Chapter 167: Obituary
Chapter 167: Obituary
Sharif, the commander of Qataban, made sure that no one was around before he entered Shakilaville’s room.
He got straight to the point as soon as he exchanged greetings with Shakilaville.
“Am I the first one to come here?”
“Congratulations. You are indeed the first one to seize the opportunity.”
Sharif’s mouth stretched to his ears when he heard that.
“Is what you said earlier still valid? That I don’t have to pay any compensation and that you will put my family in the Roman Senate…”
“Of course.”
“Good. And I don’t know if you heard, but when I insulted Rome and said that anyone who accepts this offer is a fool, I didn’t mean it.”
Shakilaville chuckled and took out the agreement he had received from Marcus.
“It’s only natural to use some tricks to deter your competitors, isn’t it? I understand.”
“I appreciate your understanding. Then let me sign quickly and leave.”
Sharif read the agreement carefully and was greatly satisfied that Shakilaville was not lying.
The content was exactly the same as what he had heard.
The power behind Qataban and a member of the Roman Senate.
How thrilling that sounded.
He signed the agreement without hesitation and stamped it.
“You have made an excellent decision. With this, your family is now a proud member of the Roman nobility.”
“When can I enter the Senate?”
“You will have to wait for 10 years. It would cause too much backlash if we admit the families of the occupied territories to the Senate right away. But don’t worry. He promised to keep his word.”
“As long as I can enter the Senate for sure, I don’t mind waiting for 10 or 15 years. I have heard that Rome always honors its contracts, so I will trust and wait. Qataban will withdraw from the alliance as of today.”
Sharif tucked one copy of the agreement into his chest and got up from his seat.
Shakilaville, who had completed his mission safely, smiled with relief and escorted him out.
But then an unexpected accident happened.
Sharif, who was about to leave the room, ran into Zabir, the commander of Hadhramaut.
Zabir was also one of those who had raised their voices against accepting Rome’s offer at the meeting earlier.
Sharif waved his hand with a smug smile.
“Hey, what are you doing here at this hour?”
“What about you… judging by where you came from, don’t tell me…”
“Too bad, but the carriage has already left.”
Sharif’s attitude, which showed no sign of shame at all, made Zabir stick out his tongue in disbelief.
“You were saying that traitors are the biggest fools in the world just this afternoon, and now you become a traitor yourself. Aren’t you ashamed?”
“What about you? You said you didn’t covet a seat in the Senate, but what wind blew you here? Did you change your mind after some thought?”
The southern kingdoms had never been on good terms before they formed an alliance.
It was only natural to choose the path that would allow them to escape and leave others behind if they had a chance.
In the end, Zabir threw away even the slightest courtesy he had maintained and shouted angrily.
“You rat-like traitor!”
“What did you say? Rat? You’re trying to act righteous when you were also going to betray but were just too late.”
The loud noises from outside made Shakilaville realize what was going on.
If he left them alone, they might even grab each other’s collars.
He secretly watched the situation outside and had to restrain himself from laughing out loud.
The situation was progressing exactly as Marcus had predicted among various possibilities.
He felt a surge of joy as he realized once again that his choice was not wrong.
He intervened at an appropriate timing and mediated the fight between the two men.
Qataban got its original agreement recognized and Hadhramaut’s commander was given a separate opportunity to talk with Marcus.
He would have to pay compensation, but he might be able to get a seat in the Senate if he did well.
Zabir decided to settle for that for now.
As long as he could get a seat in the Senate, he could think of it as buying it with money.
Following Qataban, Hadhramaut also accepted Rome’s offer and chose to surrender.
That’s how the alliance of the southern kingdoms collapsed completely.
The situation of the alliance went exactly as Marcus had expected.
The day after Shakilaville left Marib, Sharif and Zabir announced their intention to withdraw from the alliance.
“We thought about it carefully and decided that continuing the war with Rome would not benefit us much. We will just choose to compromise with Rome at this point.”
“We feel the same way. What’s the point of fighting more and spilling more blood?”
They would have been embarrassed if they were alone, but they had someone to leave with, so they had nothing to lose.
The ones who had been the most vocal about rejecting Rome’s offer were the first ones to surrender, leaving the others speechless.
“Did you guys… go to Rome and get a seat promised?”
“Huh, what are you talking about? I just assessed the situation objectively and made the best choice.”
“Don’t you know that even if you surrender here, your king whom you serve will not be guaranteed his throne?”
“That’s up to negotiation, isn’t it? Anyway, we’re leaving, so do as you please if you want to keep resisting.”
With those words, Sharif and Zabir led their armies out of Marib.
The remaining commanders of the three kingdoms were soon plunged into despair.
Coincidentally, those two countries were the ones that had the most troops left, thanks to attacking the right wing guarded by Nabatea in the last round.
