Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 331 Armament
The climate here is relatively dry and not as unfriendly as Britain, so it is more suitable for equipping composite bows. Orville is equipping legion soldiers with composite bows, and even goes a step further to distribute high-quality composite bows to auxiliary soldiers and the Egyptian Legion.

The improvement in the efficiency of long-range weapon projection is definitely a major progress in history. The Roman cavalry does not have an advantage, and now relying solely on heavy infantry is already a little tired. Orville's idea is to enhance long-range capabilities to make up for the shortcomings. Judging from the feedback obtained from Gaul, Britain, Egypt and other places, this is definitely feasible, and this is also the case in history.

According to his idea, even if the legionnaires can shoot with both hands, they should at least be able to draw the bow and draw the arrow. The legionnaires are positioned as all-round soldiers, and long-range ability should naturally be part of it.

The salary that Orville gave to the soldiers in his legion was above the average level. The national standard was 225 dinars, and Orville would subsidize the soldiers under various names. In the end, the silver coins in his hands were worth about 360 dinars. He was still relatively wealthy and could afford to increase the salary of the grassroots soldiers by this much.

This was one of the reasons why the two local legions quickly accepted Orville's command, and it was also the main reason why the legionnaires were willing to endure higher-intensity training - if they were paid a lot and treated well, the soldiers would naturally be willing to work hard in training, especially these professional soldiers who relied on salaries for their livelihood.

In addition to the swordsmanship, battle formations, javelin throwing, use of heavy equipment and marching construction techniques that ordinary soldiers should learn, Orville also trained the soldiers to use spears and bows and arrows, and even required a certain proportion of them to try to learn horse riding in the army, trying to train talents to serve as backup cavalry. The high-intensity training resulted in better-trained and more versatile soldiers, whose combat effectiveness exceeded that of their peers.

For the purpose of physical exercise and propaganda, Orville would regularly undergo training with the soldiers. After all, he did not want to die inexplicably on the battlefield. This people-friendly approach made him very popular in the army. The military and civilians of this era still liked this. Sharing weal and woe with the soldiers could form a bond between the soldiers and generals. Although it was not a good thing for the soldiers to love the generals too much, it could indeed make the soldiers' will to fight stronger. At present, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages.

Now the equipment level of his soldiers is gradually increasing at a fairly fast rate:

The shape of armor was gradually standardized into chain mail and scale armor, which increased defense and made it easier for blacksmiths to maintain.

The shield was slightly reduced in size but thicker. Orville even used iron nails on the legion shield to enhance its defense. Not to mention whether there was money to make an iron shield, the legion shield was too large, and even if it was just a layer of skin, it would not be very light. The army was not Superman and could not hold up the shield for a long time, so Orville did not make too many modifications to the wooden legion shield.

Reducing the shield's protective area makes the soldiers' lower bodies more vulnerable to attack. Orville also has plans for this. He made greaves for the soldiers. With armor protecting the lower body, there is no need for shields.

The Romans had the technology to make link armor, a type of armor with elaborate hinges and joints, and although link armor was never popularized, the technology did.

For example, Roman soldiers stationed on the Danube and Germanic legions had ring-plate shoulder guards on their shoulders to protect their shoulders from being hacked by tall barbarians. Since it has been handed down, it means that this thing is still very useful. With this kind of technical accumulation, it is not very difficult to create greaves with similar basic principles. Orwell added ring-plate greaves on the basis of chain mail, but the cost is still relatively expensive. Orwell gritted his teeth and began to replace the troops little by little. Relying on his own production, the cost is barely acceptable.

The Romans were a people who did not wear trousers. Even now, some soldiers in the British Legion still disdain to wear trousers in order to show off their muscularity. In Orwell's view, this is too much to be true. However, when it comes to their lives, they have a very flexible bottom line of dignity. Almost no one can resist wearing armor to protect the lower body during fully armed training or when marching and fighting.

The policy of increasing armor was easily promoted and was even praised by the soldiers. Almost no one opposed it. Even if there were any, they only looked at the issue from a financial perspective. No one denied that armor was indeed beneficial to the army.

He believed that apart from the Imperial Guards, his soldiers were the best treated and equipped in the empire. In terms of combat effectiveness, the legion he led was top-notch. The only drawback was that it was very expensive to maintain an army, but this was unavoidable.

Apart from the cavalry, these are roughly the changes Orville has made to the military. In addition, he also plans to improve the training quality and equipment level of the auxiliary soldiers, increase the coordination between the legions and the auxiliary soldiers, and it would be best to organize auxiliary corps in advance like in later generations.
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One day not long after, Orville was visiting a private house, the owner of which was Domitia's teacher Quintilian.

Since his father asked him to be more respectful, Orville was also very respectful to him and suggested that he live in the Great Library or the Governor's Palace (the royal palace). This should be a very high-level courtesy for a scholar, but Quintilian did not appreciate it. Instead, he bought a secluded house and lived in seclusion. As a result, he had to take a one-hour carriage ride every morning to come to teach Domitia, but he enjoyed it and did not think it was a hassle. Orville respected this. He had seen even stranger people before.

It is said that Quintilian was an old scholar with a strong spirit of inquiry. He ran a school and worked part-time as a lawyer. He seemed to live a relatively poor life, unlike his other lawyer colleagues who were rich and powerful. Even his students could not bear to see his daughter so much that they offered to help her marry off.

After Vespa knew about this person, he respected him very much and offered him a high salary. The stingy emperor was rarely generous. The annual salary that Quintilian received from the emperor was almost equivalent to the annual salary of 250 soldiers, which was a high-paying job in ancient times anyway.

The Romans did not consider education to be part of public service. It is said that Quintilian was the first educator to receive a salary from the state. Even if he was not the first, he was still a pioneer and a leader among them. Therefore, not only Orville and Vespa father and son, but most intellectuals respected him very much. Even the self-righteous Greeks could not help but throw away their tinted glasses and look up to him intentionally or unintentionally.

(End of this chapter)