Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 231 Secret Talk
As expected, Egypt was very important to Vespa, and Orville was asked about this matter on the first day he returned to Rome.

He didn't want to hide anything from the beginning, so he took some time to tell the truth. After listening, Vespa was silent for a long time, and waited for three minutes before slowly opening his mouth to continue asking Orville.

"So Cleopatra revealed this information to you in her correspondence, and then you speculated that civil strife would break out in Egypt sooner or later, is that right?"

"Half of it is speculation based on the actual situation, and the other half is something I know in advance based on the 'prophecy'. In short, I am sure about this matter and can basically confirm it."

In fact, even if Orville did not report to Vespa, Vespa would know the general situation. The governor of Egypt he sent was no waste. He could not have been unaware of the huge royal struggle involving so many things. He had already written a report and presented it to Vespa and the imperial center, but he did not know many of the details. Orville could add a lot of secret information.

Vespa continued to ask: "Well, let's talk about this from an objective perspective. What are the chances of us taking advantage of this opportunity to annex Egypt?"

"I think it's about 90 percent. Unless something major happens, the Egyptian governor's army is enough to conquer Egypt. At worst, we can transfer one of the legions stationed in Palphi over there. After all, Egypt has already been half controlled by us."

From Orwell's point of view, Egypt can not be called a complete independent country at all, because the judicial, administrative and military powers of this country have been partially controlled by the Romans. Rather than a complete country, it is better to say that it is a Roman province similar to Parfi, which, like Parfi, has a local royal family as a bridge of communication between the locals and the Romans.

In this case, if the Romans really wanted to abolish the Ptolemaic royal family and then completely annex Egypt, it should not be a difficult thing to say, and it would probably not be difficult to do in practice.

After all, there is the example of Caesar. He only needed a few thousand people to make tens of thousands of Egyptians overwhelmed. These were the few thousand people who had come from a long expedition. Now there are nearly 20,000 Roman troops in Alexandria, the capital of Egypt, waiting for the opportunity. Even if the actual level of the Egyptian governor is definitely not as good as Caesar, in this case the Romans can easily wipe out the entire political core of Egypt, and then push down the relatively weak and exhausted Egyptian army.

But whether this is worth it is something worth pondering.

After thinking about it, Orville decided to tell Vespa the truth: "Although it may seem like I am seeking personal gain for my friend, I still want to make a suggestion. Although we can annex Egypt now, it is better to put it aside. I am afraid that completely annexing Egypt will do us more harm than good now."

Vespa asked curiously, "If we completely control Egypt's wheat, we will definitely not be constrained by the food problem. At the same time, Egypt is rich in products and the profits from tariffs are huge. If we do not share this wealth with the Egyptian royal family, we can make a lot more money. It seems that we will not have to pay much more to control Egypt. I have asked the secretary to calculate it. Overall, our benefits will be much greater. Can you tell me why you think so?"

"Egypt can now provide us with 50,000 to 80,000 troops. They have helped us relieve a lot of pressure from the Eastern Province. If we conquer Egypt, we will not only have to invest one or two more corps in Egypt to maintain law and order, but we will also lose at least half of the Egyptian soldiers. We do not have the energy and ability to govern Egypt as well as we do at home. In the end, we still have to rely on the organization and strength of the local people to rule Egypt. Destroying the local organization in Egypt is not a good option.

This is a very realistic reason. In addition, I would like to remind you of one thing. It is not a good idea to allow excessive Egyptian wheat to flow into our country. Our country is not suitable for developing agriculture. In the end, our already weak agricultural foundation may be destroyed by the Egyptians. At that time, Rome may only have olive groves and vineyards. It is not wise to rely on a province hundreds or thousands of kilometers away for food security. There are too many uncertainties in the future. No country can always be as high as the sun in the sky. "

Vespa thought carefully for about half a minute, then smiled again: "I actually never wanted to annex Egypt. What you said are all problems. In addition, there is another very troublesome thing - the Ptolemaic royal family can be traced back to Ptolemy, Alexander's veteran general, who is said to be the illegitimate son of Alexander's father and the orthodox bloodline of the last successor dynasty.

Those people want to worship Alexander as Hercules and Apollo, and they also worship his successors as gods. The Greeks have been restless recently. If I touch the symbol of their spiritual support, they may really rebel immediately. The country has fought too many wars in recent years. I don’t want to be involved with those people again! "

When mentioning Greece, Vespa couldn't help but raise his tone. He was obviously a little angry. It was rare for him to be so angry.

The culprit for this is to some extent Emperor Nero - he was a spiritual Greek in that respect because of his passion for art, and it is clear that he began to act unruly in the middle and late stages of his reign.

He made the senators in their seventies and eighties participate in sports games with their upper bodies naked, dressed himself up like an actor and went on tour around the country, and forced his subordinates to listen to his concerts. Vespa himself was even bullied for falling asleep at a concert.

When Nero was in power in Greece, he generously granted the Greek city-states the privilege of autonomy. They did not have to pay taxes and had the power of self-determination in all matters. This policy was implemented in the middle and late stages of Nero's reign, and it has been almost ten years now.

Vespa had little interest in literature and art, was not a spiritual Greek, and was quite greedy for money. Naturally, he could not stand the existence of such privileges, so after his rule was stabilized, he immediately announced the revocation of the local autonomy privileges. This move aroused fierce resistance from the locals, who had already had some disengagement and rebellious sentiments, and now this sentiment was getting more and more intense, with a tendency to get out of control.

Not satisfied with just cursing, Vespa added indignantly: "They say that glory belongs to Greece and greatness belongs to Rome, but these people only have the glory of poor scholars. They are not as good at fighting as the Romans, not as good at business as the Carthaginians, not as good at ruling as the Persians, and not as brave as the Germans. They just write a bunch of filthy stories to brag about themselves! If a real fight breaks out, they can't even beat the lowest Dacian barbarians, and they still ask us for help!"

(End of this chapter)