Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 355 Ending (4k)

So even though there was still some room for improvement, and the Roman spearmen's main line was not doing well, panic inevitably spread after the Pontic army's flank was penetrated and the Romans were trapped in a double-team.

After all, as a coalition force, the Pontic army inevitably has the common problems of the coalition forces - the various parts of the army have completely different fighting willpower and tolerance to casualties.

For example, the heavy infantry on the flanks, although surrounded, basically persisted in fighting, without fleeing or losing the will to resist. The performance of the volunteers sent from outside was mixed, some seemed to have a deep hatred for the Romans and insisted on fighting to the death, while others seemed to be fooling around, avoiding fighting or dawdling, and showing a tendency to wander on the edge of the battlefield when the situation was not favorable to the friendly forces.

As for the spearmen, whose composition is quite complex and whose training level is questionable, they are even more worrying. It is easy for them to defeat the smaller number when the wind is favorable, but when they find themselves surrounded and attacked by the Romans from behind, they are the ones who panic the most. After all, they are in the phalanx and cannot run away even if they want to.

The phalanx gradually became fragile, even to the point of being on the verge of collapse. Even if Mithridates had recalled most of the troops sent out to intercept the Vikings, it would be of no avail and could not fundamentally change the problem.

Not only that, because the number of troops sent out to intercept the Vikings was too small, after the longships docked, the pirates' main job was to line up and organize the formation skillfully before the other side arrived, and then began to move forward and fight the other side.

Although they were not able to break through the enemy's formation in one go, these Vikings undoubtedly had the upper hand, and the enemy's defeat was only a matter of time.

As the Scythian and other cavalry units were driven off the battlefield by infantry and cavalry, the war was essentially declared over, and the Romans surrounded the enemy's formation, just as Hannibal did at the Battle of Cannae.

Like most formations, the Pontic spear phalanx could only defend against enemies coming from one direction. They were unable to resist enemies coming from behind and on the flanks. The battle quickly entered the so-called garbage time, and the Roman army began the final cleanup work.
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The situation developed just as Tia expected. As the encirclement gradually tightened, the enemy's army began to disintegrate.

There must have been many people who tried to surrender to the Romans and give up resistance, but under normal circumstances this might be easy to say, but this was on the battlefield, and both sides were in an extremely excited state of killing, and not many people had the rationality to think about showing mercy. The two sides were enemies fighting for life and death just a few minutes ago.

Even the most good-tempered and kind-hearted person would not persuade or order his soldiers to show mercy at this time. The result was basically a massacre. The soldiers vented their fear and hatred, and only started to take prisoners after a long time.

By this time, quite a lot of Pontus or Greeks had actually been killed, with only a small number of people left alive. Perhaps hatred would be passed on, or perhaps fear would be passed on even more. Orville was not sure what the outcome would be.

He did not say anything to stop them, but only required the army to maintain their formation and not to disperse. The soldiers' military qualities were also fine and they maintained order.

After the battle on the front battlefield was basically over, Orville quietly commanded the soldiers to start cleaning up the battlefield and asked the cavalry to search for those who had escaped.

In the end, what he was worried about did not happen, and the cavalry brought him reassuring news - they finally captured Mithridates, who was trying to escape back to the city of Sinope to regroup, and were escorting him back to the tent.

He finally felt relieved, handed the final task to his adjutant and prepared to rest. In recent days, due to psychological pressure and heavy war command work, he had not had a good rest. Now that the battle was over, it was time to have a good rest.
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In the military tent, Mithridates, who was tied up, was brought in front of Tia by two guards. Tia, the heir to the throne, looked down at him with a complicated look in her eyes. On the one hand, there was hatred and dissatisfaction, and on the other hand, there was understanding and sympathy.

Overall, both parties are still normal people rather than antisocial lunatics, and their behavior is logical.

To Mithridates, their rebellion had reason, and Thea obviously recognized this.

After careful consideration, she said, "Are you satisfied now?"

The other party spoke without hesitation, probably having already thought of an answer: "Of course I shouldn't be satisfied with the result. But I am satisfied with my behavior. You should realize the fact that not everyone likes your existence, and not everyone will bow down to you."

Dia sighed quietly, "We have long recognized this, and it is difficult to change it. The result of your doing this will only cause more people to die, because we will never allow this. And your history has proved many things. Although our rule has shortcomings, I admit this and I can understand you, but beyond that, I am afraid you do not have the psychological preparation and ability to govern a country well.

Under the Romans, I'm afraid things would be more orderly under your own management. Giving stability and order to the world is the mission of the Romans. You can resist it, but it will only proceed steadily as planned. "

"I knew this," Mithridates sneered, "I just want you to know that not all Greeks are sheep. After Alexander's death, we still have lions lurking in our hearts. Not everyone will be like a lamb and let you slaughter them."

"Perhaps. We have sensed your determination. I hope you can also bear the consequences."

Thea said this to Mithridates, and then ordered her men to take him away, and later send him to Rome to be tried by the emperor and the Senate.

After watching the other party leave, Tia sighed and then instructed her adjutant: "Load the captives onto the ship and send them to Athens to await the next step. You take your men to Sinope to persuade them to surrender and bring the other party's command flag."

"Yes!" The other party agreed without hesitation, and then continued to ask hesitantly, "Apart from surrender, what other conditions do you want?"

