Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 283 Pliny

Ivar also invested 100,000 dinars as a shareholder. This was Orvel's instruction. He wanted to take the initiative to give the other party a piece of the pie. Only when there are common interests can the other party stand on his side better.

In fact, he felt that he would not necessarily suffer a loss in the future, because Ivar was really interested in developing the Indian Ocean trade route. After the war, he had been studying the sea conditions in the Red Sea and waters further east, and it could be said that he had achieved some results.

If this could be accomplished, the benefits behind it would be hard to imagine. A successful voyage could bring in more than ten times the profit. The half-tenth share that Orville gave to the other party was actually too little.

In addition to the traditional areas of transportation, hotels and trade, Orville also plans to move the paper mill here and build new arsenals, shipyards and ironworks. The scale of this place is large enough to handle all these things, but that is a story for later. The first step is to get the ships out.

In order to achieve this goal, Orville went to see Pliny in person again.
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Pliny's residence was right next to the port. He was a very responsible man. After confirming that his duty was to ensure the safety of Egypt's maritime transportation, he bought a house near the naval port with his own money and moved in. It was only a dozen minutes' drive from here to the port.

The Pliny that Orville met was a middle-aged man who looked a little old. His hair had turned gray and his face had obvious signs of weathering. He was probably in his early fifties now, and could barely be considered a middle-aged man.

When the other party saw Orvel, he shook hands with him enthusiastically: "I have wanted to meet you for a long time. I have many questions outside of work that I want to ask you, but you must have come to me for work. So please speak first, I will tell you everything I know."

【Gaius Pliny Secundus, a learned scholar】

Diplomacy: 18
Military: 17
Management: 21
Strategy: 9
Knowledge: 37
Pliny's personal abilities are indeed worthy of his resume - he has served as a financial inspector of several provinces, a cavalry captain and fleet commander, and a lawyer. He is also an encyclopedic scholar who has written works on many subjects. His understanding of military, law, human geography, finance, literature, rhetoric and speech and other subjects gives him very good attribute points. It is obvious that he is a talent worth recruiting.

With these random thoughts flashing through his mind, Orville put on a smile on his face, responding to the other party's enthusiasm: "I have heard of your name a long time ago, and I also have many questions I want to discuss with you. But now let's get back to the point. I want to ask you about the navy. I have been quite busy recently and I don't have a deep understanding of this aspect. Can you tell me about the current situation?"

Without mentioning the other party's age, he still respected this kind of intellectual. Just because his works were still an introductory textbook of natural history more than a thousand years later, Orville felt that he had reason to use honorifics for him.

“Your Majesty the Queen chose a good time. The arson caused heavy losses to the navy directly under the royal family. Except for those navy ships sent out on missions, most of the remaining ships were burned. Those that survived by chance were also severely damaged. Most of them need to be thoroughly repaired in the shipyard.

Now, not counting the ships I brought with me, there are still 15 Punt ships (main-class five-layer galleys) and more than 50 other warships in the naval port after the rescue. Some of these ships are not in good condition and it is time to retire and replace them. "

Since they only had to deal with pirates who were not important and did not need to deal with other naval powers, the Egyptian navy, like the army, became somewhat slack and could only fight security wars. The navy was already shrinking in size, and after being burned by Cleopatra, it could basically start from scratch. This was not a bad thing for Orville. It was better to say that he was happy with it, so that he would not have to waste time arguing with the Egyptian navy, and it would be more reliable to directly train his own troops.

In addition to the Egyptians' own navy, Pliny brought about forty warships, including five Punic ships and the rest were small and medium-sized warships.

His fleet was not originally a main fleet, and its mission had always been to clear out pirates in the area. This kind of military force was sufficient for daily use, so Vespa was so generous as to loan both men and the fleet over. The Senate had no objection, because in their opinion it was really no big deal.

After thinking for a while, Orville said to Pliny: "Later, I will trouble you and my men to do one thing, to screen the officers and sailors in the Egyptian fleet. In my opinion, position is as important as ability. Do you understand what I mean?"

Pliny immediately understood: "Of course, I will try my best to ensure that there are no potentially dangerous elements in your navy. You will have a naval force that is loyal to the empire rather than Egypt."

Orville nodded and said, "I will find a way to deal with the missing sailors. Don't worry too much. I will trouble you with the training of the ships and sailors later."

Orville does have talents like Rollo and Ivar who are good at naval warfare, but asking them to train the navy may only be able to train a large pirate fleet. Moreover, they may not be able to adapt to the combat conditions in the Mediterranean in a short period of time.

On the whole, it is more reliable to entrust it to a professional naval admiral. The people are here, so it would be a waste if they are not used.

These were all Pliny's responsibilities, so the negotiations were not difficult and a consensus was easily reached between the two parties.

After that, Orville chatted with Pliny for a long time. Orville learned some necessary knowledge about navy from Pliny, while Pliny was very interested in many of Orville's "inventions", especially the new papermaking technology.

Now the cheap paper made by Orville has gained some fame in Rome, and has never had trouble selling it, because cheapness is indeed its biggest advantage. Even with a lot of premium, it is still much cheaper than parchment or papyrus. Orville has made a lot of money by selling books and paper.

Pliny humbly asked Orville for the principle, and after he promised not to leak the secret, Orville also shared the general principle with him. He was not afraid of the other party leaking the secret. Orville directed hundreds of papermaking craftsmen to try purposefully for several years, knowing the exact process, and only then did they come up with a usable finished paper. For the other party who only knew the principle, it would take at least seven or eight years to reverse engineer and restore it. By then, the process would probably have leaked out. Orville did not intend to keep the technology secret until he died of old age.

(End of this chapter)