Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 83 Big Rotation Plan

Seeing that Belisarius didn't believe Orville, he explained to him: "There are raw silk and raw lacquer in it. These two things are extremely expensive in the eastern provinces. I spent a lot of time to buy yew trees that were dozens or hundreds of years old from the Spanish provinces and shipped them to Rome. These woods are more expensive than ships. Then I asked people to boil fish glue. It took a whole cart of fish bladders to boil out such a small amount of fish glue. Do you know how difficult it is to collect fish bladders? And as for horns, I didn't know which horn was the most suitable, so I asked people to buy dozens of animal horns and experiment with them one by one. Animal horns are sometimes more valuable than the meat of the animal itself."

After the explanation, Orville successfully dispelled Belisarius' idea of ​​mass-producing this thing. Although it is useful, it is built with money.

In fact, he said this with the intention of scaring Belisarius, so that the other party would not think too much. Mass-produced goods do not need such luxurious supporting materials.

In fact, the crossbow technology of the Romans in this world is stronger than that in the previous world. At least they did not make such weird weapons as the handheld scorpion crossbow that made people dizzy. Their single bow and compound bow technologies were more complete than those in the previous world, and the amount of equipment was generally higher.

Now the Romans don't like to use bows and arrows or crossbows, mainly because of habits and cultural issues. After they have fought with the Parthians, a nation that is good at horse riding, for decades, they should have understood it - rather than asking the Romans to train a powerful cavalry that can kill the horse-riding nation in a short period of time, it is better to let them use long-range suppression to be a little more realistic.

Orville knew what the correct development process of long-range weapons should be like, and he also knew what technologies were probably used in it. He just needed to work towards this goal. As long as he was given dozens of skilled weapon craftsmen and various professionals, and a few years or months, it would be no problem for him to work out a more realistic and feasible bow and crossbow improvement plan. He was indeed doing this, but now was not the time to promote it.

The general idea of ​​Roman officers now is "good steel should be used on the blade", and the blade is the elite heavy infantry of the legion. The rest of the auxiliary troops can be dealt with with some slings, broken bows or javelins. It is best to have the best ones, but if there are no good ones, then give priority to equipping the legion infantry. Anyway, except for the cavalry, the rest of the people must give way to the legionnaires.

Later, with the progress of the times, the power of long-range weapons and cavalry continued to increase. The Romans, like other nations of that era, focused on cavalry and long-range projection power. The importance of legionary infantry would therefore decline until it finally withdrew from the stage of history.

This process is very complicated to be honest, and it is inextricably linked to the political, cultural, and economic evolution of Rome, but let’s not go that far for now.

For most officers, improving long-range strength means strengthening the power and importance of the auxiliary army, and even sacrificing some of the legionnaires' resources to give to the auxiliary army.

This is not simply a military issue but more of a political issue - the heavy legionnaires are citizens, while there are many non-citizens and those who are treated differently in the auxiliary army. There is a certain gap in their social status. Changing the existing two-part military system means disturbing the political balance, which is not something that officers dare to do. Orville and even Vespa dare not touch it, as it would cost their lives.

Another gentler method, that is, to equip the legionnaires with strong bows and crossbows instead of javelins, is also troublesome. Orville proposed to improve the javelin to make it more useful. As long as the officers nodded, no one would object. However, if you want to change the ancestral method of large shield, short sword, and javelin, the resistance you will encounter is not much less than changing the political balance.

This involves many issues, such as the equipment composition of the auxiliary army after the change, the tactics and strategy of the entire army after the change, and the political disputes between the new and old factions after the change. The energy and effort required to deal with these issues are very troublesome.

Orville chose not to touch any sensitive issues while in Rome. He just wanted to accumulate experience in a stable manner. He would do other things when Vespa released him from Rome one day. He had to be in a territory under his control before he could do things freely.
-
Finally, he accompanied Domitia to play for a while in the farm. She was very interested in the calves in the farm. It was understandable that children in the city rarely saw animals. After she had enough fun, the three of them returned home with the guards. When they arrived at the mansion, dinner was almost ready. Something happened in the meeting hall today, but Vespa still insisted on not bringing political issues to the table. He chatted and joked with his family, looking relaxed and comfortable.

Tia didn't look so natural and seemed to be worried.

Orville didn't bother her at this time, but just ate quietly, occasionally talking to her to answer questions or make jokes. He always enjoyed this kind of dining atmosphere, which made him feel that he was really alive in the world.

After dinner, Orville, Tia, and Vespa stayed behind to discuss various events that had happened today.

Today's meeting mainly decided on the specific matters of military expansion, but the specific combat plan has not yet been determined, and there is no need to discuss the details now. Orville just needs to know the general situation of the matter.

In addition, this meeting also brings together a series of previous events.

The lost manpower of the Germanic Legion would be replenished, and the Senate and the Emperor would not impose excessive punishment on them for their previous "rebellion", on the grounds that the punishment had already been done by the Danube Legion. They were really ruthless and would kill anyone they caught from the Germanic Legion in order to avenge the humiliation they and Vitellius had brought upon themselves.

These soldiers who originally belonged to the Germanic Legion will still be Roman soldiers, enjoying various preferential treatments and retirement benefits, but their garrisons will be changed, and the remaining members of the Germanic Legion will be disbanded and reorganized and deployed to various provinces as needed to supplement local garrisons.

The defense of the Germanic region will be handed over to the Danube Legion, which has been replenished. They will be replaced to become the new Germanic Legion. This is a reward for their loyalty and correct stance. There is no doubt that there is more money to be made on the Gallic Germanic side and wars are less frequent.

The defense of the Danube region will be handed over to the newly recruited New Danube Legion. Although it is called a new legion, in fact one-third or even half of its members will be Roman veterans who have been called back. They will serve for a few more years, and the model of old soldiers guiding new soldiers will be adopted to allow the recruits to quickly become familiar with military life and at the same time form a basic sense of belonging to the collective.

In the Eastern provinces, the Eastern Legion did not have a new round of military expansion plans, but the taxes borne by the Eastern provinces had to be temporarily increased to meet the Roman Empire's military expansion needs. Each province would also recruit a small number of soldiers symbolically and add these new recruits to the Germanic Legion or the Danube Legion. The Eastern provinces were generally wealthy and densely populated, and each province could at least send out several battalions with a total of more than 10,000 people, which could greatly fill the gap in troops.

(End of this chapter)