Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 356 Successor (4K)

Unable to understand what the other party meant by this, Orville first asked, "Which aspect do you mean?"

"I know that you surrendered to the Romans during the Palphic War. Since your surrender, you have achieved a high position within the Romans. How does that feel?"

This is not a sensitive question. Orville did not shy away from answering the other party truthfully: "It's normal and there's nothing special about it. I am very grateful to His Majesty the Emperor for his respect and training for me, but I also repay His Majesty the Emperor's training with my talents. I feel that I am very lucky along the way, but luck also requires ability to bear it."

Mithridates shook his head slightly, not agreeing with this answer: "I'm talking about your feelings about your own identity. You are a special existence among the Romans, and you have also betrayed your own ethnic group. How do you feel about these things?"

"You don't understand one thing. Although the Palphians are known for their stubborn adherence to their cultural habits and spiritual beliefs, I don't believe in or insist on these things. I don't identify with the Palphians. On the contrary, I have no problem living among the Romans. The Romans don't think I'm out of place, so I don't feel very uncomfortable or have a guilty conscience."

Orville himself is a modern man who traveled through time and space, so of course he has no sense of community with a group from two thousand years ago. Putting these things aside, the original owner himself is also a minority member of the Palfi group. Because he is a mixed-blood, he has never been fully recognized. Naturally, he does not have a strong sense of identity with the Palfi people.

This answer was somewhat unexpected, and Mithridates continued: "Then I think you can also see everything the Romans did on your land, and the Romans did almost the same thing on my land."

Orville did not accept the other party's argument: "If you were a commoner who could not survive in the local area, or an aristocrat or merchant who was persecuted by the Romans and whose family was destroyed, I could understand this point, but you are one of the rentiers under the rule of the Romans. In the final analysis, the Romans' rule over Pontus still depends on people like you. You are not a persecuted person.

I don't see much mercy and sympathy for the locals in your actions and policies. You are not collecting any less taxes than before. The exploitation still exists, but it is just called a different name. What is the difference between the original intention of maintaining the Pax Romana and the current intention of protecting the people from tyranny? I personally don't see it. "

"That's right, you're right. I don't really care whether the local civilians live or die," Mithridates did not deny all this, "but the locals are indeed dissatisfied with the Romans for a long time. This is a real situation, and I just want to satisfy my own ambitions in the process of the locals venting. The Greeks and the Pontic people now need a leader, another Alexander the Great to repair reality. I am the most potential candidate, more worthy of the title than the two women of the Ptolemy family. They have only inherited Alexander's reputation and a little bit of legal principles, and have no ambition to become Alexander at all."

"If you were just expressing your dissatisfaction, you wouldn't have to go this far. You just wanted to use this opportunity to realize yourself, and you lost the bet and this led to all this. Even if Alexander the Great were resurrected, he shouldn't have chosen to confront the Romans head-on at this time. It's good to have ambition, but your strength must match your ambition."

Orwell probably believed that if Alexander really won the resurrection match and appeared in this time and space, the opponent in Mithridates' position would not choose to directly rebel. It is more likely that he would take advantage of the weak rule of the local remote Romans to expand his power as quickly as possible, climb to a higher position within the empire, and then rebel.

"There's nothing much to say about this. I lost the bet. The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. I lost because I misjudged the resistance of others. Except for the Franks, most of them no longer dared to resist. I shouldn't have adopted this method.

Next, it depends on whether your bet is right, Your Majesty. According to the intelligence I have collected recently, you and Your Majesty will face considerable resistance."

Mithridates looked at Orville meaningfully. Orville knew that he was talking about the succession to the throne. After Vespa died, there would probably be a fight between them and the Senate.

"Maybe." Orville didn't want to discuss such a core issue with his enemy, so he just said a few perfunctory words and ended the conversation.

He was a little disappointed. He thought the other party would leave a deeper impression on him, but in the end he just felt that the other party was an open-minded gambler who lost the bet.
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Within two or three days after Orville left the villa, Mithridates met with some people again, and then committed suicide on the third day by taking poison.

According to legend, Mithridates VI had a very strong tolerance for poison. He would take a small dose of a certain toxic substance every day, and regularly increase the amount of toxin he took in. In this way, he gradually gained a poison-resistant physique and finally developed a body that was immune to all poisons.

Obviously this method is not as reliable as the legend says, and the poison can still kill people, but the death of Mithridates caused a lot of trouble to Orville and Tia.

He died without leaving a will, which caused a lot of trouble. Logically, this is easy to understand - Mithridates simply did not want to endure the shame of being paraded through the streets as a defeated person, so he chose to commit suicide first to end his life. He thought that a decent death was better than living a miserable life. This is a way of dealing with things that is often seen in people with strong self-esteem.

But this does not prevent some people from understanding this incident as Mithridates committing suicide voluntarily, and the culprit is Orville. As for why it was not Tia, the public believed that Tia was too upright to do such a thing. With the emperor sitting above, it was difficult to throw dirty water on someone like her, so they chose Orville, whose means were more normal.

Tia felt a little angry about this slander, but Orville didn't feel it hurt at all. The psychological damage caused to him was not as great as the previous slander of being a homosexual. It was unacceptable for celebrities and politicians to have no such rumors. He didn't take it seriously at all.

