Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 348 Time of reckoning
Trajan had already made corresponding preparations. The mountain roads in Asia Minor were rugged, and even an army composed of local people could not disperse and march on the rocky and wooded hillsides, so it was necessary to march along narrow roads.

Even the most experienced armies had to use a long snake formation at this time. If Mithridates had been more careful and sent out an excessive number of scouts, he might have been able to discover the enemy's tracks. However, he underestimated the enemy this time and thought that his own mobility was fast enough, so he only sent out regular scout teams to observe the situation.

Trajan's soldiers hid well and moved smartly. The previous scouts either did not discover the enemy or were killed. In any case, the news was not passed on. Mithridates did not have the patience to wait until all the scouts were recalled before continuing with the next move. Orwell might still be chasing him from behind.

After a few rounds, Trajan seized the opportunity on this necessary road.

Trajan took the risk of dividing his army into two groups, deploying them on two possible roads respectively, and also dividing his troops to defend the city. Therefore, the number of ambushes Mithridates faced this time was not large, only about one legion, which was about ten to one ratio to his troops.

If they were facing each other on flat ground, Mithridates would not have found it difficult, but this terrain was quite unfavorable. They could not deploy their formation and were cut off in the middle. The Romans were well prepared and the phalanx of a hundred men was relatively small and easy to deploy, which was a huge advantage for them.

Putting aside things like equipment level, technical tactics and fighting willpower, in almost all cases, it was almost a massacre between those with formations and those without formations. Often a soldier had to face three or four Roman daggers, and two fists were no match for four hands.

The result is self-evident. Mithridates' troops suffered heavy losses without even encountering a large force. Trajan noticed that the enemy's troops were too numerous and had a tendency to reorganize their formation, so he decisively ordered the army to retreat in time, leaving the ground in a mess.

Mithridates' formation was not well organized, and he was also worried that the enemy might have reinforcements, so he did not continue to chase them out. Instead, he quickly and quietly cleaned up the mess and continued his march, and the matter came to an end.

Judging from the results, it seems that Mithridates won the victory, but everyone knows that this is not even a tragic victory, it can only be said that there was no defeat, that's all.

Mithridates and the people around him all looked unhappy, but they continued to maneuver, preparing to persist in fighting the Romans. Now they had little way to retreat.

………………

On the other hand, the situation in Orville is barely optimistic. After stabilizing mainland Greece, things are not so urgent.

The next target is naturally the rebellious Pontus region. The core of the opponent is the Anatolian Peninsula on the coast of the Black Sea. Under the current circumstances, it is not a rich place, and it is difficult to supply. It will be troublesome to fight, so Orville still plans to take a boat.

He planned to sail the fleet to the Dardanelles first, and then set off to other places along the Black Sea coast to directly land in the enemy's hinterland. The navy was being mobilized under his orders, and during this time, Orville dealt with some miscellaneous matters in mainland Greece.

It is undeniable that there is still considerable wealth accumulated in mainland Greece. After the uprising, the rebels looted or destroyed a large amount of Senate property, which could weaken their power. At the same time, after the money passed through the hands of the rebels, it finally came into Orville's hands. Orville was not kind enough to return the money to the senators, not to mention that this was simply unrealistic and it was a mess that could not be settled.

So most of the money was sent to Emperor Vespa, and it was up to him to decide how to use it, and the remaining small amount was used to supplement military expenses. Orville was also happy to reward a large part of it to his subordinates, and then gave the rest of the money to Constantine, asking him to recruit several battalions of soldiers as auxiliary.

The Byzantines had proven their ability and loyalty through the war, so it was reasonable to rely on them a little now. They would help the Romans maintain law and order in their homeland. Considering that the homeland had always considered itself superior to the Byzantines, this was a good opportunity for them to show off, which was exactly what Constantine wanted.

He also returned the favor, and a large part of the recruitment funds flowed back to Orville - Constantine tried his best to purchase weapons and equipment produced by Orville's military factories, and after all the money was still Orville's.

Orville could also understand Vespa's thoughts, so he took this opportunity to sort out the Greek affairs. He did the same thing. Anyone who was suspicious or hostile to the Romans but could not escape was controlled and waited to be escorted to Rome to listen to the emperor's orders.

After basically doing all this, Trajan's troops were basically in place and could continue marching along the coastline.

Without much hesitation, Orville boarded the fleet to Pontus again, preparing to land directly in the enemy's hinterland and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

Mithridates had just suffered a defeat, and morale was low, so it was convenient to attack. If the enemy was given time to recover, the war would be further prolonged, and the economic losses would be greater, so the best way at the moment was to move as quickly as possible under the conditions allowed.

……

At the same time, Alexandria, the capital of the Kingdom of Egypt, was not entirely peaceful.

Orville believed that the situation in Greece was more serious, and Egypt was now basically self-sufficient, so a large number of troops were transferred from their posts. This was a difficult test for Cleopatra.

Historically, the Romans stationed two legions here, and previously Orville had three legions stationed here, which was a bit of an overage. But it is clear that the current strength is not enough, especially when various forces are ready to move.

Objectively speaking, Cleopatra wanted to control the situation, but the situation was not optimistic. After Orwell left, local forces quickly began to rebound, most likely in secret collusion with the people in Greece. In the south, the situation was barely suppressed with border guards and Nubian mercenaries, but near the Nile Delta, her thousands of guards were more or less at a loss.

She was relatively confident in her administrative abilities, but she was also very aware that she was not cut out for fighting. Similarly, the current commander of the Royal Guard was not a talented general and could only be described as a mediocre person who could barely be used.

Under such circumstances, they could only barely maintain law and order in Alexandria and its surroundings. Orville could vaguely foresee this situation, so he left a backup plan for the other side - his trained cavalry units and King Herod's noble cavalry units were still staying in the local area and not active.

(End of this chapter)