Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 273 Arson
At this time, both sides involuntarily turned their attention to the only Roman legion stationed there. After Antonius was assassinated, except for the initial wave of searches, they never took action against Orville again and remained silent during the war.

Now they are the ones who decide the direction of the war - seeing that the Guards are struggling and the palace is about to be breached, their base is near the Roman Governor's Palace, and the Governor's Palace is not far from the palace. If they make up their minds to confront Orville at this time, they can definitely rush over to fight.

They had reasons to fight against Orwell, after all, Orwell assassinated their legion leader. They also had reasons to fight against Ptolemaic Egypt or stand aside, after all, the interests of the empire as a whole were above all else.

After some hesitation, they finally chose to stand aside and watch. The reason is not difficult to understand: they are not Egyptians but Romans. Their homes and roots are in Rome. Perhaps some of them will continue to stay in Egypt after retirement, but this is only a part of the people after all, and more people will always have to go home.

They did have feelings and friendship for Antonius, and they were indeed very unhappy with Orville, but they did not have the determination to openly challenge the emperor. This was a crime of treason, and no one could afford it. After carefully thinking about his relationship with Antonius, this more rational legion commander chose to stand aside and turn a blind eye to the fight between Orville and the Egyptians.

Orville also sensed the other party's gesture of goodwill, and he did not force the legionnaires to participate in the attack on the palace. After all, there were inextricable interests between the two sides. It was not a bad thing to leave some room for the other party, and his own troops continued to attack the palace gate.

In the end, it was the gifted ones who led the team to climb the palace wall first, and seized the city gate with their combat power advantage. The army poured into the palace from the gate, but found that it was an empty palace. There were only a few cats and dogs left inside, and no one was worthy of attention.

Achilles, Berdinus, King Ptolemy, Arsinoe and others whom Orville wanted to find were all gone. Only a few of Cleopatra's cousins ​​were in the city and did not have time to evacuate.

Trajan was puzzled by this: "We only have a few thousand people, and they know it. There must be a lot of soldiers stationed in the palace, and the city gates are wide and thick, and the walls are high. It looks easy to defend but difficult to attack. How could they just abandon the palace and run away?!"

After searching the palace several times, and even looking for the secret room that Cleopatra mentioned, they still found nothing, which puzzled Trajan. In his opinion, if he were the king of Egypt, he would definitely mobilize a large number of troops to defend the palace, which symbolized the dignity of the royal family. Giving up without much resistance was not a good choice, let alone a brave and honorable choice.

If the palace is abandoned at such a critical moment, morale and people's hearts will be scattered. In war, hard power and data comparison are one aspect, and the confidence of one's own people in winning the war is equally important. Giving up the palace is definitely a bad move from this point of view. When the supreme commander has no confidence in victory, it would be strange if the people below would fight to the death.

Orville didn't really understand, but he could only continue, "Maybe in their eyes, these things are not important. Anyway, the overall situation is now determined, and it is only a matter of time before we win in Alexandria. Search for the location of His Majesty the King. They should go to places like Memphis. Be careful and don't let them go there and join the local garrison, otherwise things will be much more troublesome.

The first, second, and third battalions will clear out the surrounding enemy forces, the fourth battalion will go after His Majesty the King, and the remaining 100-man team will stay in the palace and stabilize the order in the surrounding areas. I don't want riots or robberies to happen under my nose."

Just as Orville was speaking, a messenger came running over breathlessly and said that Cleopatra had important matters to report to Orville.

Orville frowned. His order was to let the other party wait on Soros Island. However, he did not make trouble with the messenger. He waved his hand and asked his subordinates to perform their respective duties. He asked them to bring Cleopatra into the palace. When they met, he said bluntly: "It is better for you not to take subjective initiative at this time. I will not pursue the matter of Soros Island for the time being. You can stay here for the rest of the time."

It's not that he is conservative and thinks women shouldn't go to the battlefield. He simply doesn't believe in Cleopatra's military ability. She is not like Tia who has received training in this area since childhood and is a qualified military aristocrat. She doesn't have cheats like Jeanne Dacre. According to the system panel, her military ability is not even up to the level of ordinary people. Letting her come up would only increase the uncertainty.

I don't quite understand what "subjective initiative" means, but Cleopatra probably understands that Orville dislikes her for causing trouble.

She said solemnly: "Your Highness, I now ask you to set this palace on fire. The stronger the fire, the better. Don't think about saving this place. It will be most useful to us if it is burned down now.

As long as there is a fire here, the defenders in other parts of the city will be in chaos, and your next move will be smooth sailing. By then, the city will be in your hands.

Although you have seized the palace, there are still many enemies in this city. It is better to attack their hearts. Can you accept that your brave warriors will bleed in vain?"

It must be said that Cleopatra's words made sense. According to Orville's own idea, if these monuments could not be burned, they would be burned as much as possible, but now that the owner has spoken, there is nothing to say, just do it, it can indeed save a lot of trouble.

It is indeed a pity that hundreds of years of ancient buildings are destroyed, but it is even more regrettable that hundreds of people were killed or injured. Buildings are dead, but people are alive.

Under Orville's order, the army in the palace began to set fire to the palace. Since the city wall was made of stone, the fire did not spread out, but people in the city could see the flames rising from the direction of the palace. Orville's goal had been achieved.

Just as Cleopatra said, this move destroyed the will to resist of many people. More people chose to remain silent or lay down their weapons and be captured. The few people who still had the will to resist saw that the situation in Alexandria was hopeless, so they did not fight back, but quietly evacuated with the necessary items and manpower, preparing to retreat to other places to continue the resistance.

As Orville said before, most of their targets are also Memphis, the capital city of Ptolemaic Egypt before Alexander, which also has troops, wealth and population, enough for them to continue to fight against Orville.

(End of this chapter)