Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 298 Treasure Appraisal
At the mouth of the Nile, a fleet docked at the port, carrying a group of craftsmen and a large number of blacksmithing tools.

The Romans sent a team of 100 men to pick them up, and they were placed in a manor on the outskirts of the city. After some time to adapt to the environment, they quickly started working.

The materials had been prepared long ago, and the factory buildings, quickly built with stones and Roman cement, rose from the ground under the construction of a large number of workers. Then these skilled craftsmen began to pile up the necessary equipment such as iron smelting furnaces, iron melting furnaces and blowers.

Orville has opened a military factory in Palphi, and now Orville is preparing to build a large-scale iron smelting workshop. The scale of the workshop may not be comparable to that of Rome, but at least it will be comparable to those metallurgical workshops in the Syrian province. On the one hand, it will provide metals for the arsenal, and on the other hand, it will manufacture farm tools and ship equipment.

This should be able to provide employment for some people and prevent the soldiers who have lost their jobs from becoming restless. Besides, Egypt and its surrounding areas are not without iron ore, and some of the iron ore is in the hands of the royal family. This will reduce a lot of costs.

He also planned to build a new military factory to distinguish it from the previous small military factory. The small one was responsible for producing shields and javelins (there were more tree resources around Palfi), while this one was responsible for producing swords, armor and heavy equipment.

The minimum requirement is to meet the needs of one's own direct army, and if there is spare capacity, it can also meet the equipment needs of the local army.

In addition, he also cooperated with Cleopatra to set up a shipyard, which was specifically responsible for building large ships, giving priority to meeting military needs and manufacturing super-large galleys.

This is roughly where the millions of dinars that Orville collected went. The spoils obtained from the nobles have now been spent at a discount. Except for the necessary reserve funds, it can be said that Orville became poor again just after he became rich.
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In the Governor's Palace, which was also the Royal Palace, Orville and Cleopatra sat opposite each other, eating leisurely and talking about something.

Cleopatra knew that Orville didn't like servants to serve him too thoroughly and preferred to do things himself, so she respected Orville's habits and sent the servants away. There were only two people within five or six meters around, looking at each other.

She seemed quiet and elegant at this moment, sipping the diluted wine in the glass, and from time to time reaching out to grab a piece of candied fruit and putting it in her mouth.

Orville spoke first, "It's a bit disappointing, but I still have to say one thing. You'd better be careful when you go out to appease the people recently. There are still some people who are still thinking evil. My guards have prevented three assassinations against you or me recently. The palace is of course safe. Your guards and I have surrounded this place tightly, but in those places outside the city, I can only say that there is a little risk, so be careful."

She smiled and took another sip of wine. "Didn't you send me your bravest warrior?"

Since Orville would not leave Alexandria recently and the surrounding guards were sufficient, he transferred Cuchulainn to Cleopatra.

The story of Cu Chulainn sneaking into the governor's palace alone and killing Antonius, who was also a gifted person, was widely circulated. In addition, due to his outstanding performance in the war, he had gained some reputation in Egypt. After taking the other party there, many people who were ready to act did give up, or at least gave up the assassination plan against Cleopatra on the surface.

"It is easy to dodge an open attack but difficult to guard against an arrow from the dark. Cu Chulainn cannot predict the future, so it is right to be cautious."

"Speaking of this," Cleopatra suddenly changed the subject, "I heard that you have a subordinate who can predict the future? I think her name is Jeanne d'Acre, and the barbarians in Gaul call her the Saint.

According to the information I received, she fought several brilliant battles during the Gallic War and defeated several of your legions. Can you tell me more about her?" Orville denied, "In fact, she is not as exaggerated as predicting the future. I can't reveal the details. You just need to know the rest. Jeanne should indeed be the so-called Chosen One, but she is still far behind those truly unreasonable Chosen Ones."

Cleopatra was a little dazed. "The Chosen One is such a nostalgic word. It is said that my ancestor [Savior] Ptolemy was also a Chosen One. However, the descendants of the successor kingdoms all say so, claiming that their ancestors were Chosen Ones like Alexander, not Gifted Ones. It is actually hard to predict."

At that time, the only person who could be confirmed as the chosen one by God was Alexander. People called him the son of Zeus and regarded him as a great demigod hero in the world. I don’t know what his biological father thought about this.

"So it's quite ironic if you think about it. The gods gave the Chosen One to the Gauls instead of the Romans who rule the world now. Maybe they have some opinions about the Roman rule."

Cleopatra tilted her head and looked at Orville strangely: "I heard that Jeanne Dacre believed in the gods of the Palphians, not Jupiter or those barbarian gods. Even if it is really a gift from the gods, it was bestowed by the Eternal One on his believers."

"You know it very well."

"Don't underestimate me. I have ruled over quite a few Palfi people, and I have a general understanding of their culture and religious beliefs. I even know that the Eternal One that Jeanne Dacre believes in is different from the beliefs of the Palfi people. She probably doesn't know that thirty or forty years ago, there was a senior in Palfi who had similar views and ideas to her."

The person Cleopatra was referring to was Jesus, another chosen one of the Eternal.

When it comes to topics related to the prophet, Orville becomes slightly interested: "How much do you know about the Chosen One?"

He also has the "Lance of Longinus" and the "True Cross" in his hands, which would be great if they could be of some use.

"It should be more than you think. I have some information handed down from ancient times. It was found by Alexander the Great in mainland Greece, and my ancestors got it from Alexander the Great. It is now almost extinct. Even the largest library of you Romans would not have the same complete set of information."

When Cleopatra mentioned this, her eyes sparkled, and she was obviously very proud of it.

She did have reason to be proud. These texts dated back eight or nine hundred years ago. Her family had passed them down from generation to generation. They were almost unique in the entire Mediterranean world, and there were many such unique things in the Library of Alexandria.

Orville had asked King Herod before, but he didn't find any practical value in these things. This might be because King Herod was also an "upstart" from outside and didn't have the mysterious information from the time of King Solomon or King David. Maybe Cleopatra knew something.

Thinking of this, Orville continued to ask: "Then I want to show you something, can you help me identify its function?"

(End of this chapter)