As a result, the number of available soldiers was reduced by more than half in an instant.
Moreover, there was no hope even if they fought a long war.
If Qataban and Hadramaut joined Rome’s side, they had to consider the possibility of them supplying Rome.
It was as if their faint hope had completely disappeared.
“I’m the sinner who tried to fight to the end by trusting those traitors…”
Asad bit his lips hard and let out a hollow laugh.
He had no more strength left to resist.
As soon as Qataban and Hadramaut withdrew from the alliance, the local nobles could not stand it any longer and expressed their opinions to surrender one by one.
The people living in Marib were also constantly complaining about the anxiety that Rome might destroy the dam at any time.
In their view, even if Rome won, it was nothing more than changing their ruler.
But if the dam collapsed, the city of Marib would no longer be able to maintain its current size.
They would lose their livelihood completely.
The Sabaean Kingdom was already in decline.
Other nobles who were not loyalists like Asad saw it as a foregone conclusion that Saba would fall to Himyar.
If it was going to collapse soon anyway, there was no difference whether they surrendered to Rome now or not.
In the end, Saba succumbed to the pressure of the nobles and the people and knelt before Rome.
When Saba surrendered, Ma’in Kingdom also automatically came under Rome’s control.
The Himyarite Kingdom, which was left alone, also gave up its weapons as there was no way out.
It was a victory of diplomatic tactics that had won the first round and destroyed the coalition without shedding a drop of blood.
Marcus kept his promise and did not take any compensation from Qataban, who surrendered first.
And he annexed most of the territories of Saba and Himyar, which were adjacent to the Red Sea, as his original goal.
He downgraded the other kingdoms to vassals under Nabatea’s supervision, while guaranteeing their autonomy.
It was because it was too much of a burden for Rome to directly rule the entire Arabian land.
He also needed a carrot to throw at Nabatea, who had sworn loyalty to him. It was perfect for showing off his generosity.
With this, Marcus completed everything he had aimed for.
The outcome of this war was very great for him.
First of all, he completely secured the east side of the Red Sea and firmly grasped the sea trade route in his hand.
He also secured one of the best trade goods at this time, frankincense.
From now on, frankincense produced in southern Arabia would be exported to Rome and Egypt through the Red Sea, not by land.
Of course, he didn’t have to pay as much as a lump of gold for the same weight as before, since he didn’t have to go through middlemen.
He would sell it at a high price considering the shipping cost, but all that profit would go into Marcus’s pocket.
And crucially, he was able to control Nabatea so that desert power would not grow any further.
Marcus planned to make Shakilavil the de facto leader of Nabatea when he returned.
He also promised him that he would allow him to enter the Senate as a representative of Nabatea.
Shakilavil knelt on the spot and swore allegiance to Marcus with emotion.
From now on, Nabatea would be ruled by him instead of a puppet king.
If Nabatea failed to behave properly and public opinion in southern Arabia turned bad, then Rome would intervene directly.
The time was ripe for him.
The seeds he had scattered around were now sprouting and growing into big stems.
He had almost prepared everything he needed to turn his vision into reality.
※※※
“But are you really going to accept them into the Senate?”
Around the time when the Roman army that had won the war passed Mecca and headed northward, Antonius could not hold back his doubts any longer and asked him.
Surenas, who was quietly studying Latin, also took his eyes off his book for a moment and watched their conversation with curiosity.
“Do you think I lied?”
“No. But do you think the Senate will accept the nobles of the occupied lands as their own?”
“Aren’t you a senator yourself?”
“Well… To be honest, I can admit someone like Surenas, who is an excellent general. But those nobles from southern Arabia… I feel a bit repulsed by them.”
Marcus did not seem to be very offended by Antonius’s honest opinion.
He rather smiled as if he had expected it and answered his question.
“That would be the normal reaction. But keep in mind that this is a policy worth trying for local stabilization. If we put one noble from each ally and vassal state into the Senate, they will feel that their voices are heard. Just look at Sharif of Qataban, who surrendered without looking back as soon as I offered him a seat in the Senate.”
“That’s true. And that noble Zabir also begged you on his knees to give him a seat in the Senate in front of the governor.”
Antonius recalled the image of Zabir, who was overjoyed after hearing a positive answer, and twisted his mouth in a smile.
“But as I said before, the Senate will never agree to increase the number of seats. They will think that giving seats to vassals and allies is an insult to the dignity of the Senate.”
“I think so too. That’s why I won’t increase the number of seats myself. There’s someone else who will take care of it for me.”
“Are you talking about Caesar?”
Marcus blinked in surprise, as if he didn’t expect Antonius to guess the answer right away.
He seemed to have learned a lot from watching him and had become quite perceptive in this regard.
