Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 249 Departure
The Guards camp would definitely not be built in the city. Orville walked all the way to the outskirts of the city before arriving at the gate of the camp.

The guards of the camp knew him, and after confirming the emperor's documents, they readily let him in. However, there was one thing that made Orville feel strange - the soldiers looked at Orville in a subtle way, with respect mixed with sympathy.

But he didn't care too much about it and walked straight into the military camp. Then he soon found out the general reason.

What came into view was a wide training ground where many soldiers were training. Tiya, dressed in military uniform, was standing in front of thousands of soldiers and scolding them.

"How did your previous commander train you? You don't even have the qualities of a professional soldier! You can't keep up with the daily basic training, you don't take good care of your armor and weapons, and you can even slack off when you're on guard duty! How can you be called a qualified soldier? I think you're not as good as the fire brigade and the security forces in Rome!!"

Tia scolded them harshly, and the soldiers below did not dare to refute. They basically lowered their heads and pretended to be dead. Orville also found it interesting and did not disturb them. He stood aside and watched the show.

After Tia had finished scolding and calmed down a bit, she said, "I don't want any dereliction of duty to happen again. If it does, you don't have to continue serving. Farming with your family or doing some small business may be the right path for you. Centurions, continue training according to my previous plan. Afterwards, I want each of your centurions to have one-on-one drills."

After she finished speaking, she retreated angrily, and Orville did not show up either. After Tia returned to her office tent, she informed her servants that she had something to discuss with her.

After a delay of several minutes, after Orville entered the enemy's tent, Tia seemed to have become a different person. She lowered her head and avoided his gaze, occasionally looking up at Orville, as if she was really a girl in love.

Orville joked, “You seemed quite excited before, what happened here?”

Diya was stunned for a moment, then immediately lost her composure and turned cold, then snorted, "Those soldiers actually dared to ask for bribes while on duty, and even dared to cheat during training. This is really outrageous. The empire pays them three times the salary of ordinary soldiers not to let them do such dirty things. If I don't punish them, it will be difficult to correct the morale and discipline of the army."

When Tia talked about these things, her tone was a little gloomy, but Orville didn't care. It was more like he was more accustomed to it. In his eyes, Tia was indeed different from the average shy girl.

After thinking it over carefully, Orville gave the other party some advice: "You should severely punish those who solicit bribes. You can't let these people disturb the people, especially the citizens of Rome. I think the punishment should be stronger, otherwise there is no way to set an example. It's better to prevent them from committing the same crime again.

As for training, this is a peaceful era, and they are the guards who don't need to fight on weekdays. Over time, they will naturally relax. Otherwise, you can organize each hundred-man team and let them compete. The last team will be punished, and the top team will be rewarded, which can be some money or food. In short, don't let them train in vain, so that their enthusiasm can be fully mobilized."

Orwell's army had actually done this a long time ago, and the effect was quite good, and it didn't cost much. Tia had seen it before in Britain, so she naturally had an impression of it.

She nodded slightly and said, "I am planning to do this, starting tomorrow. I may need your help. I need your officers to share their experience with me and do some research."

"Then you'd better hurry up, because I'm leaving late tonight." Tia's hand reaching for the kettle paused slightly, and she suddenly looked up at Orville: "So soon?"

"Not any time soon, or rather, we have to leave now. I came to you to mobilize troops. My father has allowed me to take a large group of soldiers out of Rome. Here is the document, please review it and give me your approval."

Orville reached out and handed the document to the other party. Tia frowned as she scanned the document, then frowned again as she cooperated with the troop deployment procedure.

She considered for a moment and asked, "How long will it take you to come back?"

"It could be a few months or one or two years. I can't say for sure, but I will do it as soon as possible." Orville told the truth.

Tia opened her mouth to speak, but in the end no words came out. She clenched her fists continuously, but finally loosened them weakly.

She sighed as if resigned to her fate, then stood up, opened her arms, and hugged Orville tightly. It was not until Orville felt his bones creaking for a long time that she let go of her arms.

Tia stared at Orville seriously: "It's meaningless to talk too much about love, but I will wait for you here. Fortuna (the goddess of fate) and Juno (the goddess of marriage) have linked our destinies together, and we will meet again sooner or later."

Orville nodded heavily and kissed the other person's cheek in response: "Of course, don't forget that Minerva, Jupiter and the Roman goddess are also blessing us in the temple."
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After all, the army is a serious place, and Orville did not waste too much time with Tia, otherwise it would have a bad impact. After getting the certificate for mobilizing troops, he led the army out of the Guards camp, and then according to his own plan, he loaded all the necessary personnel and resources onto the last batch of transport ships in the port of Ostia and left Rome.

Of course, there were many pirates in the Mediterranean at that time. No matter how many times they were cleared out, it was only a temporary solution. However, on the one hand, this was a prosperous mainstream route, and on the other hand, it was estimated that few pirates would dare to rob the transport fleet escorted by warships, so it could be said that the journey was smooth. They set out from the port of Ostia, crossed the Strait of Messina, arrived at the coast of Athens, and then passed through sea hubs such as Rhodes to reach the island of Cyprus.

According to normal logic, he should have gone directly to Antioch at this time to meet Cleopatra, but he did not do so. Instead, he went directly through Antioch and arrived at the Kingdom of Parphi.

The reason is very simple - he doesn't want local Egyptian forces such as Berdinos to think that he has anything to do with Cleopatra. They will definitely have some suspicions, but he can't confirm this, so it's best for him to play dumb for a while.

When Orville arrived in Palphi, he learned the latest and most reliable news from King Herod, who was paying close attention to the current situation. It was almost what he expected, except that Cleopatra was more determined than he thought.

(End of this chapter)