A few days later, Orville and the main force returned to Greece, leaving a part of the garrison to guard the vicinity of Pontus. At the same time, Ovid also came to Greece from Crimea.

Out of his desire to go home, it should be said that he burst out with extraordinary creative enthusiasm at this moment. When he arrived in Athens, he handed over to Orwell a record with very beautiful writing and very detailed records. After a little editing, it became a very readable history book (by the standards of this era).

Orville accepted the history book, and agreed to take the other party to Rome and intercede for the other party. Ovid could finally breathe a sigh of relief. It was obvious that he had very dark circles under his eyes. He didn't know how many days and nights he had not had a good rest because he was busy with this book.

After all the supplies, personnel, prisoners, etc. were in place, Tia set sail with the fleet to return to Rome. Originally, Orville was going to go back to Egypt and ignore these things, but at Tia's strong request, he finally obeyed the other party's wishes and let Trajan take the large army back to Egypt temporarily, while Orville took a small number of soldiers from the Ninth Legion and followed the other party back to the mainland to participate in the triumphal ceremony.
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I won't go into details about the various procedures. This was not the first time that Orville led troops from other provinces to the mainland, and he was already accustomed to these routine matters.

After returning to his homeland, Orville did not wait in the military camp outside the city like last time, but came to the palace one step ahead. Vespa said he had something to talk to him about. It has been several years since they last met. It can be clearly seen that Vespa is much more haggard than before, with less flesh on his cheeks, and his eye sockets are a little sunken. He doesn't look very healthy. No wonder the people in the Senate are a little restless recently.

The emperor is not in good condition and can hardly preside over the overall situation, so naturally the power of the Senate will increase. It is obvious that the other party is not in good condition, and if this continues, the other party may not be able to hold on for long.

After meeting, Orville asked tentatively: "Do you have something to ask me?"

Vespa was stunned for a moment before he said slowly, "It's mainly about Tia. The people in the Senate and I have some disagreements."

In short, the main disagreement between the two sides was about Tia's triumph. They thought Vespa was overly praising Tia. Three triumphs had been prepared for Tia over the years, which was a very unusual number. Only a figure like Caesar could hold three triumphs, and it was obvious that Tia was not a figure of Caesar's level anyway, so they thought that Tia should have one less triumph. Two would be enough.

After hearing this, Orville thought for a while and replied: "I think we should ignore them for now. Tia's reputation is at its peak now. Even if they are dissatisfied, they can only keep it in their hearts. And there is someone who should be able to help with this situation."

"who is it?"

"Ovid, who was exiled before, has many followers in Rome and can provide us with help."

"You know, he did some stuff before."

"He has now taken remedial measures and you will see the documents later."

"Okay, since you asked, I will allow it for now. As for the triumphal ceremony, I need you to do something. You go with Tia to the triumphal ceremony to shut up those people, even if it's just a formality."

Holding a triumphal ceremony specifically for Tia would make some people dissatisfied, but holding it for two people would seem more moderate. Orville and Tia are actually a family, and this result would not have much negative impact on Tia, so Vespa could still accept it.

There was no need for Orville to refuse: "If this is necessary, no problem, I will make preparations for this."

Vespa nodded slightly, and then there was a long silence.

"I heard about your affairs in Egypt, including those with Cleopatra. As Tia's father, I certainly feel a little unhappy about this matter, but as an emperor, I think you did the right thing. You have won yourself a very suitable ally. He and Mucinus will gain unimaginable benefits for our family. The entire eastern province of the empire supports us, and it will be useless even if the Senate opposes.

But I want to ask you what you think now. What do you think of the position of emperor? To be honest, if things continue like this, passing the throne to you would almost be a more appropriate choice. "

Putting aside the issue of his origin, in Vespa's opinion, Orville is indeed a very qualified successor to the throne. He possesses most of the necessary abilities and knows the limits. In this respect, he is better than Tia. Tia is overly idealistic in many aspects and may not be suitable to be a ruler.

Orville certainly had his own problems. His background made some Romans wary of him, but so far he had not shown any Palphic personality traits, which had invisibly eliminated much of the hostility. If you think about it carefully, it didn't seem to be a bad idea.

Knowing that this question was important, Orville thought about it before answering: "To be honest, I am not very interested in the position of emperor. I am very satisfied with my current position. Being an emperor is a very tiring job, and I don't think I have enough talent to govern a large enough empire. I am afraid that governing a province is almost my limit."

Orville was not being modest, he really believed so. When he was governing the province of Egypt, he was so burdened by the complicated official duties that he could hardly get away. Status brings power as well as responsibility. Too high a status means too much responsibility for him, so he feels it's okay now.

"Maybe that's the case. You should be well prepared when you return this time. I feel like I don't have much time left, just the next three to five years. You know what you should do. I'm tired, so leave and let me rest."

Vespa did not delve into these questions. He said something that made Orville break out in a cold sweat, and then he sent Orville away.

After leaving the palace, Orville thought carefully about what Vespa had said, and then decided to write a letter to Belisarius in Britain, asking him to cheer up and make preparations.

His goal for the next period of time was very clear - to guard against dissidents in the Senate, to prepare for matters related to Tia's accession to the throne, and at the same time to govern the province of Egypt well. Vespa would not allow himself to be transferred out of the province of Egypt again.

(End of this chapter)