Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 93: Get him to join
Gold is fine, but a lot of jewelry is too easy to identify. Just selling it and not making any profit or loss aside is a bit like trying to cover up the truth. Anyone can see that he has made some ill-gotten gains recently. Orville can't do this.

After much deliberation, he decided to sell a small amount of Greek and Persian jewelry first to temporarily fill his own funding gap, and then send a batch of weapons and armor to Cleopatra.

At the same time, he wrote a personal letter to the Herod royal family, explaining the pros and cons, and sent it to Parphi via his armed fleet.

The entire cycle will take at least half a year optimistically. I hope the plan can keep up with the changes. Orville doesn't have any good solution. He can only take it one step at a time. This is actually a pleasant surprise.

Cleopatra was also very generous this time. Among these jewels were Egyptian heirlooms, spoils of Alexander's conquest of Persia, and tributes contributed by the Greek people to the successor dynasties. None of them could be measured by simple gold, silver and jewelry.
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In order to arm his own guards, Orville had been manufacturing and purchasing weapons sporadically. In addition, when he armed the Roman legionary brigade this time, he also bought sufficient spare weapons, so he could spare a lot for Cleopatra at once.

Spears, simple javelins, slings and crude armor for fifteen hundred men, swords, shields and chain mail for three hundred men, two hundred bows and corresponding arrows. It does not sound like a lot, but it can still arm two thousand men, and the configuration is relatively reasonable. Once trained, they can be deployed to fight.

As the matter was a bit shady, Cleopatra could not reach into Rome, and both parties conducted business based on conscience. Ptolemy thought too well of Orwell and revealed all his wealth. If Orwell had been more ruthless, he would have swallowed up the other party directly and suffered in silence.

But Orville still had professional ethics, and at most he gave the other party a slight increase in price. The current year is not very good, and military supplies are indeed rising in price, so it is also fair to look at it this way. The offer he gave Cleopatra was equipment for 6,000 people and 30% of the share of the Future Weapons Workshop.

For these jewels, he found reliable and tight-lipped professionals to come and appraise the value, and the final result was between 500,000 dinars and 1.5 million dinars. Jewelry is not like gold and silver, which have a fixed price. If you want to sell it at a high price, you have to be able to tell stories and do marketing, so the price fluctuates greatly.

If you really count it, this is a huge sum of money. If it sells well, it is enough to arm two fully equipped Roman legions of 10,000 people (just the equipment). Cleopatra can only exchange for the basic equipment and a share of an unbuilt arsenal, which is definitely a loss. However, the Egyptian princess has no choice. Only Orwell is willing to help. It's that simple.

It took some time to sell a small part of the jewelry at a discount. Including the gold coins, Orville earned about 200,000 dinars, because everyone in Rome knew that he brought a small amount of exquisite spoils from Palphi, and they thought it was the stock at that time. After all, the Palphi people had dealt with Greece and Persia, so it was normal to have some good things. Almost no one thought it was Ptolemy's treasure.

To be honest, this money was enough for him to fill his financial gap, but he didn't do that.

Without any hesitation, he used the money to continue expanding his army. Instead of paying it back, he asked Tia to borrow some more money. In addition, he also borrowed some money from Vespa and his old subordinate Valerian Capuanus, a slave merchant family. He barely raised enough basic military expenses for the other two battalions. He used the same trick to recruit two elite battalions, and together with the original two battalions, he made up four battalions, which together amounted to half a legion without cavalry.

He was completely warlike, supplying these soldiers at all costs. It was difficult for him to maintain two battalions with his financial resources, and the four battalions were supported by loans. In fact, the equipment of the last two battalions had not been solved, so they could only be allowed to undergo physical fitness and team coordination training to make do, and Orwell had to find a way to get money to buy equipment. Crassus, the richest man in Rome and one of the "Big Three" real estate and silver mining tycoons, originally wanted to pay for the establishment of eight new legions when he went on an expedition to Parthia at his own expense, but because it was too painful to spend so much, he only established six new legions, which were reduced versions and actually only equivalent to five legions.

As long as the elite Roman legionnaires were properly commanded, they could often win great victories against the inferior troops, with one against ten. These standing armies were built with money, and even the richest man felt pain in maintaining legionnaires, let alone Orville.

However, the money had to be spent. None of the soldiers he carefully selected were fake. To exaggerate, they were all potential decapitations, centurions, captains, and even legion commanders. The grassroots officers were too important, and he had to take them with him when he left Rome.

Putting aside the military expenditure issue that worried Orville so much that his hair dropped out, the scientist Ptolemy was satisfied anyway, as he had successfully completed the task assigned to him by Her Royal Highness the Princess. In fact, Cleopatra was not sure whether Orville would agree to cooperate with her, so it was a gamble to have her teacher pay her a visit. At least the gamble paid a successful visit in the end, as she had no problem getting the equipment.

However, Orville did not let the scientist Ptolemy return to Alexandria, but kept him and let him live in Rome temporarily.

"I admire some of your achievements, especially those related to geography, so I would like to keep you at my house for a while. General Tia and I want to discuss some issues with you. Don't worry about the equipment. I will have someone set sail for Alexandria within three days. It will take more time because the sea conditions are not good now, but the equipment will be delivered to Palphi soon. Whenever Cleopatra wants it, it can be sent directly to Egypt.

My handwritten letter has now been sent to Alexandria. The messenger is very reliable and is a close confidant of the emperor, so Cleopatra will know the specific news soon and you don't have to worry too much about this matter.

You can freely read all the libraries in Rome and the private collections of the royal family. I will also ensure your safety while you are in Rome and treat you as a VIP. How about that? If you like, I can also arrange for you to meet some intellectuals in Rome, such as Pliny the Elder, as long as you are willing. "

It would be a bit inhumane to refuse such a good treatment. Besides, Ptolemy was indeed curious about the Romans' collection of books and knowledge reserves. Although the Library of Alexandria was the academic center of the Greek world, Rome also had some characteristics of its own, which made people interested in learning more about it.

Moreover, Pliny the Elder of Orvilli really grasped his pain point - Ptolemy highly respected the works of Pliny the Elder, the founder of natural history, and referred extensively to the contents in them when drawing maps.

In their previous lives, there was a few decades of age difference between the two. Now they happen to meet each other, so they must cherish the opportunity. It would be a pity to miss it now.

(End of this chapter)