Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 34 Holy City
After an agreement was reached with the men of the Danube Legions, a letter began to circulate within the Roman Empire.

This was a handwritten letter from Emperor Otto, in which Otto begged Vespa to "save the Roman Empire." Anyone with a discerning eye knew that the letter was a forgery, but the Danube Legion declared the letter to be legal and valid evidence, and then began to march towards Rome, ready to have a good fight with the Germanic Legion.

In the cold winter, more than 10,000 soldiers of the Danube Corps were forced to do forced labor. The treatment conditions were extremely poor and they were also insulted by the locals. These soldiers were filled with anger that they could not release.

Even the soldiers of the Danube Legion who did not have the chance to participate in the war were furious when they heard the news and knew that their comrades had been insulted in such a way. As soon as those who were serving labor were released, they would immediately gather their troops and return.

Unlike the speculative mentality of last time, most of these Danube Legion soldiers were rushing for revenge. Hatred can make people strong, but it can also make people lose their minds.

Vespa, who was still building up momentum, did not expect the Danube Legion to move so quickly. He did not even have time to react, as his large force was still on standby in Alexandria.

The cooperation between the two sides cannot be said to be close, it can only be said that there is no cooperation at all.

After a brief thought, he had no choice but to follow suit. He asked the Ptolemaic royal family of Egypt to requisition and borrow a large fleet, and began to send his most elite soldiers on board, preparing to land in Italy from the sea and then take Rome directly.

The commander-in-chief of this operation was not Vespa himself, but his confidant, Mucinus, the governor of Syria. However, as Vespa said, he completely trusted his subordinates.

The reason for not leading the army in person is very simple.

First of all, Vespa knew clearly that his military ability was not outstanding, and was far inferior to Mucinus, who had been fighting against the Parthians or Armenians for many years and had always been undefeated.

Secondly, he couldn't let his hands be stained with Roman blood. So far, all the orthodox emperors of Rome were descendants of Augustus and belonged to the senatorial class. Vespa was of a low birth and belonged to the new nobility. It was already very unpopular for such a person to ascend the throne, so he had to try his best not to touch the sensitive nerves of the Romans and make them have a better impression of him.

Finally, someone was needed to take charge of the rear. A palace coup had just broken out in Egypt, which almost turned into a national uprising. Palphi was fighting a war, and Syria's border defense was empty. Someone with enough prestige and ability was needed to watch over the three places, and Vespa was just the right person.
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On the other side, Palfi, Tia and Orville did not pay too much attention to the external situation. That was not what they should worry about most right now. The current war was enough to consume their energy.

Compared to Vespa, Tia's strategy can be described as gentle.

Two weeks after ordering a full-scale attack, the Romans had advanced the front line by about 80 kilometers.

It sounds like it's not far away, but Palphi is actually a small country, about 300 kilometers long from north to south and about 100 kilometers wide from east to west. The part of the border close to the desert is uninhabited, and only the coastal areas and the area near the holy city are densely populated.

Adding the land originally occupied by the Romans, eighty kilometers is a lot. Most of the territory of the entire small kingdom is controlled by the Romans, and the scope of the rebels' activities is constantly being compressed.

Tiya basically does not execute rebels on a large scale, but only some leaders with serious crimes. In her opinion, rebelling is not an unforgivable crime, but betrayal and moral degradation are the real capital crimes. Based on this idea, as long as you surrender and hand over all your weapons at the first time, Tiya will forgive you and just think that they are helpless under coercion.

Of course, if they pretend to surrender and then regret it later, Tia will no longer be polite. She will suppress them all by force and auction off all the participants as slaves.

Orville played a very important role in this process - he could tell who was honest and simple, who was treacherous and cunning, who was prone to plotting conspiracy, and who was easy-going. As long as there was something wrong with someone's personality, he would instruct the Romans to take special care of him.

Since all his disguises were exposed, his accuracy was very high, and the Romans also had a better impression of him.

Whether it is accurate in identifying people or strong in intelligence capabilities, these are outstanding skills, which make them feel a little more balanced. A captured foreigner suddenly becomes a relative of their immediate superior, and everyone is bound to feel disappointed and a little indignant.

The army advanced with great force all the way to the outskirts of the holy city, where they encountered some decent resistance.

Looking at the holy city built on the high ground in the distance, Tiya was also very troubled. This place has been the holy place of the Parfi people for thousands of years, so the Parfi people have been building here for thousands of years.

The city is located on a high ground between two valleys. The terrain behind it is extremely steep, making it difficult for people to climb up, let alone weapons such as siege hammers. It is also protected by high walls and towers, making it almost impossible to attack.

The front of the city is protected by three walls. Inside the city there are buildings such as temples and palaces that are built almost to fortress standards. They are built on high hills and are extremely difficult to break through.

Towers and watchtowers more than ten meters high can be seen everywhere on the city wall, mounted with crossbows and catapults captured from the Romans. Combined with the city wall built at very delicate angles, both the protruding and concave parts of the attack will be attacked by a large number of projectiles.

Before the war, a lot of food was stored in the city, and it was also equipped with springs and reservoirs.

This is one of the strongest and largest cities the Romans have ever attacked. Even Carthage is much inferior to it. Perhaps the population difference between the two is not much, but Carthage does not have such a well-armed defense system. When they built the city, they did not think of defending the city, but the Holy City was built for this purpose.

Ever since Parfums became a Roman vassal state more than a hundred years ago, the Herod royal family had long been in a state of preparedness, constantly bribing local governors to turn a blind eye to the defense construction of the holy city.

After more than a hundred years of hard construction, the city has been fortified and designed entirely to withstand sieges.

Architas II on the side also looked quite embarrassed, hiding in the corner of the team, not wanting to attract attention. Because the third wall of the city was ordered to be built by his father, and it was basically completed during his reign. Now this wall does block the Romans, but it also blocks himself.

(End of this chapter)