Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 268 Palace Coup
Orville could vaguely sense that there might be some problems within the enemy's army. The reason was probably that the Guards did not want to add more lives to the battlefield, and some high-ranking Egyptian figures had disagreements with the Guards because of this. The outcome was still unknown.

Cleopatra didn't know much about military affairs, but matters related to the Praetorian Guard could be considered an extension of politics. She gave Orville a brief explanation of the current situation between the Praetorian Guard and the Egyptian royal family and Berdinos.

In short, the commander of the Praetorian Guard, Achilles, was a die-hard supporter of Berdinus and had considerable disagreements with the king. The Ptolemaic royal family was also not of one mind - Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe (Arsinoe IV) also had ambitions, and she was sitting on the fence between the king and Berdinus, waiting for an opportunity to make her move.

After Cleopatra learned that the Guards had withdrawn from the battlefield, she made her own judgment - most likely Achilles and King Ptolemy had a falling out. The results that came a few days later also proved that Cleopatra's sense on this point was indeed quite sharp.

Orville's channels for obtaining information were not completely cut off. He could still extract intelligence from the enemy's captured soldiers. Most of the soldiers in Alexandria were Greeks, who were from a relatively high social class and more sensitive to political changes. After interrogating some people, Orville roughly understood the current situation.

Official documents said that King Ptolemy fell ill while supervising the battle at the front and has now returned to the palace to recuperate. The government affairs are temporarily taken over by Arsinoe IV. There are no major changes in personnel. Berdinus is still the regent and Achilles is still the commander of the Praetorian Guard.

This rhetoric is just to fool the people below. Anyone who has a basic understanding of current affairs will not think that this is the truth.

It is obvious that this was a "palace coup". The specific reason is unknown, but King Ptolemy must have lost his originally limited power. Now he is either dead or under house arrest in the palace. Orville personally prefers the latter, because the crime of regicide is really not good to say, and there is no need for Berdinus to do this.

This sounds like a big deal, but in fact it has little impact on the political situation. After all, King Ptolemy himself does not have much power, and the only troops he can mobilize are probably his own few hundred guards. It is still unclear whether the administrative order can leave the palace without Berdinus's approval.

For Berdinos, this was probably the puppet being disobedient, so he simply replaced it with a new one. Orwell was happy to see this happen, as the more chaos Egypt had within itself, the better.

Cleopatra felt a little melancholy after hearing the news: "In fact, I originally held another hope, that my useless brother might be able to seize the opportunity to regain his power in the struggle between me and Berdinus, but now it seems to be nothing more than an unrealistic fantasy.

Now he can't even keep his crown, so please pay attention to my sister. She is a troublesome person like me, and she might do something unexpected. "

"The women in your family are really...not a single one is easy to deal with."

Whether in history or in this time and space, Cleopatra and her two sisters are quite troublesome people. Her sister Berenice IV (not the Princess Berenice of Parphi) participated in the rebellion of Egyptian civilians against their father. With the help of the Romans, the rebellion was suppressed and she was beheaded. Orville happened to see that scene.

Needless to say, she herself cannot make trouble and will not become an ally of Orville.

Her sister Arsinoe would also compete with Cleopatra for power in history. She was not executed by Antony until Caesar died and Antony and Cleopatra had an affair. The internal struggle of the Ptolemaic family was barely settled at this time, but Ptolemaic Egypt would perish within a few years.

"In fact, the men in my family are also restless, but my father and my brother are not good enough. If our ancestor [Savior] Ptolemy (the founding monarch of Egypt) had been law-abiding, would my family still have this kingdom?"

"That's right," Orville chuckled. "If I were particularly law-abiding, I wouldn't be talking to you here. I'd probably still be serving as the governor of Britain and dealing with the barbarians."

"Of course it is. So being restless is not necessarily a bad thing, provided that you know your own limitations and don't do things beyond your capabilities." Cleopatra agreed half-seriously.
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While Orville was fighting wits and courage with the local tyrants in Ptolemaic Egypt, Belisarius, far away in Britain, was also busy.

He faced huge management pressure and insufficient grassroots bureaucracy, which was a problem that could not be solved by bravery or well-trained soldiers. Belisarius was not a man who cared about face. After realizing that the power he had was not enough to rule the province, he immediately asked for help from Rome. Since Orwell was far away in Egypt, Nicanor, who was stationed in Rome, followed Orwell's previous instructions and made his own decision to dispatch some reinforcements to Belisarius.

Orville once instructed the people in each hostel: if their ability allowed, they could hire some civilian children as helpers. Orville would pay for their simple reading, writing and arithmetic education, and those who were capable and smart could be given special training. It had been three to five years since this order was issued, and now it was time to reap the first results.

Orville obtained dozens of people who could read, write, do simple arithmetic, had quick minds and were relatively loyal to him. After selecting a few of them to supplement the military team, most of the rest were sent to Belisarius.

Even though there were only a few dozen people, the cooperation with the Central Tia helped Belisarius solve his urgent problem. And the key is that this is a sustainable business. Every year, a small group of people will graduate and become grassroots bureaucrats after on-the-job training. They are not like the traditional elite intellectual class, who are picky and have many problems. They are unwilling to go to faraway places or poor places. As long as the treatment is good enough, it is basically not a big problem for them to settle down wherever Orville orders them to.

But even after the shortage of manpower was alleviated, Belisarius still had a lot of troubles to think about, such as the restless barbarians on the border. He was now racking his brains over how to deal with them.

(End of this chapter)