Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 359 The Golden Fleece

The Parthians were middlemen in the silk trade, but their skills were pretty good. The advanced middlemen among them did not ship the silk fabrics of East Asian countries to Rome to sell them in their original form, but disassembled the silk fabrics of East Asia and reassembled them into patterns and colors that the Romans liked and sold them to Rome for money. In Orville's opinion, this was quite technical, and it was indeed not bad for them to make some money.

But it is clear that at some point, the Parthians made too much money, which made the Romans very unhappy. The many wars that broke out between the two sides cannot be completely separated from silk.

While it would certainly be impossible to completely abandon silk, as Pliny said, we can get a glimpse of the Mediterranean people's obsession with silk from Greek mythology.

The story of the Argonauts, Jason, Medea and the Golden Fleece is quite famous. The Golden Fleece is a magical golden woolen skin hanging on a tree. A series of disputes and adventures broke out around the Golden Fleece. It can be said to be one of the legends in Europe since ancient times. This story may be adapted from the story of silk.

In classical times, the Greeks and Romans believed that silk was very fine wool that the Seres plucked from trees, as recorded by Pliny the Elder.

"They sprayed water on the trees to wash the white wool off the leaves, and then their wives spun the wool into thread and wove it into cloth. Thanks to such complicated labors performed in distant regions, the noble ladies of Rome were able to wear transparent clothes and appear in public."

The silk hanging on the trees and the golden fleece hanging on the trees are equally magical and precious, and may be related to each other, but this can only be classified as a fantasy of the people at that time.

However, although the Romans' understanding of silk is now bizarre and ridiculous, in fact, it was not only the Seres who tried to domesticate wild silkworms and reel silk since ancient times. For example, residents of a small island in Greece and Indians once used wild silkworms to collect silk for weaving, but their domestication was unsuccessful, and this skill was not popularized and gradually forgotten. In the end, only the Seres were able to domesticate wild silkworms.

According to historical progress, as sericulture technology flowed to the Western Regions during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Persians obtained domestic silkworms around the beginning of the sixth century. Then Byzantium also obtained domestic silkworms during this period and began breeding them.

Originally, the Peloponnese Peninsula was named after Pelops, the grandson of Zeus, but after the introduction of silkworms, it became morea (mulberry leaves). Sericulture and silk reeling once became an important source of fiscal revenue for Byzantium.

If Orville wanted to solve the financial gap caused by silk imports, the best way would certainly be to teach people how to fish rather than give them fish, and let the people here master the silkworm breeding technology. However, this is easier said than done. It is almost impossible to keep a close watch on domestic silkworms. Even if one starts breeding wild silkworms now, it will not be too late in one's lifetime. Orville has no hope in the short term anyway.

To sum up, this problem is basically unsolvable at the moment. Orville thought about it carefully, but he still didn't have the heart to spend a lot of money. He also wrapped silk around the bows and crossbows of ordinary soldiers to increase their strength, so he could only let them make do with it for now.

If we compare the performance comprehensively, there must be a reason why people in the Central Plains chose to wrap silk instead of animal tendons. Things like silk and spider silk are much stronger than animal tendons, but there is no other way without them.

The impact of the lack of silk is not very great. The bows and crossbows are not unusable yet, and they can still penetrate armor and shields to kill people. It’s just that the performance and lifespan are slightly worse. Compared with the sky-high price of silk, Orville would rather save costs and use the money in more appropriate places.

That being said, Orville still asked his men to select some experienced breeders and asked them to see if they could find a way to breed wild silkworms and then domestic silkworms to raise silkworms and reel silk. If they succeeded, they would be rewarded handsomely. Orville also issued a bounty notice. Anyone who could breed a prototype of domestic silkworms would receive at least 500,000 dinars in gold and silver, and there were countless other rewards. Most people in the Mediterranean, even those with insight, believed that "silk grows from trees", so Orville had no hope for the outcome of this matter. He just issued a bounty order with a try-it attitude, hoping that there would be brave men under the heavy reward. It would be best if there were, but it didn't matter if there weren't.

This is basically the only way to obtain materials for making bows. Another problem is how to obtain war horses.

War horses are not the same as draft horses used for farming. In ancient times, the former could be ranked alongside any of the most important strategic materials and were extremely precious and expensive resources. Otherwise, the salary/maintenance costs/food supplies of a cavalryman would not often be ten times that of an ordinary soldier.

The war horses in Orville's hands were prepared by Cleopatra, but the number was still not enough. According to Orville's idea, he should at least have a cavalry unit of two to three thousand people directly under his command to be able to deal with various problems.

Reliable riders were hard to find, and it was hard to find enough professionals after racking one's brains. As for war horses, it was definitely unrealistic to just ask Cleopatra for them. Although she was a wealthy woman, Egypt was not a place that produced a lot of war horses, and the stock was limited. Orville was not shameless enough to ignore the consequences.

So Orville changed his target this time - he went to find the war horses the Nabataeans wanted.

Before the development of modern horse breeding technology, it was generally believed that excellent war horses came from the Arabian region. Arabian horses have strong explosive power and endurance, and their tolerance to harsh environments is impeccable. Modern European horse breeding has also introduced a large number of Arabian horse genes, which is enough to show that the quality of these horses themselves is not bad.

Compared with the mediocre horses in Rome, these nomadic peoples had the best war horse resources that Orville could find.

War horses are almost the lifeblood of the locals, as they can be used in fighting for livestock, water sources, and to resist enemies. They are certainly unwilling to give them away easily, even if Orville asks for them directly, unless he wants to go to war with the locals again over this matter.

The relationship with the neighbors was too tense, and it was not a good sign that they wanted to solve everything with force, so Orville changed his approach and made a deal with the other party.

First of all, Orville will have to pay to open a horse farm in partnership with the other party to increase the number of war horses bred.

Secondly, Orville had to provide salt, food, farm tools, cloth, wood and other basic living supplies in exchange for the war horses, and the Nabataeans would give him a very favorable price.

The last and more important point is that in the future Orville will support the Nabataeans to fight against the Persian merchants in the East and make their business strength stronger as compensation.

(End of this chapter)