Chapter 184: The Beginning of the Rift
< 184. The Beginning of the Rift >
Marcus was enjoying a sweet rest after sending off the Han delegation.
He had hosted the Han envoys as generously as he would for the royals of his allies, following the suggestions of Cicero and Cato.
But unfortunately, they had returned without finding even a clue about the knowledge they wanted to learn.
The only facts they had learned were that the sugar, the surprisingly comfortable carriages, and even the charming bathhouse and advanced bank were all the creations of one man, Marcus.
Marcus had taken Octavius around and broadened his horizons while he was resting.
Talking to him was definitely ten times more fun than teaching Sextus.
But Marcus did not deliberately help Octavius with his lacking military skills.
The clever Octavius had already realized that.
And he also understood what it meant.
Today, Octavius had also shared many topics with Marcus.
And of course, there was not a single topic related to the military.
‘I shouldn’t be too greedy.’
Octavius was immersed in his thoughts as he sat in the reception room after returning to the mansion.
He felt that Rome was changing lately.
It was not a change at the level of seeing new buildings or enacting new laws.
He had a premonition that something deeper, something essential, was trying to change.
And at the center of it was Marcus.
To him, Rome seemed to be full of things that needed to be fixed and improved.
He constantly analyzed and dissected the existing system, and after dismantling it, he recreated it into something more rational and plausible.
How could he have such a broad vision when he had lived a life surrounded by gold since he was young?
Octavius had wanted to become another Marcus at first.
But he soon realized it.
He was not such a genius who could do anything.
Caesar was a similar type, but Octavius was not.
He could not command the military as perfectly as Marcus and Caesar, nor did he have the stamina to lead the soldiers on the front line.
His weak body was perfect for inducing complacency in his enemies.
But at the same time, it was also a factor that symbolized that it was almost impossible for Octavius to rise to the position of a triumvir by his own power.
‘But still…’
Octavius saw Sextus entering the reception room in his eyes.
He was confident that he would be more great than the person in front of him.
The inheritance and power he received were incomparable to his opponent, but Octavius did not think for a moment that he would fall behind.
And Sextus felt the same way.
He did not like Octavius staying at Marcus’s mansion very much.
He had a bad feeling about him since he met him in Egypt.
He had no reason to care about a young commoner noble who had nothing to do with him anyway, since Marcus had a successor to inherit his family anyway.
But somehow he felt uneasy when he saw Octavius.
It was because Marcus’s eyes toward Octavius were never seen when he taught him.
Of course, Sextus did not think that this was because he was behind Octavius.
He thought it was because Marcus’s expectations for him were much higher than for Octavius.
Wasn’t that the truth?
Sextus, who had to become a successor of Pompey and a member of the triumvirate, and Octavius, who looked like nothing more than a secretary for Marcus’s son Trajanus, stood in different positions.
As Sextus tried to ignore Octavius sitting awkwardly in his seat and leave, Octavius asked him first.
“Nice to see you again. Sextus. Are you looking for Marcus?”
“Yes. You are still staying at Marcus’s mansion, I see.”
“Yes. My mother went to Antioch and cleared out our family’s mansion. Marcus said he would go back to the East soon, so I decided there was no need to find another mansion for this short period of time. He kindly allowed me to stay here.”
“Marcus is going back to the East? I didn’t hear anything about that.”
“It’s not like he’s going for good. He just has something to do there for a while.”
Octavius’s tone was very polite.
But to Sextus, it sounded like he was mocking him with ‘You don’t even know that’.
Sextus bit his lip in annoyance and turned his body before Octavius asked him one more question.
“By the way, Sextus, have you seen Gnaeus lately?”
“No. My brother hasn’t contacted me since my father’s funeral. Why are you asking me that?”
“No reason. I just thought Marcus would have asked you already.”
Octavius was right.
Sextus had already been asked several times about Gnaeus.
He also felt some anxiety about his brother’s movements, so he kept an eye on him.
But strangely enough, the information about Gnaeus was cut off after the funeral.
He had heard rumors that he thought he had lost his family to his younger brother and left somewhere in a fit of rage.
He had heard that he had been seen in North Africa or Hispania, or even in Gaul.
He seemed to be wandering around aimlessly, as he was quite shocked.
He had told Marcus everything, but he didn’t need to tell Octavius anything.
“It’s none of your business what happened to my brother. It’s a family matter. You just do your job well and follow Marcus’s orders.”
Sextus threw a word in a tone that anyone would find unpleasant and disappeared from Octavius’s sight, looking for Marcus.
With a bitter smile at the expected reaction, Octavius sat down again.
“As expected, Sextus is not the one. But Marcus was surprisingly attached to recognition.”
If Octavius had been in Marcus’s position, he would never have made such a promise with Pompey.
The friendship with Pompey was made with Pompey, not with his son.
“Or maybe he has some other plan that I didn’t notice.”
Either way, he was sure that Sextus would never be accepted as a member of the triumvirate like his ambition.
There was no emotion in Octavius’s eyes as he looked at the direction where Sextus had disappeared.
※※※
Caesar’s Germanic expedition ended with the fall of the Cherusci tribe, which had resisted until the end.
Caesar decided to return to Rome after giving his soldiers enough rest, as he had conquered the Elbe River basin more easily than he thought.
Even if they were soldiers who were used to war, they would be exhausted if they spent nearly ten years on the battlefield.
Caesar’s soldiers also needed some rest.
