Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 36 Carbine
Seeing three military camps rising up around them, the defenders in the city could no longer sit idly by.

While the Romans were transforming themselves into civil engineers and carrying out massive construction outside the city, they organized a surprise attack team and, taking advantage of everyone's slackness in the morning, launched a surprise attack on the legion stationed on the Mount of Olives on the east side.

Although the Romans had left several battalions on duty for guarding, most of them had taken off their armor and were busy digging trenches. These soldiers were caught off guard. The number of the Parvi people was too large, and many of them were chopped down. They were defeated one after another.

Seeing that their friendly forces were making good progress, more Parphians rushed out of the city and began to join the battle. The Romans were unable to react in time, their organization was out of balance, and they were almost completely driven out of the camp.

At this time, Tia appeared on the battlefield again with the cavalry. She had just rushed over from Lookout Mountain. The main force was delayed and could not be mobilized for the time being.

Riding on her horse, she looked at the scattered soldiers fleeing in panic and cursed loudly: "Cowards! Non-citizens!!"

After saying that, she raised her sword again and shouted, "Charge! Charge!!"

More than a thousand people rushed down the hillside towards the unprepared right wing of the Palphi people. Although the other side had a large number of people, the problem of poor organization and training had never been solved. Faced with the sudden attack of these elite troops, they fell into chaos again, lost their offensive edge in an instant, began to panic and at a loss, and some of the Palphi people began to retreat and flee again.

This retreat created a chain reaction. The morale of the Parvi people became even more unstable. In addition, the Romans who were ambushed gradually came to their senses and spontaneously formed a battle formation to fight the enemy. They began to lose the battle despite their numerical advantage.

The brutal meat-mincing continued until noon. The Palfi people, unable to hold on, began to retreat back into the city, and Tia had no intention of chasing them.

The camp halfway up the Mount of Olives was basically completely destroyed, so she ordered her men, "Go higher and build a new camp on the top of the mountain."

The survivors of the legion, now demoralized after a great battle, began to gather supplies and spoils, and then slowly made their way toward the top of the hill.

But at this moment, the rebels entrenched in the city launched a surprise attack. Thousands of them rushed out of the city gate again and rushed straight to the Roman legions with scattered formations.

The Romans, whose morale was already low, no longer wanted to fight and retreated to the top of the mountain in a panic, preparing to hold their ground and wait for reinforcements. Some even ran away.

Tia did not retreat with these people, but was left halfway up the mountain. Vespa's confidant, Old Trajan, advised her: "These Parphi people are obviously suicidal. You'd better retreat first. We will hold on here for a while. You are the commander-in-chief of the army. Don't do what ordinary soldiers should do. It's more important to take charge of the overall situation."

If it were an ordinary commander or a more timid commander, he would definitely go down the stairs and leave directly, but Tia was different. She glared at the cowering legionnaires above and said, "I don't need to go. Let these cowards see how real Romans should fight!

It is absurd for a complete legion to flee and be afraid of unorganized rebels! Remember, you are not facing Spartacus or Hannibal, but the Parvi people, a nation that is still fighting among itself in the face of a powerful enemy. It would be a shame for the Romans to flee from such a nation! "

No matter what, Tia has her own moral values ​​and sense of honor and disgrace, and she doesn't just talk about it, she really intends to put it into practice.

Rejecting her subordinates' advice to retreat, she and her guards dismounted and formed a tight formation, standing firm in the face of the Palfi's attack. She calmly swung her weapon, and all the Palfi who wanted to attack their formation were killed, not by stabbing or hacking to death in the conventional sense, but by Tia's terrifying strength directly cutting off their arms or chopping them in two.

The amazing strength and courage shocked the Palfi people, but despite this, thousands of people could not be scared away. They scattered, bypassed Tia's formation, and chased the Palfi people who fled to the hillside and the top of the mountain.

Tia's purpose was not to protect herself. Seeing that the Palfi people were avoiding her, she drew out her sword and ordered her guards to form an attack formation and began to attack the army's flank.

The Roman army that was driven to the top of the mountain was inspired by the behavior of their commander. Many centurions roared and rebuked the fleeing soldiers, and began to order the soldiers to regroup, form formations, and continue fighting with the Parphi people.

During this period, Roman soldiers were still using the iconic large shield and short sword, which required close coordination to fully exert their power. If their formation was loose, they would not have much advantage against the Parfi rebels who used long swords and short spears.

While the two sides were fighting, Orville finally managed to break free from the entangled rebel commandos and arrived at the battle zone of Mount Olives with his auxiliary troops.

Seeing the Roman legionnaires cowering on the top of the mountain, and then looking at Tia and others who were fighting hard halfway up the mountain, Orville became furious. He asked his adjutant Valerian to take charge of the battle and lead the auxiliary troops to attack the Parphians' flank. He then rode his horse quickly to the top of the mountain and yelled at the soldiers.

"Men of the Tiber, conquerors of the world, is this it? It was your fathers who conquered Greece, Gaul, and Carthage, but not you. You have brought shame to the family! The refugees from Palphi dared to fight even when they took up arms, but you are regular legionnaires who farm on Roman land and receive Roman pay. Now you can even abandon your own commander. Don't let His Majesty the Emperor know about this, or you will become a disgrace to the family."

Perhaps these words inspired the soldiers, or perhaps they thought about how Vespa would deal with them if something happened to Tia, and the soldiers regained some of their fighting spirit.

They gathered together and launched a fierce attack on the Palph people at the foot of the mountain. Now the Palph people were in an unfavorable situation with enemies on three sides.

There were auxiliary troops on the left wing launching projectile attacks. After throwing stones, many people came up with red eyes and fought desperately with the rebels. The two sides were extremely jealous of each other when they met as enemies.

The center was hit by Tia's personal guards, who were able to cause serious casualties, and the rebels were unable to do anything to them for a while.

The Roman army in front also regained its fighting spirit and began to advance step by step. The training gap between the two sides was huge. The rebels had lost their will to fight before, and now that they had come to their senses, they could not gain any advantage.

The rebels were defeated step by step and were soon driven back to the valley between the Mount of Olives and the holy city. They retreated back into the city again. Because of the protection of the city walls and the garrison, Tia did not continue to pursue them, but continued to order her men to build a camp.

Perhaps Tia acted too recklessly, but it must be admitted that without such recklessness, not only would the camp east of the Mount of Olives not be built, but the legion would also be in danger of defeat.

(End of this chapter)