“Yes. Caesar is the weakest in the Senate right now. He is still seen as the leader of the populares, while Pompey has the support of the aristocrats.
And Caesar has been trying to weaken the authority of the Senate all along. He has secured some factions that will be loyal to him if they enter the Senate, so he must be thinking of increasing the number of seats by now.”
In fact, in original history, Caesar increased the number of seats in the Senate from 600 to 900.
Most of those seats went to his loyalists and supporters from Gaul.
Of course, Marcus didn’t intend to push things that far.
Antonius marveled at Marcus’s cunning, which he realized anew.
It was a proof of his growth that he could understand Marcus’s intentions to some extent.
He had been so preoccupied with military matters that he had deliberately ignored political issues.
Surenas was the same.
He was a genius strategist and a great nobleman who had always been a winner, so he didn’t pay much attention to his political skills.
He also had a stubborn side that believed that his loyalty to the king would be recognized someday.
In that respect, he was similar but different from Pompey.
But that turned out to be his poison and he was assassinated by Orodes in original history.
If he had been a little better at handling himself, he wouldn’t have met such a miserable end.
In that regard, Marcus’s skill of not making more enemies than necessary was a great help to Surenas.
He felt that he was expanding his horizons without knowing it.
And every time he realized this change, he felt his loyalty to Marcus deepen.
The subordinates who served Marcus from his side felt the same way.
‘I want to see the country he is trying to create.’
Surenas found himself harboring such a feeling even though he was not a Roman.
And fortunately or unfortunately, the time came when he could see the vision of the future.
As soon as Marcus finished his post-war work in Nabatea and returned to Antioch, the East began to revolve around him again.
While he was away, Publius, Septimus, and Julia handled the affairs of the vassals.
Most of the work could be done by them alone, but there were also some matters that Marcus had to know for sure.
As they sorted them out separately, a pile of reports piled up on Marcus’s desk in his office.
Marcus smirked at the familiar sight and resumed his work without any time to relax.
“Let’s start with the most urgent matters first. By the way, how did it go with what I told you to do before I left for the expedition? I remember sending two legions to help Karen Kingdom because they were making such a fuss about being invaded by nomads.”
Septimus took out a few sheets of paper from somewhere in the middle of the pile of documents and handed them over.
“Here is a report on what happened. In summary, they succeeded in repelling all the invading nomads, but they said they still need support because their attacks are getting worse. This is different from their usual pattern.”
Marcus read down the report with a tongue click.
He had set up some buffer states in the east instead of ruling over Parthia entirely to prevent nomadic invasions.
So he tried to prepare for it when he stayed in Parthia.
But just before he went on an expedition to Arabia, an unexpected letter came from Karen Kingdom asking for help.
The nomads were crossing the border desperately and they needed reinforcements.
Marcus sent two legions to help Karen Kingdom because of that.
He only took eight legions with him to Arabia for that reason.
As expected, the Roman legions easily drove away the nomads who were ravaging Karen Kingdom.
But there was something that bothered him in the report.
Marcus read aloud the opinion of the legion commander written at the end.
“The nomads who invaded this time were not aiming for simple plunder, but rather to settle down there. They fought to the last man, unlike their usual style of retreating when they were at a disadvantage. This is the common opinion of the locals that this is different from what they have seen before. This is definitely strange.”
Parthia had a history of being repeatedly attacked by various tribes who had been driven out by the Xiongnu in its early days.
They had no choice but to conquer Parthia’s land since they couldn’t go back to their land that had been ravaged by the Xiongnu.
They rushed in with their lives on the line.
Maybe this was a similar case, he thought.
‘Were there any cases of the Huns rampaging around this time? I’m not sure… I’ll have to look into it later.’
Marcus thought he needed to do more research and turned his eyes to the letters that were separately classified on the side.
There were two letters in total, and judging by the dates, the first one arrived shortly after Marcus left for the expedition.
“This one seems to have come from Egypt. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen the princesses around. Did something happen?”
“Yes. The princesses returned to Egypt after receiving the first letter.”
Marcus had a rough idea of what kind of matter would require Arsinoe and Cleopatra to return to Egypt at the same time.
He unfolded the papyrus that came from Egypt and sighed softly at the contents that matched his expectations.
“If Pharaoh is very ill, they had no choice but to go back. Well, what about the letter that arrived a little later?”
Septimus silently picked up the letter and handed it to Marcus.
This was not an official letter sent from Egypt, but a report sent by Marcus’s informant who lived in Alexandria.
It seemed that he had written and sent it in a hurry, as there was only one sentence on the papyrus.
It was a short sentence, but Marcus’s eyes did not leave the report for a while.
The content was as follows:
<Egyptian Pharaoh Auletes dead>