Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 4: The Fourth Palm Storm
It was not until around noon that Tia stood up, put away the notebook she carried with her, and said to Orville, "Let's go, get ready for battle."

"I thought we would take a break during this time."

"Rest is for soldiers, not generals. As long as the war is not over, there is no such thing as a vacation for qualified generals. If we rest for a while longer, the opportunity may slip away. The soldiers are almost there."

The two men came out of the library one after the other and wanted to leave directly, but there was a crowd of people gathered at the door. A rough count showed that there were about four or five hundred people, staring at Orville covetously, as if he was the murderer of his father.

They are not soldiers, but Greek immigrants living here. These Greeks have had many conflicts with the Parvi people in recent years, especially during the rebellion. Racial hatred has become commonplace and both sides have blood debts on their hands.

Signaling Orvel to stand back with her eyes, Tia stepped forward and questioned them: "Greeks, why are you stopping the Roman soldiers?"

The leaders said in unison: "We have undoubtedly offended the great Rome, and we only want the barbarian to pay for his crimes. He is the leader of the barbarians, so he must die! We demand that he be tried!"

Tiya sneered: "The trial is over, and his life is saved. You are not judges, so don't use your Greek customs to instruct the Romans. He was captured on our battlefield, and you, the protected civilians, have no reason to interfere with our decision. Don't gather a bunch of rabble and shout, and everything will go according to your wishes. If you are so opinionated, why don't you suppress the rebellion yourself? Why don't you fight with your own swords?
There are thousands of bandits gathered in front of you at the port of Joppa. Why don't you dare to vent your anger on them and go find a powerless prisoner? Why do you have to beg my father to wipe out the pirates? Aren't you all men with hands and feet? You are the Greeks who gave birth to Pyrrhus and Alexander. Your ancestors once put Rome under great pressure. Now you should be ashamed of your dishonor! Simon of the Holy City killed thousands of you. You are so brave, why don't you go to the Holy City to judge him? ! "

She drew the sword from its sheath, held it in her hand and looked around at the people around her. Everyone who looked at her lowered their heads and remained silent.

After everyone made way, she put away her sword, gestured to Orville, and the two of them left the library door and headed towards the square.

Since both of them were in military uniforms, they did not need to change clothes and went directly to the square in front of the Governor's Palace, where about five hundred cavalrymen were on standby.

The flag held by the leader did not belong to the 12th Legion but to the 7th Legion. They seemed to be in good spirits, but their clothes were more or less covered with dust and mud. They should be troops transferred back from the front line and temporarily assigned to Tia.

Orville rode on the warhorse that Tia had prepared for him and left with the small group of troops.
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"I don't think you can be a military advisor, but you are barely qualified to be a local guide. I asked the bachelor in Caesarea, and you are right. The black north wind is coming. After the storm comes, they can no longer escape by ship. Because of this, they are likely to quietly move from land with their retreat cut off. We must hurry and intercept and destroy them at the port of Joppa before they move."

Tia explained the combat objectives briefly, while Orville seemed to be thinking about something and began to recall the information about the bandits.

"If I remember correctly, the bandit leader in Joppa Harbor was called John. John of the Limestone Land?"

Tiya has good military skills and remembers the relevant people clearly: "Yes, he is not a local. He led a gang of robbers and a group of refugees to occupy this place. Why, do you have any impression of him?"

"We've met before." He had contact with John and knew that the other party was a bully.

After a mental struggle, he chose to continue speaking: "Sir, I know what kind of person John is. Compared to directly taking action to provoke his ferocity, I have a simpler solution."

"You can talk about it, but I won't necessarily adopt it. I'm skeptical about your understanding of military affairs." Having said that, with her father's request in mind, Tia gave Orville a chance to speak.

The robbers in the port of Joppa recently made a disturbing discovery - there are Roman cavalry wandering nearby, and although no conflict has broken out yet, everyone knows that it is only a matter of time.

