Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 228 Return to Rome
There is no need to delve into why Ivar was concerned about the movement of the Roman army. It was normal for both sides to be a little wary during this period of time.

After thinking about it, Orville answered the other party truthfully: "I am indeed planning to transfer part of the army. According to the plan, I may return to Rome and then serve in Egypt."

"Egypt? From what I heard from your people, Egypt is a place to get luxury goods. There are many commodities circulating there. It is a wealthy and prosperous country. Is that right?" Ivar has been catching up on the general knowledge of the Mediterranean world during this period. Now he has a rough idea of ​​what Orville is talking about.

"That's right. Spices, silk, gems, pearls and other things are imported through the customs of Egypt. In addition, there is a lot of food here. Overall, it is a very wealthy place."

Ivar didn't think much about it and said to Orville directly: "Then I have a suggestion. When you return to Rome, please take me and some of my brothers with you. You promised us before that you would give us the opportunity to explore the south. Can you fulfill your promise to us now?"

"It's not impossible, but I want to know the reason. What makes you so anxious?"

"I abide by the agreement and have my warriors stop plundering your coastline, but their income will drop sharply. Before they complain, I need to find a way to make money for them. This is a very realistic problem. I can't let people lose their morale. If these people leave me and become pirates again, I think it will be troublesome for you."

Orville had given them a subsidy before, but to be honest it was not enough. It could only be described as a consolation amount of money, which was almost dispensable to these people. However, the landlord had no surplus food, and Orville had no money to support thousands of Vikings.

Therefore, Ivar's request is very realistic. Once their family can't provide benefits to these pirates, these pirates will sooner or later lose their restraints and return to their old business. This situation is indeed a troublesome thing for Orville.

After thinking for a while, Orville replied: "I will arrange several more bounties as a reward for your loyalty, but you'd better not count on the number. Before I get the funding from the central government of the empire, I can only use my personal savings to subsidize you. You asked to go to the south with me, whether it is to explore, find business opportunities or simply want to see the world, that's fine, but the number of people cannot be too large. A few hundred or a thousand people is the limit I can accept, and you cannot go too far away from our sight."

If there were too many people, Orville was afraid that he would not be able to control them. If there were fewer people, that would be fine. He could just treat it as taking foreign guests on a tour.

Ivar was satisfied with this answer: "No problem, we can accept all these conditions. I estimate that at most only 600 to 700 people are willing to go to the Mediterranean with me. After all, this is a completely unknown situation for us, and we don't know how much benefit it contains. When do you plan to leave?"

"It's just in the recent period. Just be patient and wait. You can mobilize manpower when you go back now."
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Time advanced to May, and the appointment letter from the imperial center finally came down, which was basically what Orville, Tia and Vespa had agreed on in private letters.

The governor of the province of Lugden in Gallia was replaced by a close confidant of Vespa. There was no major problem with his ability and his reputation in the past was also very good. Nothing should go wrong if he goes there.

The governor of Britain was replaced by Belisarius, who was strongly recommended by Orville, and the emperor acquiesced to Orville's repair of the bureaucracy, which remained basically unchanged. Orville and Tia were asked to return to Rome to report. In Vespa's private letter to Orville, it was clearly stated that the two of them had done a good job this time, and Vespa was also interested in publicity. After returning, the triumphal ceremony was inevitable, which was almost the highest honor in a general's military career.

After confirming that he would return to Rome, Orville could make personnel arrangements with peace of mind.

Generally speaking, this time Orville left almost half of his team in Britain - the Ninth Legion [Spain], most of the staff and secretaries, Belisarius, Procopius, Rollo and his mercenaries.
There was no need for Jeanne to follow Orville back to Rome, so she did not go and continued to stay in the local area as a diplomat and propaganda ambassador. The remaining Gallic forces did want to follow Orville to Rome to see if there was any opportunity, but Orville rejected them lightly.

He was returning to Rome to report and show off the empire's military power, not to drag a large group of barbarians into the city to show off. There were already enough people in his team, and he and the Gallic nobles owed each other nothing, so there was no need to scheme hard to make profits for the other side.

The team going back to Rome this time probably included these people: Orville himself, Tia, Domitia, Tia's good friend Princess Berenice of Parfit, Stilicho, Trajan, Ptolemy, Alfred, half of the legionary army organized by Orville himself, the Parfit auxiliary army that was going to follow him back to Parfit, and some "non-staff members".

Ivar will go to the south with them personally, while his brothers will stay in Dublin in the north to take charge of the situation. There will be about 500 Viking warriors accompanying them, and Orville will tentatively count them as auxiliary troops.

After Cu Chulainn escaped from the war in the Lowlands, he also asked to follow Orville to Rome to see the world. Orville would definitely welcome such a talented person who was alone, had high martial arts skills and basically had good moral integrity.

Another person worth mentioning is Astolfo, who was still wandering in northern Scotland (Caledonia). When he heard that Orville was going to resign as governor and leave temporarily, he immediately ran from the wilderness of the north to the governor's mansion and asked Orville to take him with him.

As a barbarian prince, his identity was quite sensitive. Without an introduction, it would be difficult for him to move freely within the empire. So Astolfo asked Orville to help him solve his identity problem so that he could travel around the Roman Empire.

This matter was more or less risky, and Orville would have to take responsibility if anything went wrong. However, Astolfo helped Orville communicate with the barbarians in the north, so Orville owed him a favor. Orville could not refuse such a reasonable request, so he agreed directly.

To be honest, even without permission, a talented person like Astolfo could still come and go freely within the empire. Customs in this era could only have this thing, and the national borders were completely blurred, and could not stop people like Astolfo at all.

(End of this chapter)