Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 349 Skeeter

Bringing in Roman forces to maintain public order was not particularly difficult to accept, but bringing in the military force of the Parphians was a different matter. Both the native Egyptians and the Greeks more or less had a concept - they were one to several levels superior to the Parphians.

Needless to say, the Greeks had not completely changed their mindset, at least they thought they were equal to the Romans, the nation that ruled the Mediterranean world, and the Parvi people had been nothing more than vassals since ancient times. The Egyptians were in a similar situation, the story of the Exodus was basically well known to everyone, and they also thought they were at least superior to the Parvi people.

It is still acceptable to let several ethnic groups live together, because it has always been done this way. There is a special Parphian settlement in Alexandria, and the scale is not small. But letting the Parphian army take charge of the public security in Egypt feels a bit like going against the will of heaven.

She herself is more or less a royal member, with Orville being an exception. She doesn't want troops from other countries to enter Egypt again. It's easier to invite a god than to send him away.

For this reason, Cleopatra felt that there was no need to overly anger the local residents. At her own request, the Parphic cavalry was only assembled for emergency use and did not enter the Egyptian territory. The main work of maintaining public order was done by the Roman cavalry.

The number of cavalry left by Orville was not small by Roman standards, with nearly a thousand people. Among these people, the ratio of old-style cavalry to new-style fully saddled cavalry was about 1:1. Orville had made plans in advance for Cleopatra to be unable to suppress her, so it was barely acceptable to use these cavalry now.

The new cavalry wore a not-too-thick layer of horse clothes to cover the saddles. It was expected that the local priests or civilians with poor military literacy would not be able to figure out what was going on, so they just used it like this for the time being.

Cleopatra also separated out the cavalry of the Guards and the auxiliary cavalry of the new legion, and put together a cavalry team of about 3,000 people. If they were not a nomadic people, this number would have been very impressive. As for the quality issue, the enemies they were facing had no quality at all, so some flaws were harmless.

The cavalry became a fire brigade and frequently operated along the Nile River and in the delta. At this time, the expensive cavalry showed their value. A cavalry wing of several hundred people could maneuver quickly at a speed that normal infantry could not achieve, and could often quell several small-scale rebellions in a single day.

Large-scale rebellions were dealt with by infantry corps, and small rebellions were dealt with by cavalry. This combination barely controlled the situation in Egypt. After all, the rebels were at best numerous and widespread, but their quality was really poor.

Cleopatra also took the opportunity to find something to hold against the priests. Any priest caught in rebellion would be spared from mercy and would be taken to Alexandria for direct execution. Their families would be demoted to civilians, exiled, sold as slaves, or even executed if the circumstances were serious.

The network formed by the priests was finally broken at this time, and the balance of power could be said to have been reversed at this time. The power in the hands of the king would only become stronger and stronger, while the fate of the priests was inevitably declining.
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On the other side, Orwell started a new round of sea crossing operations after his army was ready. The fleet sailed directly along the Black Sea coastline. Pontus occupied a long coastline along the Black Sea, but their capital was not far from Byzantium. It was in Sinope, which is also a city in present-day Türkiye.

This should have been a relatively large city in ancient times. Its representative figure was Diogenes, the mentor of the Cynic school, who was said to have had dealings with Alexander. Apart from him, this place is not particularly well-known in the Greek world.

The people of the Black Sea also needed ships for trade and war, but after all, human activities in the Black Sea were not as frequent as in the Mediterranean, and the naval power of each city-state could only be described as mediocre. At this time, Syria, Egypt, Rome, Byzantium and part of the Greek navy were all controlled by Orwell, and the two sides were not of the same level, so the locals could only make trouble and it was difficult for them to pose a fatal threat on the sea.

Orville first landed two battalions of soldiers and set up camp. The Pontic scouts kept watching but did not attack. The Roman soldiers were familiar with this kind of thing. The barracks were gradually improved, and trenches, walls and tents were built. Orville was relieved to send more soldiers ashore to guard or help build the camp.

After the framework of the camp was set up, facilities such as bakeries, hospitals, warehouses, headquarters and stables were also built in various corners of the barracks. Orville was planning to fight a protracted war, so the camp was built like a small town, and the first batch of a legion of five to six thousand people moved in.

The following legions were still on the way and would arrive soon. Orville followed the first group of troops to set up camp.
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That night, inside the central army camp, Agricola was reporting the situation to Orville.

"We found traces of Scythians nearby"

Agricola was holding a short bow in his hand, a very typical composite short bow with some distinctive irregular patterns on it. This was the Scythian short bow.

This is a nomadic people with a relatively long history in Eastern Europe. Historically, they have also submitted to the Pontic people. Now they are gradually declining and are not a very difficult enemy.

Their coming to help was expected. After all, the Kingdom of Bosphorus (Crimea) had now been controlled by the Pontic people. They controlled the entire Black Sea coast to a certain extent. Of course, this control was largely a fence-sitter, and they would not really send troops to help either side. The outcome would probably only be clear after the dust settled on the battlefield.

Orville was not going to tolerate them anyway. These fence-sitters still failed to recognize the situation and wanted to wait for a good price at this time. This would only give the Romans a chance to intervene. Once the Romans had time, things would not be so simple anymore. They would be badly injured if they did not die.

"It's not a bad thing. We lack experience in dealing with nomadic people like this. We can try out new tactics on them. We should think about how to deal with the Parthians. Tell the soldiers to work overtime to prepare everything. Once they are in place, we can go out."

"No problem!" Agricola replied.

……

A few days later, Orville made a rather rash order, one legion began to march alone, he himself led the movement in the opposite direction of Sinope, and the rest of the army remained in camp.

The commander of Pontus also responded by sending his main force to confront the Romans stationed in the camp, while the cavalry went to pursue the isolated force of Orville.

(End of this chapter)