Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 89 Bribery
Orville's "prediction" of the will was completely correct, which made Vespa stunned for a long time. He came to his senses after being reminded by his subordinates. He looked at Orville several times before he reluctantly began to deal with the affairs of the Ptolemaic royal family.

Back to the will itself, Vispa was well aware of Berdinus's cautiousness, but to be honest, he really didn't care about these things - it didn't matter who was nominally in charge of Egypt, as long as Rome's core interests were not harmed and Egypt could continue to supply food and other important commodities.

Although he was a little dissatisfied with Berdinus's presumptuous behavior, he did not take it to heart because Berdinus was also very considerate and was willing to take out a huge sum of 2500 talents from Ptolemy's treasury as a thank you for Rome's protection of Egypt, and was also willing to give Vespa 500 talents privately.

It was made clear that Berdinus was bribing Vespa, and Vespa actually fell for it.

According to the current situation, one talent is about 26 kilograms, and the talent in this context refers to 26 kilograms of silver. The silver content of a dinar silver coin is about 3.5 grams, and one talent is equivalent to about 7500 dinars. 3000 talents are a full 2250 million dinars.

The standing army was a money-eating beast, and the Roman standing army was treated very well. The cost of maintaining a regular legion for a year, including equipment, salary, food, retirement pay, slave fees, etc., was about 250 million dinars, which was enough to maintain nine legions for a whole year. At that time, Rome's total fiscal revenue was only 4 million dinars, and 2250 million dinars was not a small amount of money that could be ignored by the country.

The Egyptians basically paid for their military expenses for the expedition to Gaul. All Vespa had to do was nod in agreement and acquiesce to Berdinus's attempt to undermine the Egyptian royal family. For him, this was not a big deal. Anyway, Berdinus could ensure that Rome's interests would not be infringed. If there was a real problem, the tens of thousands of Roman garrisons there would not be pushovers.

Without weighing the pros and cons, Vespa acquiesced to Berdinus's approach, but secretly warned Berdinus not to be so clever in the future.

With the Romans nodding in agreement, things were basically settled. Berdinus' face was almost broken with laughter. At the same time, he did not forget to make arrangements and give benefits everywhere in Rome. Many important senators in the Senate received gifts and gold and silver from Egypt. Even Orville was no exception. The bribes he received were about 10 dinars.

The nobles did not think it was necessary to stop the uncrowned king of Egypt, because he had clearly shown his obedience to Rome, and that was enough. The little king and queen were still in an unknown state, and they might not be as happy as the eunuch.

Ptolemaic Egypt was the last legitimate successor to Alexander, the world conqueror of the Macedonian Empire, and was also quite influential among the somewhat restless Greeks. The Senate did not want to see the Ptolemaic royal family gain too much influence or power, so it was in everyone's best interest to allow them to maintain this puppet status.
-
After confirming his guess, Orville was not particularly concerned about Ptolemy's Egypt. He had only limited ability. If the issue escalated to the issue between the kingdom and the Roman Empire, his say was actually minimal, and he could only whisper in Vespa's ear.

Instead of worrying about things that had little to do with him, he might as well study how to fight the Gallic War well. He regarded this war as his turning point and could not afford to lose.

Just when he and Tia were studying geography and military affairs, someone else came to him.

Belisarius entered his room after making his report, bringing with him a message: "There is a Greek man at the door who is looking for you. He says he wants to discuss the inn business with you."

Orville felt a little strange, but he still asked Belisarius to invite the person in for a detailed discussion. Face-to-face communication is always the best way for both parties.

The man was a Greek in a plain long gown. He didn't look very old, probably around 30 years old. He was a little timid and obviously quite afraid of Orville.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. I came here to meet you and give you something." Tremblingly, he took out a small box with exquisite decorations and a golden statue of Mithras from his arms. Belisarius took the box and presented it to Orville.

He opened the clasp of the box, and inside lay a pearl earring. The style was very familiar to Orville, the same one that Cleopatra had given him. The two made a perfect pair.

"Your Highness the Princess asked me to send you greetings. I think you should have some impression of what's inside?"

Orville didn't say anything either. He took out another cedar silver box from his locker, took out the earrings stored inside, and showed them to the other party. In this way, the two sides probably had an agreement on the secret code.

Belisarius, who was unaware of the situation, put on an expression of watching a show. He didn't know about the affair between Orville and Cleopatra, so naturally he could imagine a lot of things, such as this thing was a token of love between the two of them, and that Prince Orville had an affair with an Egyptian princess in the past.

And now that the Egyptian princess was engaged to his own brother, Belisarius might have already written the outline of a long, sad, cheesy novel in his mind.

"I roughly understand the situation, but I need you to answer a few questions for me. Why did you come to see me? How did you come to meet me? I didn't see you among the Egyptian envoys."

The envoy had a bitter expression: "Berdinos would not allow me to board his ship. He is wary of anyone who has anything to do with the royal family. If I had shown any sign of being close to the royal family, I might be dead now.

I am Princess Cleopatra's geography teacher, responsible for teaching her the necessary knowledge of geography and astrology, and the reason why I came to meet you is very simple. It was the Ptolemy royal family who established the Library of Alexandria, which gave us scholars a stable salary and a comfortable environment so that we can study knowledge with peace of mind.

Now the authority of the royal family is being questioned and facing unprecedented risks and challenges. I am a grateful person, so I asked Her Royal Highness the Princess to entrust this task to me and let me deliver the letter to Rome.

I came to Athens from Egypt by merchant ship, on the pretext of academic exchange, which is something I do frequently so it won’t arouse suspicion. After arriving in Athens, I came to Rome through the hostel system you created. I was worried that the princess’s situation would be leaked, so I used the excuse of negotiating business to cover it up. I hope you won’t blame me for being dishonest.”

Of course, Orville would not blame him. The other party's courage was still commendable. He ran all the way from Egypt to Rome to find him: "What's your name? I'll remember it."

PS. The data I found said that the maintenance cost of an army during Caesar's time was about 150 million dinars. Taking into account inflation and increased military salaries, the legion maintenance cost in the early days of the empire was just over 200 million. This is my estimate, and I don't know if it's correct. If I'm wrong, please point it out. I really haven't found the data on legion maintenance costs at that time.

(End of this chapter)