Chapter 214: Breathing Room 2

Chapter 214: Breathing Room 2

< 214. Breathing Room 2 >

The eastern province that Marcus was managing had a very different atmosphere from the Roman mainland.

The invasion of the Huns was something that happened far away in Gaul, and since it was said to be resolved, the provincial people quickly regained their sense of stability.

It also helped that Marcus had almost annihilated the vanguard of the Huns and the Scythians.

They said that they were the ones who terrorized Rome, but in reality, a large army of 60,000 fell prey to Marcus’s strategy and were swept away in vain.

Of course, the cavalrymen who were wiped out in the east were poorly armed, and more than half of them were not Huns but Scythians, but the ordinary citizens did not pay attention to such details.

What mattered to them was the belief that the eastern province was a safe place unlike the Roman mainland.

This naturally led to support for Marcus, and it made his position more solid, as he was already ruling like a king of the east.

On the streets of Antioch, which regained its vitality, people freely exchanged stories as before.

Some said that the war seemed to end easier than they thought, and some said that it was too early to judge.

But there was also a common phrase that came out.

“Marcus’s term must continue until the threat of the Huns is completely gone!”

Not only the local nobles, but also the common people and merchants openly talked about this as they walked around.

In fact, this was an indisputable claim.

Caesar had already extended his term as governor of Gaul for another 10 years under the pretext of rebuilding Gaul and defending the north.

Sextus also officially received the governor’s seat for the defense of Greece.

In this situation, there was no reason for the residents of the east to be happy about Marcus’s term ending.

Marcus did not bother to ask for an extension of his term.

He only wrote a detailed report on wiping out the Hun’s detachment and submitted it to the Senate.

The effect was more than enough.

Cato, who was already wary of Caesar’s popularity becoming unbearable, decided to make the most of this opportunity.

“The main force of the Huns has retreated, but we don’t know when they will attack again. Now Gaul has been attacked, but next time we don’t know where will be attacked.

In this situation, Marcus, who repelled the Huns, cannot leave his position! If he hadn’t been there, the eastern province might have been trampled under the hooves of the Huns like Gaul. Therefore, I think we should grant him equal or more authority than Caesar!”

There were no citizens who opposed it.

It took less than three days for Cato to pass a bill to extend Marcus’s governorship.

With this, Marcus was able to continue to exert his influence in the east until the threat of the Huns disappeared completely.

In fact, it was a good thing to say until the threat of the Huns ended, but this was almost indefinite.

As long as the Huns were not completely exterminated, it was possible to stay put by using the excuse that the crisis was not over yet.

The aristocratic faction also knew this fact, but they did not care much.

They trusted Marcus, but they also felt the need to establish their authority as an aristocratic faction in this way.

Anyway, in Rome’s power structure, even if Marcus’s governorship ended, the eastern province was still his territory.

So it seemed better to balance with Caesar by keeping him in office as a formal governor.

Caesar was currently trying to rule Gaul more efficiently than before by putting Vercingetorix in charge of Gaul’s reconstruction and defense.

Gaul had been divided and opposed each other for a long time, eroding their potential.

But after the war with Rome and the subsequent raid by the Huns, most of the major tribes that had been strong lost their power.

Moreover, there were many small tribes that had been driven out of their homeland and scattered here and there by the Huns.

They united with each other and fought together and carried out operations while developing friendly feelings for each other.

After the Huns retreated, Rome quickly resumed land cultivation as they had done before by building large cities in various places according to their own style to rebuild Gaul.

As a result, Gaul was able to walk on the path of integration much faster than its original history.

Moreover, with Vercingetorix as a clear center point, this trend received even more momentum.

Cato and Cicero became more and more worried about Caesar’s actions.

They had given him strength to save Rome from crisis, but they wondered if it was too much.

‘If he really wants to become king at this rate, we might not be able to stop him.’

It felt like the anxiety they had had for a long time was becoming a reality.

They had expected that Caesar’s power would weaken because Gaul and Germania suffered almost catastrophic damage, but that was too naive.

“If they come, we won’t let any of them live like last time.”

The two answered with confident voices.

Marcus didn’t say anything more.

The two had excellent military talents and surprisingly matched well.

He believed that they would be able to defend the border perfectly if they combined their abilities.

“And we need to get as much help as possible from our allies. Egypt is fine since both pharaohs are here, but someone from here needs to go to Nabataea. I think Surenas is the best candidate for that.”

“Do I have to go to Nabataea and get support troops and food from Arabia?”

“Yeah. If they seem reluctant, remind them of your position. They’ll get what I mean.”

“Shakilavil must have heard about it by now. He must be eagerly waiting for his turn.”

Marcus had previously promised one seat each in the Senate to Shakilavil, the highest nobleman in Arabia and the power behind Nabataea.

He had said that it was not time yet and asked him to wait a little, but now the way was open for the powerful people from the province to enter the Senate.

So he thought it would be more effective if Surenas, who was also a party to that, went there himself.

Surenas also guessed Marcus’s intention and willingly accepted the role.

“If we get additional support from Egypt, Nabataea, and Arabia, we can form more legions and secure the supplies we need for a large-scale expedition. It won’t be a big problem even if the timing is delayed by two years or so.”

No matter how strong the Huns were, it was almost impossible to collapse Gaul, Greece, and the Syrian Province in a short period of time.

So when the time for the decisive battle came, it would be the year after next.

A blueprint for the future war began to take shape in Marcus’s head.

※※※

The wind of chaos that started when the Huns came to the west became a fierce storm that swept all the surrounding areas.

The ones who suffered the most damage were of course Germania and Gaul.

But there were those who had their lands taken away by the Huns before them.

They were the Slavs and Sarmatians who had been living in the east of Germania.

The nomadic Sarmatians mostly surrendered to the Huns and became their subordinates, but those who refused to submit were driven out of their homeland.

Considering that the Huns were the ones who completely destroyed Sarmatia in the original history, it was a rather sad fate.

The Slavic and Sarmatian refugees who had no place to go tried to enter Germania at first, but they failed to achieve their goal because they were blocked by the Roman defense.

After hearing that the Huns were trying to invade Germania, they quickly changed their course and headed for Greece.

But Greece was not a place where they could easily settle down.

Sextus, the governor of Greece, feared that the province’s rule would be unstable if a large number of refugees came in and denied their entry.

In fact, it was not possible to accept them blindly since they came from the Hunnic sphere of influence.

There was no way to know how many enemy spies were mixed among them.

In the end, the refugees who had nowhere else to go decided to take over Greece by force.

Sextus fought a battle to stop the two refugee tribes at once.

He had grown through the battle with Caesar, so the refugees with poor weapons were not very difficult opponents for him.

The battle was fierce but one-sided, and after that, the Slavs and Sarmatians gave up on entering Greece and changed their direction again.

Sextus mobilized all his clients to replenish his defense forces, but he did not chase them further.

It was when Caesar started the Rhine River northward operation and drove away the Hunnic main force.

Finally, the Slavs and Sarmatians who were really cornered attacked the Dacian Kingdom, which had just established a new kingdom and entered a revival period.

The Dacian Kingdom, located in modern Romania, was a powerful country with many strong warriors, but the Slavic and Sarmatian tribes had no more room to retreat.

The battle was fierce and neither side had a clear advantage.

But as the war dragged on, it was natural that the defending side would have more benefits.

Rome, which had been watching the situation here, also thought so.

At that moment, a variable that made all those expectations futile intervened.

A hundred thousand Hunnic cavalry led by Batur himself invaded the Dacian Kingdom.

The Greek front. The fuse of Act 2 was lit.

< 214. Breathing Room 2 > End