle roll.

Then he pushed off the ground with his feet and stood up, looking warily at the place where he had just stood. There stood a German sage who was attending the meeting. He had been pierced by Stilicho's sword and was breathing weaker and dying.

The man's death seemed to have triggered some kind of switch, and many Germans on the field stood up and rushed towards Orville - some with bare hands, some with secretly hidden daggers. It was obvious that this was an assassination organized in a hurry.

Orville didn't understand why the man had a sword in his hand, but it didn't stop him from reacting.

Without letting the guards or Stilicho take direct action, Orville silently drew his sword. He thought it would be better for him to handle the matter himself.

He swung the long sword in his hand as if it were his arm, easily deflecting the opponent's daggers, and then accurately stabbed the shoulder of the first person, temporarily making him lose his fighting ability. Then he calmly swung a few more swords, deflecting the short knives and daggers of several others, and quickly stabbed several others in the shoulders or thighs, temporarily making them lose their ability to move and counterattack.

Although these people wanted to exchange their lives for Orville's and launched suicide attacks on him, Orville always kept a distance from the enemy. In the end, none of these people got within one meter of Orville and were quickly and easily dealt with by him with a long sword.

While Orville was dealing with the enemy in front of him, Stilicho and his guards controlled several other German sages who attempted to participate in the assassination. This farce-like assassination was completely curbed.

Until now, he still hasn't discovered that he has any real talent, but that doesn't stop Orville from insisting on exercising. Although he didn't use the same training intensity as Tia, who was a Roman superman, he would basically take out some time every day to exercise. He did this almost every day after he came here. Over time, his physical fitness and combat skills have become quite good.

He would not slack off in this regard, because it concerns his own life and property, and no one knows what accidents might happen during war. Orville is a very cautious person. On the one hand, he has guards to protect him, and on the other hand, he has a certain degree of self-protection ability. He doesn't like to go to the battlefield to kill people, but it doesn't mean he is powerless.

At least like now, it is not a particularly difficult problem to use the long to attack the short and one to fight many. These so-called wise men are local nobles, and their fighting power is not low. However, Orville has a standard long sword that is more than a meter long. These people only have daggers, short knives or even bare hands to fight Orville, and the result will not be good. After doing this, Orville put away his long sword, slowly left the scene, and handed over the follow-up work to his subordinates.

He could have asked his men to hide behind the formation for him, but Orville knew the temperament of these Germans very well - they respected the strong and valued the use of force. No matter how smart one was or how clear one's thinking was, if one did not have a strong enough fist, these barbarians would subconsciously look down upon one.

In order to prevent them from underestimating his authority, Orville needs to take action himself once, and this should teach the German people a lesson.
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In the end, about fifty local nobles decided to surrender to the Romans at the meeting, which was a considerable number. Orville was no longer polite to those who did not come to the meeting and could not give a suitable reason. He ordered his soldiers to act quickly, sweep through the manors and small fortresses everywhere, and ensure that all the opposition forces were wiped out.

Some of these local ruling classes would be absorbed into the ruling system of the Roman Empire by Orville and become part of the imperial bureaucracy, but Orville was not prepared to follow the practice of the Roman Empire completely on this basis.

Although the bureaucratic system of the Roman Empire did exist, it was not perfect in the eyes of Orwell, a modern man. At least in his opinion, there were two fatal problems that could not be ignored: lack of specialization and excessive streamlining of staff.

There is no need to say much about the former. A senior senator with rich experience may have worked as a financial officer, prosecutor, naval admiral and provincial governor in his career. It's not that this is not wrong, but it is ultimately no match for specially trained officials.

For example, a senator who had previously only worked as a religious priest might suddenly be appointed to a position that required professional skills, such as a naval admiral or a financial officer. The term of office for these positions might only be one or two years. Even if the senator was really willing to perform his duties well, he would have to change positions soon after he adapted to his position.

Obviously this is already a very serious problem, but it’s not over yet. Compared with the latter, the former is a minor problem.

The Roman bureaucracy was, to put it nicely, overly streamlined; to put it bluntly, severely understaffed.

Often, a province's bureaucracy has only a small number of people working under the central government. To put it bluntly, the governance of rural areas is basically abandoned and no treatment is given. The governance of cities is not much better. The shortage of manpower makes the governors have the will but not the strength, and they cannot be said to have the control over the cities with ease.

This problem forced the Romans to rely more on local people and local rulers when governing the provinces, which indirectly enhanced local independence and separatism. This was harmless when the empire was strong and would be masked by powerful military force, but once the empire fell into decline, it became a huge problem.

Orville certainly couldn't stand these things, and he wanted to make some changes within his ability, at least to make the bureaucratic system of the British province closer to future generations, and if there was a chance, to promote it to other parts of the empire.

(End of this chapter)