The Mad Tycoon of Rome

Chapter 90: I'm Going to Gaul 2>

Marcus’s proposal was passed without any opposition from the Senate.

The Senate welcomed the idea of sending someone who could monitor Caesar to the province of Gaul, and Caesar had no reason to object since he could get an additional legion.

As soon as his appointment to the province of Gaul was confirmed, Marcus used his remaining term as aedile to pass various public policies.

He especially emphasized the importance of sanitation improvement, which required continuous execution, and instructed his successors not to neglect it.

It was crucial to finish everything he could before leaving Rome for more than a year.

He paid more attention to the affairs of the eastern provinces, since he could not give orders from Gaul.

“Danae, did you receive any contact from the east? It should be time for Publius or Tadius to send their regular reports.”

“Yes. I was about to tell you. I received letters from your younger brother, Tadius, and Antonius.”

“Antonius too? Bring them all to me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Danae walked out quickly.

A moment later, she returned with a thick bundle of parchment.

Marcus picked up the letters in the order they were placed.

The one on top was a status report from Antonius.

He was serving as a cavalry officer in the eastern provincial army and was growing steadily through various battles.

He had enlisted much earlier than in the original history, so he would have much more experience.

‘It’s about time for him to join the Gallic expedition. I’ll write him a recommendation letter and tell him to return. He’ll be overjoyed and come back right away.’

Antonius was a distant relative of Caesar, so he probably didn’t need a recommendation letter, but it wouldn’t hurt to show some favor.

Antonius, who had gained rich experience in both the east and Gaul, would surely become a tremendous asset for Marcus in the future.

After writing a letter for Antonius, he handed it to Danae and told her to send it to the east immediately.

While she left the room again, Marcus read another letter.

This one was much longer and thicker than Antonius’s letter.

It was a report from his younger brother Publius, who was gaining experience in the east.

His excitement was evident in his words, making the reader smile involuntarily.

<Brother, this place is so different from Rome. I understand why you told me to broaden my horizons and gain experience here.

To be honest, there’s not much work for me as a quaestor since the people you assigned are so excellent. Instead, I’m paying more attention to the military side of things.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been good at handling horses since I was young, but being a cavalry officer suits me well. I’ve met Tadius a few times too.

He has such a high loyalty to you that it’s almost excessive. He calls you the incarnation of God and almost worships you.

He’s a bit strange, but he seems to have undeniable skills. He said the improvement of horse breeds is going well.

At first, I couldn’t feel much difference, but now I’m amazed that I can sense some changes. I wonder where you got such knowledge from. I’m curious and awed by you.>

Publius’s letter showed his admiration and affection for his brother.

Even though there was a huge difference in fame between them as siblings, there was no sign of jealousy or envy.

It was because Marcus had been an existence above the clouds since he was young, so there was no room for such negative feelings.

He filled his letter with more updates on his situation and ended it with these words:

<The preparations here are almost perfect. The only thing that worries me is that our activities here might leak out somehow.

Of course, we’re maintaining strict security, so it might be just paranoia, but Tadius is mostly concerned about monitoring Rome.

But I think we should also pay attention to Pontus, Armenia, and Parthia. We don’t know where they might have planted spies. Anyway, I’ll keep gaining experience while waiting for you to come over to the east.>

Publius had diligently written down everything he had done and felt during this time.

Marcus put down the letter on his desk and fell into thought for a moment.

‘Spies from other countries… It’s more likely that they exist than not.’

He had kept all the projects in the eastern provinces secret from Rome.

Tadius had employed more verified locals than Romans to ensure confidentiality.

That would reduce the possibility of news reaching Rome, but as Publius said, it would increase the chance of foreign spies infiltrating.

Of course, he had only hired people who had been thoroughly verified, and even they had no access to the really important matters, but it was still necessary to be careful.

‘Pontus and Armenia must have sent a lot of people. The existence of Rome itself is a threat to their survival.’

The last report he opened was from Tadius, and it didn’t have much different content from before.

The only notable news was that he had finally completed the armor that Marcus had ordered after many trials and errors.

Tadius praised the performance of the new armor with all kinds of adjectives.

He said that even the Aegis shield of Perseus couldn’t have shown such defense.

This innovative evolution of armor also brought new changes to weapons.

Previously, they had to use short swords like gladius because they had to carry heavy shields.

The Roman army preferred weapons with shorter blades, especially since they mainly used dense formations.

But the new armor was impervious to any conventional weapon, so the need for shields was greatly reduced.

As a result, each soldier could have more combat space without any problem.