John, the leader, sent someone out to investigate the situation, and sure enough, he found Roman soldiers setting up camp. It seemed that there were not many people setting up camp, so they had two choices.

Either they could catch the Romans off guard before their main force arrived, or they could run away. John had gained some confidence from his previous plundering of Roman merchant ships, and his subordinates also followed suit. He decided to attack the Roman camp that had not yet been completed at night.

So, thousands of bandits with no organization or coordination gathered that night and approached the camp built by the Romans in the open space outside the town in the dark.

The camp was not fully built at all. There were just a few tents set up inside a few wooden piles. Seeing this, John and the others couldn't help but relax their vigilance. In their opinion, attacking such a camp would be a piece of cake.

As they gradually approached the camp and were about to launch an attack, a fire suddenly broke out in the camp, causing the bandits to panic and not know what to do.

The fire seemed to be a signal for an attack. The sound of dense horse hooves came from the distant mountains and forests. An entire cavalry regiment of more than 500 cavalrymen were divided into three groups and attacked the bandits from different directions.

Although the bandits had an absolute numerical advantage, they had never received special training and did not know how to deal with the division and encirclement of the cavalry phalanx. The darkness increased their fear. They instinctively wanted to stick together, but due to lack of training they huddled together, leaving them with no space to display their spears in an orderly manner against the enemy.

The Roman cavalry could calmly draw their weapons and hack at the enemy like they were slashing at a target, easily breaking up the bandits' formation. The huge casualties of their companions caused the bandits' morale to collapse, and they completely lost their organization and fled in all directions. Only John and his confidants were better, at least they knew to stick together and point their weapons at the enemy.

They stood closely together and moved slowly towards the town, hoping to use the complex terrain there to deal with the Romans.

The cavalry seemed to have little interest in them and instead dispersed to hunt down the fleeing soldiers who were running towards the mountains and plains.

Two legs certainly could not outrun four-legged creatures, and although some escaped, most were either captured or killed on the spot.

John instinctively felt that something was wrong. He knew the principle of capturing the leader first, and these soldiers must have understood that the Romans were definitely planning something. But he had no choice. The only place nearby that could provide shelter was the port of Joppa itself. If they moved slowly into the wilderness or scattered and fled, they would definitely die.

In this way, they were driven into the port like a flock of sheep by the cavalry. Fortunately, the port of Joppa had not yet fallen. Hundreds of bandits broke out from it and forced back the cavalry who did not want to fight. John and others were temporarily safe.

After such a surprise attack, the bandits in Joppa suffered heavy losses, and John and his men were completely discouraged and dared not fight the Romans head-on. John now had only one choice: to escape quickly.

John looked towards the coast anxiously. It was impossible to escape from the sea in the current weather.

Dark clouds blocked out the moonlight, and thunder and lightning flashed in the thunderclouds, as if Poseidon's sea monster was really roaring. The wind and rain blew towards the coastline, and the powerful force of the storm could be felt from a safe distance.

Going by sea at this time was tantamount to suicide, but the frightened John no longer cared about much. He and his surviving colleagues talked incoherently about the horror of the Roman soldiers, and panic spread in the port.

At this time, Roman cavalry was discovered very close to the city again. This time they did not intend to just act as scouts, but continued to approach the town. This became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The robbers became cowardly before the battle even began, and abandoned most of the local residents. They commandeered ships and headed for the sea, hoping to hold out on the reef until the storm passed or the Romans left. This was the beginning of the tragedy.

The power of the storm made them dare not go deep into the sea, and the Roman army made them dare not stay on the shore for long. Many ships were blown into each other and even hit reefs by the strong wind. More ships sailed into the deeper sea to avoid the reefs, and were then swallowed up by the huge waves. These people were caught in a dilemma.

Many people drowned; many people were swallowed by the waves; many people crashed into the rocks and cliffs and died; many people thought it would be more comfortable to die by their own sword.
(End of this chapter)