Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 44 Warm welcome
Orville was a native of the Holy City. Even though he had been somewhat famous before, he did not try to hide his identity, so naturally the guards on the city wall recognized him.

Then he was welcomed with great enthusiasm. The people on the wall started to curse him and threw their weapons without hesitation. Nicanor was indeed unreliable. The weapons of these people could clearly hit him. Fortunately, the first round of shooting was not accurate, so Orville was not hit.

Nicanor was also amazed: "I swear in the name of Goddess Artemis, they have never thrown it so far before."

Orville didn't want to argue with the other party now. He walked around the city wall for a long time before he barely found a place where his voice could be heard by the defenders and where he would not be easily shot into a sieve.

[I hope that my future historical evaluation will not be Wang Zhaoming in the ancient times, a low-quality lackey of mankind.]

With such self-deprecating thoughts, Orville immediately took out the speech from his arms and began to persuade the surrender.

"Although their beliefs are different from yours, the Romans have always respected the Holy Land and have avoided damaging the city and the Holy Land during the long war. On the contrary, some of you have been trying to destroy the sacred culture of this city. You have seen that the city walls cannot protect you completely. The Romans can destroy the first and second walls, and they can also destroy the third.

You are understandably contemptuous of godless rulers, but these are the people who rule the world as we know it. Even the beasts know that the strongest always wins, and your ancestors chose to submit, not because they were cowards, but because they could see the reality clearly.

Pompey's small army can defeat this country. The Romans have conquered the Sabines, Etruscans, Gauls, Carthaginians, Egyptians, Greeks and countless other nations. It is extremely stupid to fight against him before this chariot slows down. What can you rely on? Maybe you can win once or twice by luck, but the Romans can lose ten or twenty times. You are isolated and have no chance.

You have been starved, and have committed countless crimes. Have you not stolen and robbed? Have you not robbed and killed? Do you really think you will be blessed by God? Until now, He has blessed the Flavians and made Vespa emperor. The Romans' conditions have not changed. They just ask you to pay taxes as before, and then they will guarantee order, security and your property, which you cannot get now. Things have developed to this point, and surrender is the best outcome. "

Orville's speech was somewhat funny, because he was dodging all kinds of weapons from beginning to end. Later on, he was dodging not only stones, arrows and javelins, but also scorpion crossbows and catapults specially brought by the Palfi people in the city for him. Nicanor was so scared that he quickly stood back and wanted to pull Orville away with him.

Orville rejected the other party's kindness and insisted on standing there and finishing reading the manuscript. In his opinion, this was necessary, otherwise he would feel uneasy.

He knew that the previous Roman governor's rule was unreasonable, and that it was normal and reasonable for the local people to choose to revolt. Even many Romans did not think that resistance was wrong.

But now it has been proven that these rebels have no long-term plans at all. Even if the rebellion is successful, it will only bring long-term anarchy and chaos to the local people, which is probably worse than the rule of the Romans. At least under the Roman rule, most people can still survive.

The war was almost over, the outcome was set, and further fighting would only increase casualties. Seeing that the food reserves in the city were about to run out and famine was about to begin, Tia was not a saint no matter how kind she was. After the city was broken, she would not be able to escape the punishment she deserved. A large number of people would die or be sold as slaves. Instead of doing this, it would be better to exchange for a more decent contract. Breaking the city and surrendering are two different concepts. Orville was really thinking about the locals, and he thought this was the best result he could get now.

Even if Tia lost the battle, and Vespa sent another general, things would be even worse. Besides, Orville knew that Tia would win in the end.

After waiting for a minute or two, weapons continued to be thrown at him, and Orville was finally pulled away by Nicanor and retreated to a safe area.

Nicanor was still frightened: "There was no such scene when Commander Tia came over to talk, you are really amazing."

Orville sighed, "Maybe. We don't need to try to persuade them to surrender. They still won't accept it. Or rather, the rebels who control the city won't accept it. They know that they are treated differently from civilians and will definitely be punished. We can try again when we make progress again, but the treatment may not be so generous."
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The siege continued, and Orvel and Tia's efforts were not without effect. Recently, more and more people were trying to escape from the city.

At Orville's own request, the job of examining refugees was given to him. He was indeed the most suitable person for this job in the barracks. At first, others were worried that he was busy with work and might not be willing to do such tedious and boring work, but Orville took the initiative to take it on, so there was no problem.

"They prevented us from leaving. Anyone suspected of escaping would be killed on the spot. But for those who are slightly richer, staying in the city is also dangerous. Our wealth will be coveted by others. We will be falsely accused of planning to escape and then executed. Our wealth and houses will be taken away by those people."

The ragged middle-aged man was still in shock. Orville handed him a glass of wine, and he drank it tremblingly, and his mood was relieved a little.

"Please rest assured that you are safe now. What is the food supply situation in the city? I want to know this. If you tell me the truth, I will send you to the civilian area in the rear instead of the refugee camp or prison."

Under the temptation, he told the truth without hesitation: "The situation is very bad. Not to mention the civilians, some soldiers can't even find food. The price of food is very high, and everyone is snatching food from each other. The soldiers have begun to rob the civilians of the little food left, and the famine problem is very serious. Only the middle and upper-level soldiers can guarantee that they have enough to eat. It seems that the high-level members of the Zealots, Priests, and Daggers have surplus food, but I don't know the details."

Orville nodded after thinking for a moment. "Okay, I'll keep my promise. But you need to live under our supervision for about a week. On the one hand, the Romans can't completely trust you, and on the other hand, it's to protect you. You have something hidden, like gold or silver coins in your stomach."

(End of this chapter)