Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 362 Countermeasures
A few days later, without any warning, a large fleet landed on Sicily, the southernmost island of the Apennine Peninsula.

Apart from the Praetorian Guard, there is no truly regular armed force in the mainland. Even if the people in the Senate want to recruit soldiers from the mainland, it will take time. Now the enemy's soldiers are probably still stationed in Rome and will not come to Sicily.

It was precisely because he could foresee this that Orville chose to rashly send troops to seize the island at this time.

Due to the lack of garrisons, both sides were essentially the same people, and the legionnaires who landed did not do much burning, killing, and looting. They simply declared that they would represent the royal family to fight against those members of the Senate who had committed treason.

When the locals heard this, they felt that this matter did not seem to have much to do with them, so they chose to give up resistance and let Orville do whatever he wanted in front of the gleaming blade.

The commander of the landing army was Stilicho. He was happy to see these people surrender and did not make things too difficult for them. He was just busy collecting supplies, recruiting volunteers and organizing defenses to guard against the Senate's troops that might land on the island in the future.

Orville's plan was to capture Sicily first and gain a reliable fulcrum near the Apennine Peninsula to facilitate subsequent military operations.

The land in the mainland is not enough to satisfy all the people living on it. As a large amount of arable land is now used to grow more profitable cash crops, the food self-sufficiency rate is even more worrying. Therefore, the mainland needs food supplied by Sicily and Egypt, otherwise famine will inevitably occur over time. Now these two places are all in the hands of Orville, and the initiative immediately goes to Orville.

If Orville wanted to drag the other party to death, it would be quite feasible. As long as there was no food, the other party would be helpless and could only admit their mistakes. However, the current situation could not be delayed.

Once this huge and bloated empire shows a tendency to split or become weak for too long, the amiable neighbors and subordinates around it will probably soon become nuclear-armed neighbors and subordinates, and then start all kinds of trouble. Once the crisis of trust occurs, it will not be so easy to bridge. If the empire has not completely emerged from the state of division at this time, Orville and these elders will have to bear the blame and will be blamed in history books.

He didn't know whether the other party would surrender, but he certainly couldn't drag it on, so further military activities were necessary.

In order to send more troops to the mainland, a stronger maritime force is needed. Moreover, the war on the mainland must appear as "civilized" and "polite" as possible, and must not attract too much opposition on the mainland. To achieve this, at least sufficient supplies are needed, which also requires the support of the navy.

Originally, a considerable part of the Greek navy was in the hands of the senators, especially the senators of Rhodes, who were the major shareholders. However, when Orville was suppressing the Greek rebellion, he foresaw some things, so he boldly burned down the Rhodes naval port and completely destroyed the naval base of this place.

Since then, Rhode Island's navy has never fully recovered, which has weakened the naval forces that the elders can mobilize, which is very beneficial to Orville.

After sending out the landing troops, Orville knew very well that the enemy would succeed, but he did not follow the next batch of supply troops to Sicily, but went to the northern provinces of Parfi and Syria. He wanted to borrow the military forces there, especially the navy.

When he was about to leave, Jeanne stopped the group.

Orville rode on his horse, staring at the other person curiously: "You'd better tell me something important. I'm in a hurry now."

"Indeed," Jeanne nodded solemnly, "The angels told me that I should go with you to another place and participate in this war."

"Is that what you call revelation?" "You can think so." Jeanne did not deny it.

Ever since she came to Egypt, she had not been very interested in the wars organized by Orville. Instead, she was busy helping the poor and the needy and preaching. For convenience, Orville also gave her the position of tribune, and the people had a very good opinion of her.

Now she is interested in the war. It can only be said that there must be something wrong when things are abnormal, but Orville will certainly not refuse the participation of a chosen one.

"No problem. Someone give her a horse and let her follow us and continue on her journey."

Agricola tactfully brought a horse and handed the reins to the other party, and the group set off again.
-
The group's first destination was Nabataea, where he successfully recruited a group of sailors and asked them to transfer to Alexandria and wait for orders.

Then everyone came to Palphi. King Herod of Palphi and Orville were also long-term strategic partners. They had some friendship and their interests were deeply bound together. The other party would certainly not refuse the conscription request, so he chose to increase the bet again.

A navy of Palffi and part of the king's private armed forces were mobilized. Orville planned to mobilize the opponent's navy directly, and as for the army, they could stay in Palffi on standby and there was no need to use these people unless necessary.

Allowing foreign armies to set foot on Roman soil would cause controversy and would also damage the country's prestige and reduce the Romans' deterrent power in the eyes of other nations. Therefore, Orville tried his best to avoid this. Not only Parfit's army, but even the Egyptian troops were kept in place and on standby. Unless it came to the point where it had to be done, Orville would only let them be responsible for some security and transportation work and would not let them go to the front line.

The last target was the province of Syria. Mucinus was as reliable as ever. After learning the news, he had already prepared a legion of legionnaires just waiting for Orville to use them.

After the meeting, he only said one sentence to Orville: "Vespa has already discussed the matter with me. He arranged everything before his death. You can take the army away for use, but I personally have something to tell you.

You should assure me that this whole matter will end in a way that is beneficial to the Empire."

Orville nodded solemnly: "I promise so, with my life as a guarantee."

After Orwell, representing the late emperor, led the troops from the Syrian Legion and left, Mucinus called to his adjutant: "Get the rest of the army ready. I mean, prepare for war against Orwell and Egypt."

Lucius, who was trained as a confidant by Mucinus, was quite puzzled: "Aren't we in the same camp as him?"

"It's like this for now, but it may not be like this in the future. Please follow my orders. This is the emperor's will. We may not really fight, but be prepared."

"Yes!" Lucius didn't dare to ask more and could only agree.

(End of this chapter)