Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 352: Changing coaches before battle
Orville continued to confront the Pontic people in Sinope. Small-scale conflicts broke out between the two sides over issues such as water sources, supplies, outposts, roads, etc. Overall, both sides won and lost, and no decisive war broke out.

Just ten days later, Sinop welcomed another unexpected guest - Tia and some of her guards, about two to three thousand people.

It felt a little strange that he had not been notified in advance, but Orville still welcomed the other party in, and then consciously gave up the position of army commander to Tia.

That night, inside the central army tent, Tia looked at Orville with an apologetic look on her face.

She spoke carefully: "I am very sorry about this incident, but this was my father's order. He asked me to come here quickly to command the war with Mithridates, so I was urgently transferred from Rome. Because of the tight time, I didn't even have time to write you a letter to inform you of the situation."

"It's okay, I understand that." Orville waved his hand. He really didn't care about it and didn't feel any grudge.

Vespa's intentions were almost written on his face - it was nothing more than to increase Tia's prestige so that she could have an easier time when she succeeded to the position of emperor. It would not be bad for Orville either, and he didn't mind letting his wife share the spoils of war with him.

Having said that, changing generals in the middle of a battle is not a good thing. It will have more or less impact on morale and military command, so Orville continued to make suggestions.

"What did father say? Should we make a quick decision?"

"He told me to resolve the war quickly, otherwise things would change."

"Then you'd better get familiar with the army as soon as possible starting tomorrow. The good thing is that many of these people are the troops I trained myself, and they will definitely be convinced by you. But no matter what, you need time to get used to your soldiers."

"I understand that," Tia said with a conflicted expression, "but I'm still very sorry. This should be your honor."

She attached great importance to honor, or most officers attached great importance to honor. This was not a trivial matter. The pacification of Mithridates was barely worthy of a triumph. This was the highest honor in a general's military career, and ordinary people had few opportunities to obtain it. Seeing such an opportunity slip away from their hands, especially because of such naked political reasons, ordinary people would definitely feel uncomfortable.

Orvel was different. He reached out and grabbed the other person's wrist, then interlocked their fingers. This action calmed Tia down a little.

After a while, he slowly said: "Don't worry too much about things outside of your life. I'm happy that you're here. We haven't seen each other for almost a year. It's a good opportunity to meet each other." He really didn't think the triumphal ceremony was more important than Tia. It was dispensable. He wouldn't feel lost without her, and it would just broaden his horizons. He wouldn't take it too seriously.

This statement made Diya blush a little. After a while, she reluctantly replied: "Well, anyway, I will remember this matter. I will make it up to you when I have the chance in the future. I owe you this time."
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The Romans generally believed that it was not good for a general to bring female relatives with him when he went on an expedition (this was a different matter if he was stationed in a certain place for a long time and had a female companion). However, it was rare in history for a couple like Orville to go to the battlefield together. At least the officers and soldiers below had no ill feelings towards Orville and Tia, so this incident became a good story in their mouths, and no one had any objection to the two of them living in the same tent.

None of these affected Tia's getting up early the next morning to give speeches to the soldiers and do handover work with the officers. These things were actually going quite smoothly. Although this was an airborne general, the soldiers were vaguely happy about this kind of airborne drop and treated it more as a topic of conversation.

If another week or two passed, Natia would have completed the training of the soldiers, but when Mithridates learned that the Romans had changed their commander at the last minute, he saw this as an opportunity, and immediately gathered all the troops at hand and began to march towards the Roman camp.

It would be no good for him to delay any further. He had already discovered that the Romans were cutting down trees and building a port over there. Once the port was built, they would be able to transport more soldiers and supplies over, and the situation would become more troublesome for them. He might as well take this opportunity to take a gamble. He didn't want to be strangled silently bit by bit.

Faced with this situation, after discussion, Tia also assembled the army and began to confront the enemy. She also believed that this was an opportunity to gather the main force of the Bendu people to have a strategic decisive battle with their side. Otherwise, it was unknown how long it would take to fight guerrilla warfare in the mountains with the enemy. Tia did not want to waste her life for such a thing.

Thus, more than 20,000 Romans confronted 50,000 Pontic troops at Sinope. This battle would determine the outcome. The Romans were mainly legionnaires, assisted by a small number of Egyptian and Byzantine auxiliaries. The composition of the Pontic troops was somewhat complicated. Pontic, Greek, Frank, Scythian, and even some sympathizers from all over the empire gathered together. It was a typical coalition. Both sides barely had advantages over each other. At first glance, it seemed that the Pontic troops had a little more advantage.
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Mithridates' formation was relatively traditional - the phalanx spearmen were lined up in a row along the flat ground as much as possible, with heavy sword and shield infantry covering the two wings. In front of the phalanx soldiers were a certain number of skirmishers, and in the back were a small number of archers and reserves.

The cavalry of various nationalities were scattered all over the battlefield according to their nationalities. Mithridates did not intend to command these people effectively. Except for his own direct cavalry units, he could only let them act according to circumstances and be cautious and not take risks.

It can be said that this is a standard formation arrangement, not very ingenious but not wrong either.

The Romans' formation was a bit strange. If someone could observe the situation from the sky, they would clearly see that Tia used a rather unconventional formation.

In the middle was a thin layer of phalanx spearmen, with only seven or eight men in each row, which looked weak compared to the Pontic phalanx spearmen, which were more than ten or twenty layers thick. Behind each large phalanx of spearmen were several Roman centurions to provide backup. On both wings were deployed a large number of legion infantrymen, and the entire position looked a bit like the Chinese character "concave", weak in the middle and strong on both sides.

There are relatively large numbers of archers and crossbows behind the spearmen's positions, and relatively few skirmishers in the front. The cavalry is deployed at the back of the two wings. Overall, it looks like a very novel formation idea.

(End of this chapter)