Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 253: Long-standing Problems
Since he was here to buy luxury goods, Orville did put a lot of effort into doing this.

It is not difficult to buy things if you have money, but the difficult part is to find a stable and large number of long-term suppliers. Orville did not go to Antonis for this because he did not want to owe anyone a favor. He had two other friends who could help him.

One was Herod of Parvathy and the other was Valerian of Capua. Both of them had dealings with people in Alexandria and more or less knew some friends doing business in Alexandria.

Through their relationships, Orville has found many potential partners. He is still comparing prices and negotiating prices, but he has found a way. It is not difficult to buy a certain amount of luxury goods. The money Orville has now is just a drop in the bucket for a city like Alexandria with a population of hundreds of thousands. Even if he throws it all in, there will be no effect. So it is enough at this stage, and the most basic goal can be said to have been successfully completed.

But at this moment, Orville noticed that Ivar was doing something else - he was studying maps of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean east of Egypt, and he frankly stated that he was indeed interested in the unknown world further east.

The impulse to explore the unknown world was secondary. The main reason was that Ivar might have been stimulated by the local wealth. If a merchant ship traveling between Egypt and India could come back alive, the profit would be at least several times. If it was a spice ship, the profit could reach fifteen or even twenty times. Anyone who saw the ship full of gold and silver would be jealous, not to mention that these Vikings believed that their navigation skills were not inferior to anyone else and that they could really make a living from this.

Orville was happy to see this happen. Now the shipping routes east of Egypt were not controlled by the Romans, and their navigation talent was hard to describe. At most, they could provide financial support to local merchant ships and come back to share some of the profits. If the Vikings could further open up trade routes, it would not be detrimental to the overall trade structure of the empire.

………………

Not long after, in Alexandria, Egypt, Orville was on a ship observing the situation.

Stilicho said that he could rest assured to entrust the task to him, but Orville felt that after all, he had to command the troops instead of just sitting back and enjoying the results, so he also needed to have a deep understanding.

Maps these days are not very accurate and rely more on human memory. Instead of relying on others, the most reliable way is to visit the location yourself and remember the terrain and surrounding conditions clearly. This can barely offset the local advantages of the locals.

While inspecting the estuary, Orville compared this place with Ostia, Rome's largest and most advanced port city, and concluded that this place was more lively than Ostia, but far less efficient and fast.

He personally believed that this meant that Egypt's strength was no longer as strong as before - you know, starting with Caesar, the Romans had always used Alexandria as a template to learn from. He proposed a series of grand infrastructure construction projects, including rebuilding the port of Ostia, overhauling roads, reclaiming land from lakes, developing wetlands, diverting the Tiber River, excavating the Isthmus of Corinth, and so on.

The construction plan for Ostia, the gateway port of Rome, was largely based on the Port of Alexandria. Caesar even invited many Egyptian and Greek craftsmen to Rome. They were indeed the most advanced and excellent at the time. However, due to some "force majeure factors", the project was delayed for a long time.

By the time the Port of Ostia was actually rebuilt, it was more than ten years ago during the reign of Claudius. At that time, the Romans did not rely too much on Egyptian craftsmen, because they had their own equally skilled ones, and most of the craftsmen were from their own country. After its completion, the Port of Claudius was one of the most advanced ports in the Mediterranean. In Orville's opinion, both the planning and the construction technology used were much better than the current Port of Alexandria.

Compared with the Port of Ostia, the moored ships in the Port of Alexandria are arranged very densely, the layout of the port entrances and exits is not so reasonable and effective, and the management staff are full of omissions. It can only be said that the port can barely maintain stable operation. Bribes are often demanded and even raised on the spot, which sometimes has a completely negative effect. It can be said that there is no way. Since the port was built in the early Ptolemaic Dynasty, it should have been hundreds of years to this day. The Ptolemaic royal family did not carry out a thorough and large-scale renovation of the port. On the contrary, the increasing population of Alexandria has slowed down the operation efficiency of the port to a certain extent, making it even more bloated than expected.

After sailing around the sea for many times, Orville finally returned to land. At this time, Trajan rode up to him and asked him, "Lord Astolfo wants to see you. Do you think you should go see him now?"

When Orville heard Astolfo's name, he was stunned for a moment, because the other party had not contacted him for a long time after he left Rome without saying goodbye. Orville was mentally prepared for the other party to lose contact, but he didn't expect that he would take the initiative to find him now.

"Then let him come to the camp to find me."

Trajan had a strange expression on his face, but the distance between them was quite far, so Orville didn't notice it and let Trajan ride back on horseback.
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Orville did not just wait there. He returned to the camp and had a simple dinner. He also checked the army's combat readiness. After a while, when he was reading a book to kill time, Astolfo finally arrived.

As soon as they met, Astolfo began to touch the back of his head and laughed awkwardly: "I am really sorry to trouble you this time. I encountered some troubles at the hotel. If it weren't for your help, I would have to pawn all my equipment to get out."

Orville turned his head to look at Trajan, who could only shrug his shoulders to express his helplessness. It was obvious that he had solved the problem and had not reported it to Orville.

I can roughly outline the process of what happened in my mind. It is very likely that Astolfo could not pay off his debts, so he came to Orville. Otherwise, I don’t know when the other party will contact me.

The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, and he was speechless to Astolfo: "You better have something serious to ask me, not just to ask my reliable subordinates to fill in your accounts."

"Don't worry. Although there is a little bit of this factor, I can still give you something in return."

Astolfo subconsciously glanced at the soldiers around him, and Orville understood: "The soldiers I can bring with me are all loyal and reliable. Don't worry about them leaking secrets. I will take the responsibility if there are any problems."

In his opinion, Astolfo was probably not as reliable as these personal guards. After all, they were selected by him personally and had lived and ate with him during his military career for several years. There was no need to doubt their loyalty.

(End of this chapter)