Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 342 Take Command
Mucinus was very well prepared, and Orville took his men away on the same day. It seemed that they moved very quickly, but even so, it took nearly two months from the time Orville received the news to the time the army arrived in Asia Minor. These two months were enough time for Mithridates to do many things.

He had already conquered the central and western parts of the Asia Minor Peninsula, as well as most of mainland Greece. The local Greeks were dissatisfied with Vespasian, and they responded to Mithridates' call in droves. In just half a month, mainland Greece was reduced to only a few strong cities and corners, and these places were struggling to hold on.

Orville was still climbing the mountains in Asia Minor and didn't know when he would be able to engage in battle with the enemy. However, he was not in a hurry and began to study the terrain of Asia Minor and related battle examples on the spot to avoid being at a loss at the critical moment.

It can be seen from the contribution of each military zone that the commander of the Eastern Theater of this war is Orville himself. The armies of Palfi and the Syrian province are all under his command. This is a test for Orville. His ability is enough to command one or two legions now, but commanding five legions is a bit beyond his capacity. I am afraid it will be difficult for him to fight a real war.

It's not his fault, because this is a relatively normal situation. Rome has only a few dozen legions in total, and the legion commander is a very high position, not to mention the commander who commands four or five legions. There are only three or four such commanders in the entire empire. No commander is initially trained to be such a commander, so it is natural that he does not have the ability at this level.

Orville asked himself that his military ability was not even in the top 30, let alone the top 30. This world was a bit like a fight between gods. So during this period of time, he was trying to train his ability to command a large army, hoping not to fall behind in the war. In addition to Orville himself, there was another person who was also learning, that was Lucius Septimius Odenaisus (hereinafter referred to as Lucius), who was sent by Mucinus to assist him.

Orville had no impression of this person at first. He thought that he was just an ordinary soldier of this era. Later, when they were chatting, he found out about his background and found that he was no ordinary person.

Few people may know him, but his wife is more famous, she is Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra, who fought with Aurelian the Restorer of the World. He is the husband of Aurelian and the founder of the Kingdom of Palmyra. However, unlike his wife who is a tyrant, he is a more loyal Roman.

After the Roman emperor was defeated by the Persians, he still did not play fence-sitter. Instead, he insisted on fighting the Persians and successfully drove the Persians out of Syria. He then defeated Quietus, who usurped the throne, and further helped Rome re-consolidate its presence near Mesopotamia. Judging from his resume alone, he was obviously a loyal minister and hero in troubled times.

Therefore, there are some controversies in the evaluation of Zenobia. Some people think that if Lucius had not died, Palmyra would not have become independent. The reason why Palmyra became independent was because Zenobia assassinated him and his eldest son and then came to power.

It is difficult to explain these historical mysteries. In short, Lucius in front of Orville is a very good general with a military ability of 27 points, which is more than enough to command one or two legions.

Orville had no objection to him commanding a legion, and the power to appoint the commanders of the remaining four legions was still in his hands. After much hesitation, he made the following arrangements.

The Ninth Legion [Spain], which was the legion he brought up personally, served as his personal guard and was directly commanded by him.

The 22nd Legion [Diotariana] was commanded by Stilicho. Half of the 3rd Legion [Cyrenaica] came, and the remaining half was gathered from reinforcements from various places. They were not that elite, so Orville handed them over to Trajan for command.

There is also an unnamed Egyptian legion, commanded by an experienced Egyptian general. Of course, Orville has tested his ability and can only say that he is barely okay and can be used but not worth expecting too much.

In fact, after several years of training, Trajan's military ability has slightly surpassed Stilicho's (24:26), but Orville still gave the second most powerful legion to Stilicho. On the one hand, he was concerned about the seniority-based culture in the army, and on the other hand, Trajan was more capable and should be able to better control the chaotic legion, making it less likely for problems to occur.

Sometimes war is not about who can better interpret the art of war, but about who makes fewer mistakes. It doesn't matter if you can't be brilliant, you can still win by following the steps, but if you make big mistakes, you will definitely not win. This is Orwell's military thinking.
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During the march, Orville rode at the front of the team. Besides the guards, Constantine was also accompanying him. He had something to ask this local (although the gap between Byzantium and eastern Asia Minor was very large).

"How is the situation in your hometown? Has anyone written to you?"

He answered truthfully: "I received a letter before leaving Alexandria, and the situation does not seem to be very good. We have always had a hard time with the locals, and my decision to become a Roman did not please Mithridates. He has a problem with the Byzantine Empire, and it may even come to the point of war."

Orville frowned slightly when he heard this. It seems to be a tradition that the Greek mainland and the colonial cities are at odds with each other, and it seems to be a tradition that the colonies or radiation zones are stronger than the mainland. This was the case with Syracuse in the past and Rome later. Seriously speaking, Alexander the Great, who the Greeks talk about every day, was originally regarded as a barbarian by the locals, but he was promoted because of his great achievements.

Even the former Kingdom of Pontus was like this. Pontus was only influenced by both Greece and Persia, with the Greek influence being slightly greater. This can be seen from the names of the local monarchs. Mithridates can be translated as the blessing of Mithra, who is not a native Greek god. When Pontus rose, the first land that was eroded was the land of the traditional Greek city-states, and the Greeks even sought help from the Romans.

But now the situation has changed. The Pontic people and the Greeks can reach a united front in a certain sense, so some things are not mentioned for the time being. But now they have not formed a united front against city-states such as Byzantium, so Byzantium has always had a hard time dealing with these two.

Orville also did not want Byzantium to be weakened or plundered, as this would have an impact on his strategic plans. It was necessary to maintain a relatively strong Byzantine empire so that it could exert its influence in Greece and along the Black Sea coast.

(End of this chapter)