Chapter 186: Shaking Balance 2
Chapter 186: Shaking Balance 2
Caesar did not ignore Marcus’s request to meet and talk.
The two agreed to have a meeting in Lucca, a city on the border between Rome and Gaul.
Lucca was a historic place where Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey publicly revealed their triumvirate in the original history.
But now it was just an ordinary and quiet forest city.
Marcus chose this place because he wanted to see this historic site at least once in this way.
He waited for Caesar’s arrival while enjoying the pleasant breeze on the banks of the Auser River.
Caesar showed up exactly half a day after Marcus arrived.
The cavalry of about a hundred men that he brought as escorts waited outside the building, creating a space for the two of them.
As Caesar entered, Marcus rose from his seat.
“Welcome. You must have had a lot of trouble coming here.”
“Trouble? You’re the one who went out of your way to come here. Isn’t this too far for a walk?”
Caesar asked with a playful tone.
Of course, he guessed that there must be a good reason for him to insist on meeting in person rather than by letter.
And he also had some idea of what Marcus wanted to talk about.
He had received his letter beforehand, and he had come here for a similar reason himself.
Caesar’s voice echoed lowly in the room as he leaned back on the prepared chair.
“I was hoping to have some time to congratulate each other on our achievements, but it seems like it’s not the right time for that. I’ve read your letter. You asked me to look into the situation on the east bank of the Elbe River, right? I’ve already sent some soldiers to investigate, as it happens.”
“Really? Did they find any strange signs?”
“No. I thought there might be something, but the results were nothing special. I was also uneasy about something, but it was unexpected.”
“Are you sure?”
Marcus did not hide his surprise.
He explained the situation in detail to Caesar, who seemed curious why he was so concerned.
Caesar listened carefully to Marcus’s words with a cautious face.
“I see… Do you think that the case of the nomadic tribes that invaded the Karen Kingdom is also related to the anomaly in eastern Germany?”
“You might think it’s a leap, but I think we have to check it out.”
Caesar scratched his head. He did not look completely convinced yet.
“…I understand what you’re worried about. But isn’t the Karen Kingdom too far away from eastern Germany? If you go around by land, it would take at least several weeks to ride there, right?”
“The nomads’ range of movement is very different from ours. It’s incomparable to Gaul or Germany.”
“I know that the Scythians were a powerful nomadic tribe in the past. But they couldn’t even destroy Parthia in the end, right? If we just look at them, I don’t think they’re Rome’s enemies.”
What Marcus was worried about was this gap in perception.
The most powerful nomadic empire in the east was the Huns, while in the west it was the Scythians.
But when Rome reached its peak, the Scythians were already in decline.
And it was the Huns who pushed them out of Central Asia and forced them to attack Parthia and Bactria.
The Huns were a nomadic nation that grew by fighting endlessly with China, and they were arguably the strongest nomadic nation in North Asia, if not the world.
Their territory stretched from the northern part of China to the entire Mongolian Plateau, southern Siberia and Manchuria in history.
The famous Great Wall of China built by the Qin Dynasty was also a barrier to contain the Huns.
Even the powerful Han Dynasty suffered defeat from the Huns and had to pay tribute regularly and lose control of the Silk Road.
But at this time, the Huns’ heyday had passed.
That’s why Marcus hadn’t paid much attention to the movements of the northern nomads until now.
But history was already branching off differently.
It could be a careless judgment to think that nothing would affect them as far as the distant northeast.
The nomads had the potential to grow into a disaster that swept the world at any time if a strong tribe emerged and united their forces.
This was proven by history as well.
The Huns at their peak did so, and later examples of Mongols and Jurchens conquering China proved it as well.
But Rome had no historical background to share this sense of crisis that Marcus had.
This was also true for Caesar, who had an unparalleled insight.
Rome did not realize the horror of the nomads until 400 years later, when the Huns invaded.
The Huns, a hybrid of the Huns and the Scythians, easily subjugated the Germanic tribes and influenced Rome as well.
Later, Rome had a nightmare-like experience with Attila, the king of the Huns who was called the Scourge of God, but that was too far in the future.
In fact, Rome’s national power was much stronger than in the original history, so there was a low possibility that Marcus was worrying for nothing.
Of course, he was also aware that he might be overreacting.
That’s why he asked for Caesar’s cooperation to make sure of the situation.
“Didn’t you have something that bothered you enough to send an investigation team even before you received my letter?”
“I felt some things that didn’t make sense while I was on the German expedition. But when I heard from the soldiers who went to investigate, they said they didn’t find anything unusual. Didn’t you get the same result?”
“So I came to this conclusion. Thanks to the new weapons you introduced, our legion’s strength, which was already strong, has become so strong that it can’t even be compared with other countries. Do you ever feel tense about the enemy’s strength while you’re on an Arabian expedition?”
“No. I only rotated once, but it wasn’t even a fight.”
“I guess so. I felt the same way. Since the Britannia expedition, I wondered if there was any point in making tactics, as the power difference was so extreme. It wasn’t a fight, but a one-sided slaughter. After fighting once or twice, the enemies also lost their will to resist.”
This was not arrogance.
Marcus had also felt this fact since the Parthian expedition.
The equipment that the Roman army had was equivalent to a kind of asymmetric power in modern terms.
So there was no way for a normal war to take place.
All the countries that had been hostile to Rome so far had collapsed too easily, as the fear of the unknown worked strongly.
In fact, Caesar, who had been away from the battlefield for almost 10 years, felt the power of Rome more sensitively than anyone else.
No matter how much he heard about the danger of nomadic peoples, he couldn’t get rid of his confidence that he could easily crush them.
