Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 325 Candidates

To be honest, Orwell is still unsure about whether to support the spread of Christianity. The era in which he was active was very special, a transitional period. If he did not support it, many problems would not be solved, but if he supported it, it might lead to criticism.

Orville himself is of Palphic mixed descent, and no one mentions this now, simply because Orville does not show any Palphic characteristics and lives like a real Roman.

Once he proposed to promote Christianity, it would be easy for people to have bad associations since Palphism and Christianity had not yet been completely separated at that time, which would put him in a disadvantageous position.

These are just some small thoughts and are considered minor issues. The main issue is whether it is right or wrong to spread Christianity in this era. Historically, it took Christians almost three hundred years to avoid persecution. Is it right to shorten this process to 20 to 30 years?

Or we can think about the problem in a broader sense: is it right to promote Christianity or to reform polytheism? If we want to reform it, what is the correct way to do it?

Orville is now quite good at doing things, and he is not bad at thinking about things either, but his thinking is more based on precedents and certain situations. No one can provide Orville with guidance and experience in this regard, so he behaves somewhat restrained and hesitant.

After Cleopatra complained to him about the temple, Orville kept thinking about it, and finally he decided to promote it, but in a slow and gentle way.

He will not say it openly for the time being, but secretly he will provide support and guidance to the early church, allowing the church to develop in the direction he wants as much as possible, and also allowing the church to expand earlier.

As for the person to preside over this matter, he hesitated between Jeanne and several apostles who were active in the world. In the end, he decided to ask Jeanne to do it because she could accept his so-called "Minerva Mutual Aid Society" and was someone he was familiar with. If a stranger was asked to come, there might be all kinds of problems and disagreements, because not everyone is as morally upright as the other and has almost no self-interest in their minds.

There is another key point──no matter how good other people are at deceiving people, at best they can be on par with Jeanne. Jeanne's rhetoric may not be as good as others, but her ability to predict and tell fortunes is indeed amazing. She is suspected to be the chosen one of God, and it would be a pity not to make use of her.

After confirming this, Orville wrote a letter to Belisarius, who was far away in Britain, to explain the situation. He thought that he would send someone over.

Now that all the negotiations with the Celts have been completed, it can be said that Jeanna has successfully completed her mission in Britain. Now there is actually not much use for her to stay in Britain. Instead, it would be better for her to come and help Orville.

Orville thought that Jeanne could not understand his plan in Egypt. In fact, she did not have a strong passion or motivation for missionary work. However, as long as he explained the situation in Egypt to her, emphasized that the locals needed help and that Jeanne herself could help others, it should not be difficult to convince her to come over.

As for the rest, he would just take things one step at a time. Orville himself didn't actually have a very good plan in mind.
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Earlier, at the provincial governor's office in Londinium (London) in Britain, Belisarius was also troubled by the provincial affairs.

The emperor had no expectations for the British province. Just maintaining its existence would satisfy the requirements of the supreme existence in the world. However, Belisarius was not a mediocre person who muddled through. He set medium- and long-term development goals for himself according to Orwell's guidance. After relying on force to solve the problem of Boudica, the barbarian problem in the western part of the province was solved for the time being. Frightened by the strict military appearance of the empire, the scoundrels did not dare to act rashly. The barbarians on the island of Ireland were balanced and it was difficult to plan major events. Looking at the situation of the entire province, it can be said to be impregnable. The only shortcoming that made Belisarius uneasy was the barbarians in the north who were waiting for an opportunity to move.

If we make a comparison, the social structure of the western barbarians is like a tree trunk. Although there are outstretched branches on it, there is always a main axis, which is Boudica's group. The connections between the various groups are scattered but will never disappear. There is a commonly elected patriarch who presides over major affairs.

As for these barbarians in the north, they are still considered Celts based on blood ties, but perhaps because they have less interaction with the civilized world, their social structure is almost a mess, with countless clans and tribes fighting each other, and it is impossible to tell who is first and who is second. The only way to distinguish the status of the clans is by size.

Often the more developed a region is, the easier it is to rule. Belisarius even disdained such a chaotic and backward area, believing that it should not be ruled, so as not to slow down his integration and governance of the British province.

When the other party has initially built its own overall social organization through trade and war, the Romans should then consider whether they should maintain the status quo or exercise rule. Before that, it is not a bad thing to let the northern border continue to be in the hands of the barbarians.

This view has some truth to it, and many Roman officials support it. However, objectively speaking, the barbarians in the north frequently invaded the border, and Belisarius organized cavalry to encircle and suppress them several times. However, due to the dense woods and complex mountainous terrain, the effect was not good and it was difficult to serve as a deterrent, so the border invasion continued despite repeated bans.

After thinking about it, Belisarius drew nourishment from the world of his ancestors and found a very appropriate solution - building a wall.

Just like the German Wall on the Rhine, Belisarius planned to build a defense line with the same function here. However, since the enemy he was facing was relatively weak and his own soldiers were also stretched thin, the defense line could be built in a crude and superficial manner.

As for the labor of building the city wall, on the one hand, there are the valuable legion soldiers and auxiliary soldiers, and on the other hand, there are all kinds of rebels and bandits who have been captured during this period of time. The two complement each other. The ones who do the hard labor are naturally the latter. They have to open mountains and cut down trees, and cut down the wild and wanton growing trees, while the former use the trees as timber to build tall and sturdy border camps.

In addition to wood, building the wall also requires a large amount of stone, which is supplied by the locals. There is no shortage of such resources on the British Isles. Since it is a defense line to protect them, the locals are quite enthusiastic about the work and do not feel that they are being forced.

There have been similar efforts in history, namely the famous Hadrian's Wall, one of the inspirations for "Game of Thrones". It is 117 kilometers long and certainly not comparable to the Great Wall, but it is still a major project. Belisarius was prepared to rely on the border defense system to solve border problems, which was also a good strategy.

The problem that troubled him now was not the steady progress of the city wall construction, everything was in an orderly manner, but the two major forces on the island of Ireland in the west - the Vikings of Ivar the Boneless and the indigenous people led by Finn MacCool.

(End of this chapter)