Caesar promised his soldiers a reward that was more lavish and honorable than any expeditionary force ever.
“The Senate will have no choice but to accept our demands! You who have trusted and followed me will receive a lot of money and land and enjoy a new life wherever you want.
If you want, you can sell the land again and go back to Rome. I will fully support whatever choice you make this time. We have earned such treatment by our merits!”
“Wooohooo!”
Caesar’s legion dreamed of the wealth and glory that would soon appear before their eyes and shouted Caesar’s name until their throats were sore.
In fact, Caesar’s claim was not unreasonable even if he thought objectively.
His legion had spent almost ten years on the battlefield.
And they had conquered all of Gaul and Britain, and most of Germany.
They had completely eradicated the worries of the northern immigrants that Rome had suffered for hundreds of years.
This achievement was so great that even Cato, who hated Caesar, would admit it as a glorious victory.
Even if he demanded a triumph of the same scale as Pompey, the Senate would have to accept it.
But Caesar made it clear that he would not do a long march because his soldiers needed enough rest.
He also intended to stabilize the occupation of Germany and improve the land surrounded by forests while he was at it.
Of course, Caesar’s intention was not only this.
His scouts who received his secret orders left cautiously to investigate the situation east of the Elbe River.
Since he had decided to make the Elbe River a temporary border of Rome, he needed to know for sure what was going on in the east.
While spending time in Germany, Caesar also did his job faithfully.
He kept in touch with Rome through reverse engineering and was deeply involved in politics, and also exchanged opinions with Marcus.
And above all, he waited eagerly for Labienus, who received his secret order, to return.
After waiting for a month with his neck stretched out.
Finally Labienus crossed the Rhine River again and appeared in Caesar’s camp.
“Come in.”
Caesar’s voice came out as soon as Labienus knocked on the door.
Caesar put down his pen and got up from his seat when he saw who was standing at the door.
“My dear lieutenant has finally returned. I’m very happy.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so welcomed in my life. It feels awkward.”
“That means I’ve been waiting for you to come. Want a glass of wine?”
“I appreciate it. I’ve been wandering around Gallic villages so much that I haven’t had a chance to drink proper wine.”
Labienus sat down and took the glass that Caesar handed him.
“How is Gaul? There were no reports of unrest, right?”
“Yes. I would have heard of it if there was. Oh, by the way, the chief of the Arverni tribe warned me. A young man named Vercingetorix has been making some suspicious moves lately. Of course, no one responded to him, so he quickly backed down and went into seclusion.”
“Really? It’s good that there’s no problem for now, but I can see that the seeds of the hardliners are not completely gone by looking at that Vercingetorix. So tell the tribes to keep an eye on them if they see any noticeable ones.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. But don’t you think you should pay more attention to this place than Gaul? The Germanic tribes won’t accept your rule as easily as Gaul. Won’t they rebel every now and then?”
Caesar shook his head with a nonchalant expression.
“So he paid quite a lot of attention from the occupation phase. He bestowed generous treatment to those who surrendered, and thoroughly punished those who resisted until the end, making them an example. Not only that, but he also ordered to crush any tribes that showed hostility to Rome even after surrendering.”
“Do you think they will cooperate then?”
“They are actually doing very well. After wiping out the villages that planned to betray, he gave half of the slaves and various goods that came out of there to the tribes that crushed them. And he also granted Roman citizenship to the influential people of the reporting tribes.”
“It’s a policy that would go down in history as a textbook example of carrot and stick.”
Caesar liked to be lenient, but he did not indiscriminately show leniency to anyone.
There was a clear priority in his leniency.
He almost unconditionally granted the benefits of leniency to fellow Roman citizens, but it was different for immigrants.
He needed to firmly wield the whip to those who did not assimilate well with just being nice.
Caesar tended to back down endlessly to fellow Roman citizens, but he had a rather exquisite sense of balance in this regard.
“By the way, Labienus, did you successfully carry out the order I gave you?”
Labienus put down his wine glass and slowly nodded.
“Of course.”
His voice naturally lowered.
Caesar smiled and filled Labienus’s empty glass with more wine.
“Good, then where is he?”
“I found him in the territory of the Aedui tribe. He seemed to have been trying to incite the Gallic tribes to cause a conflict with Hispania.”
“Tsk, as expected, he was a short-sighted guy.”
“Did you order me to search for him because you knew he would cause trouble?”
“That was part of it, and also because he had a good word for it. Of course, I have to meet him in person to make a more accurate judgment.”
Labienus pointed to the right with his finger and asked.
“I told him to wait in the next barracks for now. Of course, I made sure no one could see his face by putting a helmet on him. Should I bring him?”
“Yes, I always appreciate your reliable work.”
“Then please help me get up to the quaestor later.”
Caesar frowned and clicked his tongue at Labienus’s joking request.
“You have such small dreams, man. You should at least have the guts to ask me to make you sit on the consul’s seat.”
“···Are you really going to push me up to the consul?”
“Do you think I would say one thing and do another?”
“No! Then I’ll be going······.”
Labienus left the commander’s barracks with a flushed face.
Not long after his back disappeared, Caesar opened the door of the barracks and brought in the person he had been waiting for.
“I heard you were looking for me.”
A voice filled with anger and resentment, and a sense of helplessness that covered them, flowed out of his mouth.
Caesar ignored it completely and got up from his seat with a smile, spreading his arms wide.
“Welcome, Gnaeus. I’ve been waiting for you.”
< 184. The Beginning of Cracks > End
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