Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 269 Dispute
Orville and Boudica, the leader of the Welsh barbarians, reached a contract, in which the two sides kept out of each other's way, and the Romans returned part of the land originally occupied by the Germans to them. This apparent harmony did last for a while, and the two sides carried out normal trade and exchange activities. However, as time went on, problems on Boudica's side gradually emerged - barbarians were barbarians after all, and they lacked organizational and control capabilities.

Boudica was nominally the leader they jointly elected, but that was all. She could only rule one of the tribes, and the rest of the tribes nominally respected Boudica as the leader and obeyed her commands to a certain extent during the war. This kind of control was not strong at all. If the people of the tribes below wanted to do something, Boudica could not stop them under normal circumstances.

Belisarius has recently received several reports of merchants being robbed or even killed on the spot by these barbarians. This has made many merchants panic-stricken. Now most merchants are unwilling to go to lands outside of England, and even the number of people traveling to England for business is much less than expected.

After all, this kind of business is not particularly profitable to begin with, and now there is a risk to life, which results in very few people willing to go. More businessmen would rather do business on the European continent. After all, the profits are not much worse than this, and the safety is much better.

He also reported these problems to Boudica through legitimate official channels, using very serious language, but to no substantive effect - on the one hand, Boudica really could not restrain them, and on the other hand, Boudica failed to understand how serious the matter was.

Belisarius was not seeking an explanation for the deaths of these merchants and reporting back to their families. He was questioning Boudica as an imperial official why the residents of the empire died in Boudica's territory.

After writing several letters in succession, Belisarius did not get the response he wanted. This situation made him think - can he just let it go on like this?
Obviously, as a responsible governor who cared more about his life, Belisarius could not ignore their behavior. Today they could rob merchants passing by, but tomorrow they might go even further and enter the provinces of the Roman Empire to start looting.

His rough hands kept rubbing his chin. Finally, he made a decision and looked at his messenger: "Let the first and second battalions get ready and follow me to the border. At the same time, let them prepare for battle. If we encounter barbarians who rob our caravan, we will fight them."

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Turning our attention back to Egypt, a few days later Orville was still fighting the Egyptian army.

It should be said that the Egyptian army also achieved some results and took down several stone wall defenses, but the defense became more and more perfect as time went on. Every day, Orville ordered the soldiers and able-bodied men to try their best to set new traps on the island to delay the enemy's offensive. Faced with a large number of traps and complete fortifications, the Egyptian army ultimately failed to make any substantial progress.

For unknown reasons, the other side did not send the Guards to fight after that. Ordinary soldiers were not on the same level as Orwell's soldiers. Even with the advantage in numbers, it was still difficult to play out in this environment. The battle line was deadlocked near the fortress of Soros Island. The other side spent seven or eight days and did not even touch the wall of the fortress. This period of time was not considered a long siege. It was normal for a siege to last for several months in this era, but the Egyptian army had not fought a hard battle for too long. This short-term defeat made their morale a little unstable.

The ambiguous attitude of the Roman Empire further fueled this sense of uneasiness, but now that Berdinus is still in power, he is only a hidden danger and has no substantial impact on the current situation.

On the ninth day, the Egyptians brought heavy siege weapons from the other side - about thirty or forty catapults and crossbows. These bulky weapons began to continuously bombard the Soros Island Fortress and the stone walls below. Orville was not to be outdone and dragged out his own heavy weapons to fight back.

He didn't bring such things when he came, but the Romans mastered the technology to make these weapons, and with the materials available, they rushed to make a lot of torsion ballistas and catapults. Even if the quality and durability were slightly worse, they were still usable. Orville also stockpiled a lot of materials and rushed to make an opening on the top of the fortress so that they could shoot down calmly.

Both sides had the technology to manufacture heavy projectile weapons. One side had more numbers and the other had the advantage of terrain, so neither side suffered a big loss. At the same time, Ptolemy's army began to work overtime on the island to build towering siege towers. Seeing that these towers were getting taller day by day, Orville knew that it would not be long before the other side could touch the fortress wall.
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While Orville was fighting with the Ptolemaic army, the city of Rome was also busy. The Senate had been arguing fiercely for several days.

The news of what Orville had done had already reached the city of Rome. The senior officials who had learned about this were deeply shocked, and their opinions on his behavior were extremely polarized—one side thought he was right, while the other side thought he was extremely wrong.

Those who opposed him believed that the situation in Egypt was stable now and there was no need for any more trouble. Moreover, Orville's execution of Antonius without the permission of the court was an overstepping of authority and abuse of power for personal gain. It was even more absurd that he went to war with the Ptolemaic army without knowing his own strength. It was better to keep things quiet while Ptolemaic Egypt was still unwilling to resist the Romans. Not to mention severely punishing him, but giving the Ptolemaic royal family a reasonable explanation, such as sending him back to the British province for decades without being able to return.

Those who support him mainly believe that Egypt will sooner or later become a province of the empire, and that the current Ptolemaic royal family is hindering too many things. It was right for Orville to not let go of the opportunity he "accidentally" caught there, and it is unknown when the next good opportunity to intervene will be.

As for Antonis's affairs, although it is indeed wrong to exceed his authority, if his crimes are true, he is indeed guilty of the death penalty. Considering that Egypt's affairs are more important than the life of a mere senator, this behavior is understandable. Orville's merits outweigh his faults. There is no need to hold him accountable now. The key is to seize the opportunity to further intervene in Egypt.

(End of this chapter)