Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 94 Battle of Wealth

Both Tia and Orville welcomed the arrival of scientist Ptolemy. Although his knowledge of geography and astronomy was mainly in the area near Egypt, and he did not know much about Gaul, which the Romans were now paying attention to, he was a true master and professional after all. Orville gave him about two weeks to catch up on the relevant knowledge, and after returning from his studies, he was able to talk fluently.

At this time, Ptolemy had not yet completed his major works, but he was an excellent astronomer and cartographer, and he already had the outline of future theories in his mind. Orville thought that he would need such an expert in the future, so he wanted to bring him over.

It's a bit difficult, but just take it one step at a time and try your best to dig deeper, just in case.
-
While the two members of the Flavian royal family were studying theory and preparing for war, the Senate could no longer wait.

The situation of the uprising in Gaul is even more grim than expected. It is now almost shrinking to the province of Narbonne Gaul. Moreover, the Gauls, who have gained confidence from their consecutive victories, have even begun to launch tentative attacks on the Germanic legions' garrisons.

The Senate and the Roman people could not tolerate such arrogant behavior, so they decided to send troops ahead of time.

It is only February now, and the troops recruited from various provinces are either on the way or still undergoing training. Apart from the 10,000 guards, the only troops that Rome can directly mobilize are two legions of 10,000 people each.

Although the situation is critical, it has not yet reached the point of life and death. The Senate has not yet mobilized the entire nation. These soldiers are recruited veterans and professional soldiers quickly mobilized from neighboring provinces. They are well-trained and their combat effectiveness is guaranteed to a certain extent.

The Senate decided to transfer these people to the province of Narbonne Gaul first to block the Gauls' offensive, and if there was a chance, to dampen their fighting spirit and let them know the normal combat effectiveness of the Roman army.

The commander was Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, the commander of the Guards Cavalry mentioned by Vespa before, also known as Aurelian the World Restorer in later generations. Just by hearing this nickname, you can tell that he is not an ordinary person. Considering the opponent's combat effectiveness, Orville can be sure that at least he will not be defeated again.

The battle plan currently determined by the Senate and the Emperor is roughly as follows:
Aurelian served as the commander-in-chief of the Gallic rebellion-suppressing legions. The commanders of the five legions under his command were basically from the Senate side. They advanced northward from Narpan Gaul.

The German Legion should have 60,000 men in service, but now there are only 20,000 men guarding the border. Vespa will bring eight legions of about 40,000 legionnaires to temporarily supplement the German Legion's defense line. The plan does not go into detail about the auxiliary troops, but now the ratio of auxiliary infantry to legionnaires is basically one to one.

On the one hand, they were responsible for guarding against the attacks of the Franks, and on the other hand, they had to attack the Gauls westwards starting from the Rhine River.

Including these auxiliary troops, Aurelian led at least 50,000 men to advance northward from the south, and Vespa led 100,000 men to advance westward from the Rhine defense line, while guarding against the Franks. This was roughly the plan. It should be more than enough to deal with Gaul. Orville felt that Aurelian's 50,000 men would not make much difference.

Vespa had not yet announced the choice of commander, but he had a rough idea in his mind. Orville would definitely not be the commander-in-chief, but he estimated that he could only get a corps commander or a position close to that.

After sorting out the matter, Orville participated in the farewell ceremony for Aurelian.

…………

Looking at Aurelian, who was dressed in military uniform and full of vigor, Orville felt a little emotional.

Aurelian is still well-known among history enthusiasts at home and abroad. During his tenure, he repelled the barbarians who threatened Rome, defeated the separatist forces of the eastern provinces, Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, and the separatist forces of Gaul. The emperor of the Gallic Empire was also a Roman, and he still yearned for unification in his heart, so he directly chose to join the territory of the Roman Empire. Aurelian recovered Gaul without a single soldier. He defeated three powerful enemies during his five years in office, but was assassinated by his men when he was preparing to go on an expedition to Persia. This is also an example of a hero who dies before he succeeds, which often makes heroes cry.

His attributes in this world are worthy of his historical achievements, which is very good.

Lucius Domitius Aurelienus: A brilliant general

Diplomacy: 13
Military: 36
Management: 16
Strategy: 13
Knowledge: 16
The total value is similar to that of Tia and Vespa. He is obviously a talent with some specialties, but the other four dimensions are not special and are hard to describe.

Orville didn't have much contact with Aurelian. He only had frequent contact with Belisarius of the Guards. He didn't know the rest of the Guards. However, Aurelian in this world was similar to that in the other world. He was strict in military discipline, restrained and serious. As a general, he was perfect.

Although his thinking is obviously good at quick attacks, it should not be difficult for him to guard a place. The basic qualities are there, and now Aurelian is fighting more powerful battles than he has ever fought in his eight lifetimes.

When he led the troops to fight, the combat quality of the Roman army declined seriously and the entire empire was in a state of sluggishness.

A few examples should make it clear. In the previous few hundred years, the Romans did not need to open the map of Italy when fighting wars. In the time of Aurelian, they had to fight to defend the capital and study the terrain and roads of Italy. After the battle, they had to build city walls in the capital to ensure that it was foolproof.

In ancient times, the army had to shout and kill to ensure morale, but the Roman army did not need shouting and killing to boost morale at its peak. Instead, they thought that shouting and killing would make it difficult to hear the commander's orders, so they prohibited soldiers from shouting and killing. They also did not need to use tight formations to maintain the courage of the soldiers, and could support a flexible and mobile combat mode with a hundred-man squad as the unit.

A hundred years after Aurelian, Roman soldiers also needed to use shouts and overly dense formations to maintain morale. The originally good training organization almost collapsed, and the proportion of barbarian soldiers in the army continued to rise. The generals at the peak of the empire would be so angry that they would die when they saw these people.

Now Aurelian was leading genuine Roman legionnaires, who had received rigorous training starting from three years and had learned swordplay, javelin and other necessary combat skills since childhood. Their military qualities were beyond doubt. Orville felt that he could even count on Aurelian to create unexpected miracles with these ten thousand men.

After a brief farewell ceremony, the tall, strong and resolute-looking Aurelian led two legions to the province of Narbonne Gaul to take over the remaining soldiers there.

With all the defeated soldiers and auxiliary troops, Narbonne Gaul had about 20,000 troops, and the combined strength of the two sides was 30,000, which was just enough, neither more nor less.

The Gauls were much more powerful, claiming that their numbers were about the same as those of the Gaul national hero Vercingetorix, at 200,000, but the actual numbers were more or less exaggerated. However, no matter how exaggerated, the number of enemy troops Aurelian had to face directly was more than 100,000, not counting the Gaul army that the Germanic Legion faced.

The next war will be a tough one, so Orville is so desperate to take out loans to recruit soldiers. One more person means one more combat power, and one more combat power means one more chance of survival and military merit.

(End of this chapter)