Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 302 Self-recommendation
It is understandable that Orville has such a request. It is like an interview for an important position, which will definitely depend on qualifications and ability level. He will not delegate tasks casually, as that would be irresponsible to everyone.

Hypatia didn't waste any words. She took out an astrolabe from her bosom and handed it to Orville.

Orville had also formed a navy and had some knowledge of navigation. He could see that this astrolabe was different from the ones he had seen before, with more sophisticated and detailed parts.

"You may be a little distrustful of my gender and age, but I believe my talent can make up for it. This is my improved astrolabe. The measurement accuracy has been greatly improved. It can also measure some things that were not measured before. You can hand it over to professional naval officers for inspection. They will be able to find the differences."

"No need. I've seen it myself."

Orville was quite satisfied with this thing. The other party might exaggerate but would never dare to lie. In his eyes, anything that could improve navigation efficiency was a treasure. This astrolabe alone was enough for Orville to spend a large price to recruit the other party.

Astronomy, at least in this era, is not as metaphysical as it was in the Middle Ages. It is a subject that is highly linked to mathematics and geography. People who have made achievements in astronomy will definitely not be ignorant of the other two.

"You can ask me a few more questions about mathematics. I have read all the mathematical books you know, and even annotated the most important ones. This should prove my level to a certain extent."

This brings us to Orville's blind spots in knowledge. His math skills may not necessarily be as good as the other party's. This is because he did not have a good foundation in his previous life. Most of the people around him are rough people. They can do a little math and read and write, but it is difficult for these guards who concentrate on studying how to kill people after eating and sleeping to go deeper and discuss academic issues with professional scholars.

So, Orville had to solve the problem the old way.

After pretending to fiddle with the astrolabe for a few times, Orville personally handed the astrolabe back to Hypatia. There was physical contact between the two, and the corresponding information was transmitted to each other's minds.

[Claudius Hypatia, a scholar well-read in poetry and books]

Diplomacy: 16
Military: 13
Management: 17
Strategy: 11
Knowledge: 28
Her knowledge attribute is pretty good considering her age, and she should be able to handle most tasks, which makes Orville more or less relieved.

So he pretended to be generous and said, "There is no need for this. You have already proved your talent. I don't need to test your ability in this mediocre way.

Let’s move on to the next topic: What kind of support do you want from me?”

"I only ask that you provide me with funds and some people who can do math and write. I cannot accomplish such a grand task as mapping the entire country by myself, and I am afraid that even with your help, it will be difficult to accomplish it completely. But I can guarantee that I will achieve something, and you will not return empty-handed in disappointment."

Orville thought about how many spare people he had and said to her, "I can give you thirty people, and enough supplies and money."

The other party bowed his head respectfully: "No problem, these manpower are more than enough. Thank you for your generosity in giving me this opportunity to prove myself." Letting women, especially those without talent, hold important positions at this time is definitely controversial, but Orville doesn't care much about this. He wants to see who is so idle and has nothing to do to impeach him with this reason.

If there really was a problem, Orville would at most find a reason, such as claiming that the other party was a gifted person of knowledge and culture like Apollo. Anyway, the judgment of this thing is very metaphysical, and when it comes to matters involving the gods, as long as Hypatia herself does not make any mistakes, no one will say anything more.
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More than half a month later, in the soldiers' training ground, Tura was really giving orders to the soldiers.

Under the command of whistles and drums, the dark-skinned Egyptian soldiers below performed various actions - advancing, lining up, charging, and stabbing.
Although he still seemed a little unfamiliar, he at least looked like a soldier. Trajan had been busy for the past month, working hard and struggling with them day and night. Because he was a newcomer, he encountered many problems, but the result was good. He gave Orville a good answer.

Cleopatra and Orville, who were observing the situation from the highest point of the stands, were quite satisfied with this. Cleopatra was the first to speak: "Tula is really a soldier with great potential. I can sense his strong desire for honor. What is commendable is that he is also very capable. I heard that you have been keeping this man by your side for several years?"

"I originally brought this child of my late comrade with me to raise. Now that the time is almost right, I will let him go out to work. Trajan is very capable, and it is a waste of his talent to be a secretary."

Not only Trajan, he now also sent Agricola to the front line to serve as the cavalry commander of a legion, and the soldiers had a good opinion of him.

So he is quite busy now. Without his right-hand assistant, he has to do many things himself. He is looking for a new secretary who is obviously more suitable to assist him for a long time than leading troops to fight on the front line.

Hearing this, Cleopatra nodded slightly, agreeing with Orville's statement.

Orville took the opportunity to continue, "If you are satisfied with him, I plan to let him be responsible for the training and part of the recruitment of your army. What do you think? Although he is young, his ability has been tested many times, and he will not make any big mistakes."

People would definitely gossip about him taking on such an important task at a age not even 20 years old, but Orville just needed to deal with Cleopatra, and he believed that Trajan would be no problem.

"You know more about military affairs than I do, so I can listen to you. It's not a big deal. But let's discuss some political issues. How many local people do you plan to recruit into the army?" Cleopatra handed the fruit peeled by the servant to Orville, but Orville did not take it and continued to think about this question.

Compared with other successor kingdoms, Ptolemaic Egypt had a high rate of localization of soldiers, with as many as one-third of the soldiers being of non-Greek origin. Considering the ratio of locals to Greeks being 1:8 or even 1:10, this military system was very distorted.

Orville did not intend to continue to treat the Greeks as his masters and did not want to maintain their dominant position, so naturally there was no need to tilt resources towards them or implement a class blockade policy against the natives.

He said tentatively: "How about half and half? It's not good to change it hastily."

(End of this chapter)