Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 217: Face Project
[Boneless] Ivar has not been in a good mood recently because the situation makes him feel powerless.

He was a staunch supporter of the idea that "force is better than hard work" and firmly believed that the Vikings could open up a vast world and free themselves from the predicament of constant internal consumption in the bitter and cold north.

In fact, he had perfectly implemented this view in the first thirty years of his life. He relied on his bravery and the hard work of his men to conquer a considerable territory. However, since he met the Romans, the situation began to take a sharp turn for the worse. He now felt deeply powerless.

No matter how many strongholds he looted or how many people he killed, it seemed that the Romans would never be hurt and would always be able to fill the gaps with new troops. The huge size was a special quality that all his previous opponents had never had.

Ivar worked hard to maintain a delicate balance. Most of the troops promised by the Danish king were deployed to the lowlands, but with the support provided by his brother Bjorn the Brave, he was able to maintain it.

Even so, this hard struggle made him very uncomfortable. He was under great pressure every day. He had to be cautious and not make any mistakes. He was dancing on the edge of a knife in the hope of causing more damage to the Romans.

Whenever it was late at night and everyone was asleep, Ivar couldn't help but think too much. In fact, he was a little envious of Rollo.

Although he did not agree with the northerners' submission to any other nation, at least Rollo achieved his goal. Through war and loyalty, he won himself a vast piece of land, and it was fertile arable land that his original Kingdom of Norway could not provide at all.

Now the future of Ivar's territory is still uncertain, and he doesn't know how this war will end.

When the war developed to this point, the one who could decide whether the war would continue was no longer Ivar or a mere Danish king. The one who could decide this matter was Charles, the King of the Franks. As long as he did not nod, the war would have to continue until one side of the Germans and Romans had shed all their blood.

Ivar didn't like this ending, but he had no ability to change everything. He could only preserve his own strength as much as possible in the rapidly changing situation.

I don’t know if this is good news, but I think it’s almost over.

He subconsciously glanced at the letter at hand, which was sent to him by the Romans through a neutral merchant. The Romans asked to negotiate with him, and Ivar intuitively felt that the other party must have encountered something. Recently, the Roman general Belisarius had been particularly oppressive and wary of him. If Ivar still had some strength left, he might pretend to negotiate with the other party to buy time, and then secretly plan some new military action to deceive the other party and make them bleed more.

But Ivar was only a Viking leader after all. Although he had thousands or even tens of thousands of Viking lions under his command, he could only mobilize these people at his best. After the high-intensity small-scale uninterrupted confrontations until now, he was actually exhausted, so he felt that he should really listen to what the Romans wanted to say.

…………

Orville chose the border as the negotiation location, but Ivar did not agree, and instead set the negotiation location at the Governor's Palace, which was more favorable to the Romans. Orville had no reason to refuse such a request, and readily agreed.

So about two weeks later, a fleet of about fifteen longships entered the mouth of the Thames.

He stood on a high platform by the river, looking at the leading dragon-headed warship with great interest. In fact, according to the Vikings' classification, not all ships were called dragon-headed warships. Only the largest and most powerful ships were called dragon-headed warships. Facts have proved that both the Romans and the Vikings have a certain obsession with spectacles and face-saving projects. Like the ship in front of Orville, at a glance, the length is almost 50 meters, almost exceeding the scope of practical ships, and has become a kind of man-made wonder.

The bigger the ship, the more money it costs. One can imagine the human and material resources invested in building such a large ship. From his point of view, the cost-effectiveness of building such a ship is far less than building five or six long ships of the same type of about 20 meters, which are more useful and more flexible.

But there was no need for him to say anything to the other party, because what the Romans did was even more exaggerated. The Caligula's giant ship, which was more than 70 meters long, was still sinking in the lake. It was obviously more enthusiastic than those people who claimed to be in the civilized world, such as Hammer Wonder.

These dragon-headed warships represent the highest level of Viking shipbuilding. The high, curved bows are topped with a dragon's head carved on them. These large ships capable of crossing the violent storms of the North Sea impressed the Romans so much that Orville even recorded the Vikings' shipbuilding technology for future use.

The face-saving project also played a role at this time. Orville looked around at the soldiers around him and found that their expressions were rather serious. Obviously, these huge ships aroused their nervousness and made them ready to guard against any unexpected events.

Under the gaze of the crowd, these huge longships slowly approached the port, and Ivar was the first to get off the ship.

This time he was dressed much more formally, wearing a crown and decorative armor embellished with brass, looking like a general with outstanding achievements.

Orville glanced at the entourage and guards around him, but did not see other members of his family. It was obvious that he came alone this time and was afraid that the Romans would use the Hongmen Banquet as a tactic. However, this worry was completely unnecessary. Orville was a man who valued his reputation very much and did not want to ruin his reputation because of such a thing.

Besides, killing Ivar would not help. The Vikings' problem would not be solved. Instead, it would strengthen their determination to resist and increase the pressure on the army on all fronts by several levels.

There were not many clear diplomatic etiquettes at this time. The two sides greeted each other solemnly, and then exchanged some gifts and specialties. Then Orville welcomed the other party into the Governor's Mansion to discuss serious matters.

The two parties took their seats one by one. This time, Orville did not sit in the main seat. He gave his seat to Tia. Ivar raised his eyebrows slightly, but did not say much. He just sat down according to the Roman rules.

"I think you have something important to discuss with me, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have taken the trouble to send me a letter."

Tia didn't say anything, indicating that Orvel could communicate with the other party without worry, and she would not interfere too much.

"I think you don't need to continue fighting. It's meaningless bloodshed. We can reach some agreements that are useful to both sides, so that we can all..."

PS. The largest long ship unearthed now should be more than 48 meters long. The 60m to m long ship is recorded in the literature, so we assume that the article is true.

(End of this chapter)