"If the situation permits, only the main culprit will be punished. It has little to do with the local civilians. What we want is to quell the incident as soon as possible and get things back on track." The implication is that there is no need to delve into it further, otherwise the local area will inevitably be plunged into another bloody storm. The adjutant understood Tia's thoughts very well. Although he did not agree with this approach of cutting the grass without removing the roots, after all, Tia was the commander now. He did not say much and prepared to do it as he was told.
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After the decisive defeat on the frontal battlefield, the leader was captured. From various levels of perspective, there was no need to fight any further. It was still unknown whether the Romans' promises were true and reliable, but most people were subconsciously willing to believe that this was a part of their own advantage. So even though many local residents and volunteers still had the will to resist and wanted to rely on Sinope's imperfect defense system to organize defense, a simple and smooth coup d'état still thwarted their intentions.

The surrender nobles in the city chose to control the city gates and various strategic locations, welcoming the royal army to bring the Romans into the city. At the same time, an internal purge began, which was considered by the surrender nobles as a way to show loyalty, and many people died as a result.

The Romans were pleased to see this happen, and without much effort they sent their soldiers in to complete the occupation of Sinope. The war was basically over at this point.

With the collapse of the main resistance center and the surrender of the army in an organized manner, the Pontic issue has completely become a minor regional matter, and a small number of troops can be sent here to continue to eliminate the rebels.

Apart from the problems in Asia Minor, there were two other points of concern - one was the fence-sitters on the Black Sea coast and the towns occupied by the Pontic people, and the other was the Scythians who supported the Pontic rebellion.

These two things have little to do with Orville. Tia will naturally assign an officer to handle this matter. Orville's remaining task is to maintain local law and order and do the final finishing work.

Tia knew that she might not be able to judge the scale well and achieve the appropriate punishment effect, so she handed the specific arrangements to Orville. Orville was also very clear about the other party's acceptance limit and started to make arrangements based on this standard.

Mithridates and all his close associates were naturally imprisoned. The remaining nobles who fled to Pontus were basically considered to be diehards and were to be detained. Those volunteers who failed to escape were also imprisoned.

In addition, Orville also selected some prisoners who looked strong and fierce to be locked up and taken away.

These people would eventually be taken to Rome, on the one hand to be tried by the Senate and the Roman people, and on the other hand to be paraded through the streets in a triumphal ceremony.

In fact, there was no need to take those prisoners of war and most of the volunteers away. Those who deserved ransom should be ransomed, those who deserved amnesty should be pardoned, those who deserved to be sold as slaves should be handed over to slave traders who heard the news, and those who deserved to be killed should be killed on the spot. However, Orville needed to consider the effect of the triumphal program.

Foreigners with different skin colors, appearances and clothing can make the locals look at the general's achievements with a higher regard. The onlookers are more likely to believe that the general has experienced a glorious and difficult war and finally achieved a brilliant victory. This logical thinking can naturally increase the general's prestige.

In addition to these people, Orville also imposed routine punishments on the local people - house confiscations, ransom payments, demolition of city walls, and the confiscation and destruction of weapons. Orville would not be lenient with necessary punishments, as he deeply understood the necessity of these punishments.

At the same time, he also adopted a slightly bloody attitude towards those tough rebels. He announced that from then on, any rebel who was caught would be sent to a public mine thousands of miles away for forced labor, and those with serious circumstances would be killed on the spot and crucified.

On this basis, he did not overly affect the lives of local civilians. The looting and extortion of the local people were mostly limited to wealthy businessmen and nobles who had accumulated wealth. The impact on civilians was relatively small, and might not even be as great as the trouble caused by the taxes levied by the people of Pontus themselves.

He reluctantly gave those fence-sitters a hand, but the inevitable result was that they would suffer the consequences and be handed over as hostages to Rome.

The treatment of various places is basically carried out based on this. As for how the emperor wants to further deal with the Pontic and Greek people, that is the emperor's business. Orville and Tia currently do not have the power to help the emperor make decisions. They can only do the finishing work for the war, that's all.

……

After Sinope surrendered, many of its tributary cities also surrendered. This crushing defeat allowed the Kingdom of Bosporus (Crimea) and other places that had been forced to surrender to the Pontic people to return to the embrace of the Romans. At this time, Orwell did not forget one of his friends. Ovid had been there for almost two years after the Metamorphoses incident and was still in exile on the Black Sea coast.

During this period, Ovid constantly used his connections to request to return to his homeland, or at least to be exiled to a more civilized place. But it was obvious that the connections he could find were not enough to convince the emperor himself to give him face, and there was no sign of his exile being revoked.

Orville had not forgotten him, so he did him a favor this time and let him go back to Greece with others during the chaos. He planned to take him back to Rome, and he had already thought of an excuse, saying that Ovid wrote about the experience of the entire Bosporus Kingdom and the surrounding areas during the war, and he wanted to present it to His Majesty the Emperor.

The high-sounding reason was that it would be inconvenient to stop it with Orville and others, and Ovid's matter was not a big deal, so it should be possible to get away with it. Orville probably didn't care much after making the arrangements. He believed that Ovid could distinguish between good and bad, and could hand in a decent report. As a famous writer in history, even if he was a little unserious and had a bad reputation, he should still have this ability and could write something that was not bad.

After taking some time to deal with Ovid's affairs, he turned his attention to the matter at hand. He took some time to meet with Mithridates himself. He was still somewhat interested in this historical figure.

The meeting took place in a strictly guarded country villa. After all, he was a member of a noble family of high status. Unlike ordinary prisoners who would be locked up in a prison with worrying conditions, the environment in the villa was fairly good, and apart from the lack of freedom, there didn't seem to be any serious problems.

Mithridates seemed to be prepared for Orville's visit and looked at him with a subtle expression.

Orville stared at the middle-aged man and started to say a few polite words, but he was stopped by Mithridates, who asked first, "How do you feel now?"

(End of this chapter)