Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 279 Volcano Doomsday
On the surface, Cleopatra's reputation seemed to be damaged, but in fact she gained the most.

She eliminated the most legitimate male claimant to the throne, damaged Orville's reputation, and cleaned up some nobles loyal to King Ptolemy. Apart from a little reputation, her losses were not much, but her gains were the opposite.

With this doubt in mind, Orville was not stupid enough to question the other party face to face, but buried the doubt in his heart, and thus had a little more distrust of Cleopatra in his heart.

This may disappear with the passage of time, or it may become the seed of future disagreement between the two sides.
-
As time passed, the reinforcements that Orville had been waiting for finally arrived in Alexandria.

The reinforcements were basically the troops he had left in Rome or Marseille, as well as some newly recruited soldiers. These people expanded the soldiers under Orville's command from half a legion to a reinforced reorganized legion. Now the total number of legionnaires under his command was about six or seven thousand.

Aurelian was supposed to help recruit new soldiers and send them to Alexandria, but at Tia's unexpectedly strong request, she, as consul, was ultimately responsible for the task.

Tia led the soldiers to the military camp outside Alexandria, and then hastily handed over the command of the army to Stilicho, whom she knew, while she hurried to the Governor's Palace.

She had been to Alexandria before. Ancient cities generally do not change much within a few years, and there is no rule in Alexandria that prohibits riding horses. She rode her horse with superb riding skills, moving through the city like an arrow. In just over ten minutes, she arrived at the Governor's Palace near the city center from the suburbs.

Orville knew that the other party was coming, so he was waiting at the gate of the Governor's Mansion. When Tia saw Orville leading the way, she jumped off her horse before it stopped, and came up to Orville in one step, circled around him, and carefully observed him from left to right.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?! What's the situation?!"

Obviously, Tia is a typical example of someone who is too concerned. At this stage, she is not going to strip Orville's clothes off in the street to check his body like in the animation or comics, but Orville suspects that if he doesn't say something more, she will really take action. By then, if he doesn't die socially, he will be laughed at by his subordinates for a while.

Thinking of these things, he quickly said: "No problem, no problem! I am healthy and safe!"

All the guards turned their heads away in tacit understanding. Apparently, some of them couldn't hold back their laughter. Orville didn't care. He was very familiar with these guards and had been with them for three or four years. It was fine for them to be friends in private and to have fun with each other. He was not a king who needed the so-called "noble dignity and mystery". He just had to pay attention to the occasion when relaxing.

Tia didn't need to be reminded that she should pay attention to the occasion. She was a little anxious just now so she didn't pay much attention to her image. After she realized it, she immediately straightened her expression and put on a businesslike demeanor.

"According to the order of His Majesty the Emperor, the 3,525 reinforcements assigned to you have all been stationed at the military depot on the outskirts of the city.

Since you have more than one legion of soldiers, His Majesty the Emperor has decided to give your soldiers legion numbers. These soldiers will continue to serve as regular legion soldiers. His Majesty the Emperor has granted you the qualification to form the 16th Legion. You can come up with a specific name yourself. He has given you the autonomy to do this. In addition, His Majesty the Emperor has ordered me to investigate the latest situation in Egypt, so I need to stay in Egypt for a few days before leaving. I hope you can cooperate with our work.

Considering your letter saying that you need a navy to help you manage the maritime trade of Alexandria, His Majesty the Emperor has considered and authorized you to form a small navy belonging to the Egyptian province to maintain law and order. Before the navy is built, His Majesty the Emperor authorized the fleet stationed in the port of Misem in Capenia to assist you. The fleet commander Gaius Pliny Secundus will help you manage the navy until your navy has a preliminary framework. "

It can be said that it was all good news, but Orville suspected that "staying in Egypt for a few days before leaving" was Tia's own idea, because he wrote an extremely detailed report to Vespa and reported the situation to him weekly. Vespa definitely knew a lot about Egypt, and Tia, the current consul, had a lot of more meaningful things to do instead of wasting time in Egypt.

Obviously, this was an act influenced by personal feelings, but to be honest, Orville certainly didn't hate it, and it really didn't matter, so he just let him do what he wanted. It would be nice to have more helpers when things are most frustrating.

The only other thing worth noting is the name of Pliny. Orwell had an impression of him. He was the famous Pliny the Elder in history.

In addition to being a naturalist and encyclopedic scholar, his career resume is also quite impressive - he was born into an upper-middle-class family in the local area, served as a cavalry officer in the German Legion, and is currently the commander of the navy.

In Orville's opinion, this was obviously a candidate worth recruiting. The more talents there were, the better, especially since this was a generalist who was good at everything.

In addition to him, his nephew and adopted son Pliny the Younger was also a talented person, and was highly regarded by Trajan and others in later generations. He served as provincial governor and national treasury official. However, what are more well-known in later generations should be his letters, which have a rigorous format, rich content, and have been well preserved. They are one of the must-read materials for understanding the history of the classical era. To some extent, his importance to historians in the field of classical history may even exceed that of Tacitus, the "Whip of Tyrants".

[Wait…Tacitus and Pliny the Younger?!]

As Orville was thinking, he suddenly realized a very serious problem.

Among the hundreds of letters of Pliny the Younger that have survived, the most famous should be the correspondence between Pliny the Younger and the historian Tacitus, because in the letters Pliny the Younger described in detail a cruel and ruthless natural disaster as a personal witness.

This event is very famous in history, the so-called "Pompeii". The volcanic eruption caused the entire city to be buried in volcanic ash, becoming a vault for archaeological excavations and a symbol of disaster of that era.

The roles played by Pliny the Elder in this incident were: a naval commander who tried to provide disaster relief, and a naturalist who was curious about volcanic eruptions. These two identities drove him to rush into the dangerous disaster area to save people, but he was unable to return and died from the poisonous gas brought about by the volcanic eruption.

(End of this chapter)