Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 274 Return to peace
The fighting and chaos continued intermittently throughout the night, and it was not until the early morning of the next day that the city returned to peace.

Although many battles broke out in the city, Orville's control over his soldiers was generally good. He restrained his soldiers well, and such evil incidents as looting or massacre did not occur too commonly. The Romans took over control of the city from King Ptolemy and Berdinus, and quickly restored basic order.

Orville had not had a good rest in the past few days because he was worried about the changes in the war situation and had to plan military operations overnight. He ran around the city all night directing the battle. He didn't feel anything because of the high tension before, but now that the overall situation has been decided, Orville's fatigue quickly came over him. Due to fatigue, he handed over the control of the army to his officers and went back to Soros Island to rest, preparing to sleep for a while before dealing with the mess.

Cleopatra took over this responsibility very well. She kept moving around the city at dawn, giving speeches to calm people's hearts. She also decided to open some granaries and vaults that had not been transported in time, and distributed some of the supplies inside to the civilians in Alexandria who were affected by the war.

This series of actions made the Romans generally have a higher opinion of her, because Cleopatra had not had a good rest for several days, but now she could still muster up the energy to do these things. At least she still had patience and a sense of responsibility. Moreover, there were still many remnants of the enemy army roaming or hiding in the city. Wandering around in the city at this time would be more or less dangerous, and it required courage and determination.

At least in the eyes of the Romans, Cleopatra was better than her brother who fled from the battlefield.

Originally, she could be considered the legitimate ruler of the country, and coupled with these actions to please the local civilians, the situation in the city did become a little more stable as a result of this series of measures.

In addition to these measures to appease the people, Cleopatra quickly found a way to organize people to clean up the messy city and the port of Alexandria, which had become a mess due to the fire, striving to restore this huge city to normal operation in the shortest time possible.

Even so, according to the calculations of the staff and architects, it would take at least a week for the city to resume production and life, and at least a few years for the city to recover from the trauma of the war. Although she won the war, it was definitely not without cost.
-
Orville was not in a hurry to advance, but just consolidated the current results. At the same time, he sent people to guard the various transportation hubs around Alexandria to prevent the other side from sending troops to try to retake the city.

However, according to the news that came later, there was no need for Orville to be so cautious, because just as he guessed, civil strife broke out within the Ptolemaic royal family.

News came from Memphis that a military coup had broken out within the Egyptian army, and the army impeached both Berdinus and Achilles on the grounds that they had performed their duties poorly.

Since Achilles' Guards had suffered heavy losses in the previous war with the Romans, and many of them were left in Alexandria and had not yet gathered, their military strength was not dominant.

This was their most vulnerable time, but it was not King Ptolemy who seized the opportunity, but he and Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe.

She attributed the cause of this incident to the greed of Berdinus and the inaction of Achilles, believing that without their foolish behavior, no one would have ended up in the current situation. Now was a time when the army was in low spirits and negative emotions were surging. She cleverly directed the spearhead to the two of them and successfully persuaded the dissidents in the army to unite and launch an armed coup.

The two men were still on guard against the coup, but they had always been on guard against King Ptolemy on the throne. Unexpectedly, it was not him who launched the attack, but this inconspicuous royal princess. Due to the suddenness of the action and the huge difference in strength, the resistance of the two men was unsuccessful. Achilles died on the spot, and Berdinus did not survive and was publicly beheaded.

Logically, they should have left at least one person to report to the Romans, because since they chose to hold them both responsible, someone had to take the blame. This was certainly not an accidental mistake, it was obviously intentional, because the two knew too much.

Most of the people who really had disagreements with the two from the beginning actually had to leave Egypt or were exiled to remote places. A group of such people gathered around Cleopatra, and their temporary base was now in Antioch.

Even if some of these people in the army hid themselves well and were indeed against Berdinos from the beginning, they were only a small part. The vast majority of them could be said to be Berdinos factions. They had countless deep interests with Berdinos, but now the monkeys have scattered when the tree has fallen.

If people like Berdinus or Achilles were allowed back, it would be obvious that they would tell everything to the Romans in order to save their lives, and then the Romans would have a clear reason to take action against them.

Although Orville certainly has other ways to find out the truth, people always have a sense of luck. Moreover, they are also afraid that Berdinos will save his life this time by relying on political tactics, and will look for a chance to make a comeback and settle accounts with them, the fence-sitters, so Berdinos must die.

Out of fear of retaliation, this military coup was extremely bloody. All those who were considered to be loyal to Berdinus were purged. After the purge, the army was led by the eunuch Caimod, who formed an alliance with Arsinoe. The two of them worked together to once again dethrone the king and became the de facto rulers of Egypt.

After they came to power, the first thing they did was not to order the whole country to prepare for war, but to send envoys to Alexandria to ask for surrender and explain the situation.

They clearly expressed their purpose: those who wanted to fight the Romans before and who were enemies of the Romans were Berdinus and others. Now that they had been dealt with by the Egyptians themselves, there was no need for Egypt and the Roman Empire to continue fighting. The royal family was willing to accept the investigation and guidance of the Roman Empire.

That's why Orville was able to know the news so early and so quickly, because they took the initiative to reveal it.

Orville saw all of their fence-sitting behavior, and to be honest, he didn't like it very much, but now that things have come to this, he will not refuse the other party's surrender. He only asked the other party to disarm and come to Alexandria in person to accept the investigation.

(End of this chapter)