Marcus decided to introduce the longsword, which became popular in Europe in the 15th century, a bit earlier.

Those who actually tried the armor and weapons gave high scores to this combination, and research was still underway in the eastern provinces to find the optimal combination for the Roman army.

Of course, he was not yet in a position to arm the entire legion with these weapons.

The best he could do was to equip about a thousand soldiers.

But even a thousand soldiers armed with late medieval weapons in this era would be a decisive weapon in themselves.

It might be difficult to reach a thousand, but even a few hundred would be enough to determine the outcome of the battlefield.

He also accelerated the training of the new arrows called pila. 

This also required a lot of training, so it was hard to use them in thousands, but their power was remarkable.

Anyway, everything he entrusted to Tadius was showing positive results at this stage.

He also succeeded in gaining favor from Mithridates III, the prince of Parthia, with a generous gift.

It was a bit too sweet, but that was within expectations.

‘I just have to be careful of spies as Publius said. But no matter how tight the security is, it’s impossible to completely block everything.’

Even trivial things could leak out and give an impression that they were plotting something.

Marcus tapped his desk with his fingers and came up with a brilliant plan.

Even if there were spies, the information they could get would be limited.

Then he could use that fact to his advantage and force the enemy’s actions.

He immediately wrote detailed instructions for Tadius to follow.

And while he was at it, he also wrote a letter for Clodius, who would have to deal with various things when he left Rome.

Danae puffed up her cheeks as she had to go out again as soon as she delivered Antonius’s letter.

“If you were going to write several letters anyway, why didn’t you give them all at once?”

“Oh, sorry. This one just came to my mind. Tell Clodius to execute this after I leave Rome.”

“Are you planning to use Clodius to check the Senate?”

“No. This is a list of things that the populares need to do to gain the support of the people. Pompey must be having a hard time running the state affairs alone, so I have to secretly support him from behind. Otherwise, he’ll lose the initiative to the optimates in no time.”

For the balance of Rome, neither the populares nor the optimates should dominate for now.

Of course, the reality of the optimates was bleak, but outwardly they still maintained a tense balance.

He had to keep this situation until he went to the east.

“I’ve suggested some ways for the optimates to gain popularity among the people, but if Clodius executes this, the balance will tilt back to the populares. But the optimates won’t be able to oppose it openly. They’ll be happy inside because their pockets will get thicker too.”

“Is that possible?”

“Yes. You know about Cyprus, right? The island west of Syria. I’m going to make it Rome’s territory.”

“Are you going to wage war?”

“No. Cyprus was handed over to Rome in the will of Egypt’s former king. We just didn’t execute it because Syria and Egypt were both intact.

But now that Syria is Rome’s province, Egypt can’t stop Rome’s decision alone. Of course, it’s not very moral, but international relations are always based on power. What the strong say is law.

If we take away the huge amount of treasure stored in Cyprus, we can distribute grain to the people and silver coins to the nobles.

The only problem is who will play the villain role, and Clodius is perfect for that.”

Marcus knew well about Clodius’s grudge against Ptolemy of Cyprus.

When he was captured by pirates in the past, he tried to borrow money from Ptolemy of Cyprus as ransom.

He was from the most prestigious noble family of Claudius in Rome, so he didn’t doubt that he could borrow money.

But Ptolemy of Cyprus insulted him by giving him much less money than he asked for.

As a result, he almost failed to escape from the pirates.

He still felt angry and scared when he remembered that.

If he told him to annex Cyprus, he would probably jump around with joy.

But he couldn’t let the populares take all the credit for the annexation of Cyprus.

If so, there would surely be a lot of complaints from the aristocratic faction.

To prevent that in advance, Marcus appointed Cato as the confiscator of Cyprus’s property.

With this one appointment, Marcus could gain three benefits.

The first was to suppress the discontent of the aristocrats.

The second was that Cato, who was honest, would surely recover Cyprus’s wealth for the Roman treasury without embezzling any of it.

The last third was that Cato had no choice but to leave Rome for more than a year.

Marcus was not sure if Pompey could handle the Senate alone if both he and Caesar left Rome.

Even if he supported him from behind through Clodius, he still felt uneasy.

But the story would change if Cato, the core attacker of the aristocrats, disappeared.

Cicero got along well with Pompey, so he couldn’t attack him too harshly.

If only Cato was gone, Pompey could easily subdue the aristocrats by himself.

By the time Cato returned, Marcus would also return from Gaul, so there would be no problem.

Danae, who understood all of Marcus’s instructions, went out again to deliver them to Clodius.

Her plump figure looked like she was throwing a light tantrum for some reason, and he laughed.