Rather, Marcus leaned toward Caesar’s opinion.
In fact, even if he didn’t, there was no reason to take active defensive measures now.
Even Marcus couldn’t invest a huge amount of troops and finances for just one reason that he doubted.
‘I’ll just advance to the Dnieper River later and build a wall like China. That would be enough to prepare for the future.’
Marcus decided to end this topic here for now.
He brought up a new topic.
From Caesar’s point of view, this was actually the most important topic.
“Then let’s change the subject. It’s about Sextus.”
“I knew you were going to say that. But didn’t we already agree on it roughly?”
“You don’t want to acknowledge Sextus… Is that how I should understand it?”
“He hasn’t shown me anything to acknowledge. How can I judge him?”
“So you took Gnaeus with you?”
Marcus narrowed his eyes and asked back.
Caesar gave an admiring expression.
He nodded his head lightly with a smile.
“You’re fast with information. Does Sextus know that too?”
“No. I heard it not long ago. I wasn’t sure if it was true or not, and I couldn’t tell him rashly because I didn’t understand your intentions.”
“As always, you’re careful. That’s why I like you.”
“You want to make Sextus and Gnaeus confront each other. Do you want me not to interfere?”
It was different from Gnaeus, who had talked to him a while ago.
Caesar was able to confirm more than ever that his choice was not wrong.
“As you say. And frankly speaking, you shouldn’t interfere.”
“But I promised to support Sextus for at least two years.”
“If this was a threat from an external force, then you would have a reason to help him. But this is a matter of a family member who can’t recognize the authority of the leader. Sextus already borrowed your name to promise loyalty from his family. But here he asks for your help even to solve the family dispute? Who would trust and follow such a person? Sextus is not a fool either, he will come forward and handle it himself.”
If he looked at it coldly, there was no flaw in Caesar’s words.
Sextus had already shown signs of trying to rely on Marcus’ name too much.
There were rumors that Sextus would become Marcus’ client rather than his partner.
If Sextus felt anything about such rumors, he had no choice but to handle this matter himself.
Caesar added a word with a subtle smile in his tone.
“I can’t accept that someone who can’t show his ability in such a matter inherits Magnus’ name. If Sextus shows a dependent attitude on you again, I’ll absorb Magnus’ power myself.”
“I have no objection to that part. But is that really all?”
It was unlikely that Caesar had arranged this for just testing Sextus’ caliber.
He revealed his intention to swallow him up if he judged him unqualified, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of acknowledging him even if he handled this matter well.
Caesar didn’t answer yes or no and kept silent.
Instead, he gave an answer that sounded irrelevant.
“Has Rome changed a bit now?”
“Yes?”
“Curio’s opinion is that Rome’s atmosphere has changed from before since Magnus died and the balance collapsed. He said that looking at Rome now is like seeing a couple who are trying to keep their marriage alive even though they know it’s already a disaster.”
“That’s a bit of a vague analogy.”
Caesar gave a bitter smile.
“You wouldn’t understand, since you’ve never had a relationship with a woman that went wrong.”
“Are you saying that you have such an experience, Caesar?”
“Not personally, but I’ve had to divorce because the situation didn’t allow it. There are times like that even in the problems between men and women. Regardless of the person’s true feelings, they join and separate. And that’s not much different from the state and the system. No matter how hard you try to bond and suppress, there will come a time when you have to wield a knife boldly.”
“I can’t decide on that right now.”
Marcus closed his eyes and shook his head.
He opened his eyes again.
And then he asked Caesar with a complicated look.
“I don’t want a civil war to break out. What are your intentions, Caesar? Are you willing to risk even a civil war for your ambitions?”
“If I have to, I will. But even if that time comes, I don’t want to clash swords with you.”
“I see your will. I’ll think more carefully about what you just said.”
“You shouldn’t take too long. I’m getting old too. All I can do is lay the foundation and prepare everything for the future. Don’t forget that the person who ultimately has to give the answer is not me, but you.”
Caesar concluded the main point.
They talked about a few more topics after that, but they were not very important to Marcus.
Caesar emphasized that the time of choice was not far away.
You haven’t made a decision yet?
That was not true.
Marcus already knew the answer and was ready to walk that path.
All he had to do was take a bold step.
The reason he couldn’t do that was maybe because the timing he thought of and the timing Caesar was looking at didn’t match.
Of course, it was still unknown which opinion was right.
History is ultimately determined by the logic of the winner.
※※※
Caesar didn’t hesitate to prove his words with his actions.
Gnaeus, who received his support, secretly entered Hispania and captured Pompey’s clients.
As Caesar said, persuasion was not very difficult.
Hispania was originally a region that preferred Gnaeus over Sextus, and they had a dislike for Sextus who favored the Greek world.
Of course, without Caesar’s secret support, it would have taken a long time for Gnaeus to swallow Hispania no matter how much he tried.
But Gnaeus, who had Caesar on his back, finished everything before Sextus could even respond.
In less than a few months, the whole of Hispania officially declared that they would follow Gnaeus, not Sextus.
“How can I acknowledge Sextus as the head of the Pompey family when he betrayed his political beliefs and clung to the aristocratic faction to maintain his power? As a brother, I have a duty and responsibility to discipline my brother who is walking on the wrong path!”
It was a near-far-fetched claim, but it was an internal matter of the family, so there was no reason for outsiders to intervene.
Naturally, Sextus was furious and swore that he would never tolerate Gnaeus’ behavior of ignoring the authority of the leader.
Finally, the false peace that had been barely maintained came to an end, and a flare signaling the beginning of a long period of chaos was fired.