※※※※

Marcus, who had finished all the preparations he could do alone, convened a triumvirate meeting to finalize the issues to be discussed.

No one else was allowed to enter or leave Pompey’s reception room, which was the promised place.

Even Pompey’s slaves were not allowed to bring food and drinks.

Pompey personally poured wine into the cups of Caesar and Marcus.

“I’m a little worried when I think that you two are both leaving Rome. Of course, Crassus is still here, but he and I are not in a position to cooperate, so I feel even more so.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve talked to my father well. And it’s better to set up a confrontation angle appropriately to avoid misunderstandings around. Our meeting now is also like a temporary meeting for conflict resolution on the surface. You two should keep fighting as usual.”

“I feel a little relieved to hear that. If I had heard that I had to get along with Crassus, I wouldn’t have been able to keep acting until the end.”

Marcus and Caesar laughed out loud.

Caesar emptied his wine glass and changed the subject.

“By the way, Marcus, it seems like you persuaded Clodius to annex Cyprus… Is that okay?”

“Is there any problem?”

“Didn’t you agree to cooperate in strengthening Ptolemy’s kingship? But if he loses Cyprus, it will be hard for Egypt’s Ptolemy to maintain his pharaoh position.”

“Oh, of course that’s true.”

Marcus nodded his head with a snicker.

He had said that he would not disclose the agreement with Ptolemy, but he made an exception for the triumvirate.

He thought it could cause problems later if he hid it from them who were leading Rome together.

Of course, Caesar and Pompey swore in front of the gods that they would never reveal this agreement.

“You’re going to deny that you broke the agreement by saying that Cyprus was annexed while you were with me in Gaul? Logically speaking, there is no flaw in that, but it seems like a bit of an immoral act. Of course, there is no room for morality in politics.”

“You misunderstand. I keep my agreements strictly. I don’t lie even if I don’t tell the truth. I’m using the best way to strengthen Ptolemy Auletes’ kingship.”

“How is shaking his position a way of strengthening his kingship?”

“Yes. If he loses Cyprus with his eyes open, the anger of the Egyptians will be tremendous. The citizens of Alexandria will curse the pharaoh. He already shows a pro-Roman stance, and he was robbed of Cyprus by that Rome. Even if he denies it, wouldn’t it look like he gave up Cyprus to flatter Rome to anyone?”

Pompey nodded his head.

“That’s right. Then, in the worst case, he could be driven out of the pharaoh position and another person could take the throne, right? It’s not like Auletes doesn’t have a successor. I remember he had a fairly old princess.”

“That’s right. He will probably be driven out. Then he will naturally seek asylum in Rome and ask us to comply with the agreement, right? Then we have a reason to push into Egypt legally. For the legitimate king Auletes, that is.”

Caesar, who understood Marcus’s words, tilted his head as if he was amused and burst into laughter.

“And Auletes will execute both his loyalists who raised their flags for him and his bloodline who threaten his power. He can get rid of all those who oppose him, so it’s true that his kingship will be stabilized in the end. It’s a genius way of fulfilling the agreement.”

“Right?”

“As the process of restoring Auletes as pharaoh, the Roman army will enter Egypt, so we can also implant our influence deeper into Egypt. No, it will be an opportunity to make Egypt our client state in fact. Will you take charge yourself?”

“It would be best if Pompey and I both take charge. It will be just in time when I return from Gaul.”

Caesar thought that Marcus looked more and more like himself.

He always looked ahead two or three steps and arranged things when making a decision.

‘Then there must be something else he has in mind for following me to Gaul.’

Caesar, who prided himself on having no match in Rome in terms of insight, could not see through Marcus’s intentions completely.

So he was more curious.

Caesar had not yet fully grasped how capable Marcus was.

He was his son-in-law, but sometimes he was so creepy that it was scary.

But usually when you go to the battlefield, you reveal all your abilities.

Caesar decided to use this expedition as an opportunity to fully measure Marcus’s caliber.

But the situation turned out to be more urgent than expected.

Before Caesar and Marcus left for their destination, a report came that the situation in Gaul was not good.

It was a report that the Helvetii tribe living in Helvetia, which corresponds to modern Switzerland, had started a migration due to the pressure of the Germanic tribe.

When the whole tribe migrated, there was bound to be friction with other tribes living in other regions.

Signs of great chaos began to occur all over Gaul.

Caesar and Marcus, who immediately formed legions, set out for the north.

They didn’t even have time to say goodbye to their families.

The Gallic expedition, which would mark a milestone in Rome’s history, began in this unexpected way.

<90. I’m going to Gaul> The end