Chapter 50.5 - Pompey Magnus 1
Chapter 50.5 Pompey Magnus 2
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After taking over the command of the eastern front from Lucullus, Pompey began to reorganize his legions.
He would have liked to use the 20 legions that he had formed during the pirate campaign, but unfortunately, that was impossible.
It was the result of the stubborn opposition from the Senate.
They had made all kinds of excuses and succeeded in reducing Pompey’s allowed troops by half.
The force that Pompey had been granted to pacify the east was 10 legions and 270 ships.
It was still a huge army of over 60,000 men.
It was twice as much as the force that Lucullus had commanded when he fought against Mithridates and Tigranes.
The rumor that Pompey, the new commander, had deployed 10 legions to the front spread quickly.
Mithridates and Tigranes, who had already suffered a defeat from Lucullus, became tense.
But Pompey showed a relaxed movement, unlike his usual emphasis on speed.
As there was no sign of the legion formation being completed, Marcus asked for Pompey’s permission and headed to Bithynia.
He had even heard that there was no plan to move the army this year, so he could take his time and attend to his business.
Marcus rode to Bithynia and looked for Tadius.
He was faithfully following the orders and expanding his business around a decent building.
The employees who confirmed Marcus’s identity guided him to a clean annex.
The slaves who guarded the guest room in the annex bowed respectfully.
“Sir Tadius is inside.”
When he entered through the door, he saw Tadius sitting at a desk. There was a considerable amount of documents piled up next to him.
Tadius, who was busy moving his reed pen, jumped up from his seat as soon as he saw Marcus.
He had experienced Marcus’s ability firsthand during the grain speculation.
Moreover, he had perfectly predicted that the pirate campaign would end in a short time.
He felt an emotion that transcended fear and awe for Marcus.
The ancients tended to associate the existence of gods with phenomena that they could not understand.
Tadius was no exception. He began to believe that Marcus was favored by the gods.
Otherwise, there were too many parts that were hard to explain.
Now, Tadius’s attitude toward Marcus was similar to that of a servant toward a king.
“You have arrived. I have been waiting for you.”
“Good. How is the work I asked you to do going?”
“Of course. I am currently capturing the knights of the eastern provinces and building a trade network. But since you told me not to reveal my relationship with the Crassus family, the speed is not very fast. It would be much easier if I could use the clients of the Crassus family, but you told me not to do that…”
“Good, you did well. You shouldn’t show too close a relationship with me anyway. There might be people who are paying attention to you because of the grain speculation. And there are other things to deal with in the future.”
Even though he had been careful enough, Tadius was exposed as soon as he bought a large amount of grain.
The only person who figured out his connection with Marcus would be Julia, but he still needed to be more cautious.
“But then shouldn’t you be careful about meeting me like this?”
“It’s okay to meet like this. There are not many famous merchants in Rome who don’t have a relationship with me. It’s fine as long as it doesn’t get out that I’m behind you.”
“Yes. Oh, and I also contacted the Parthian merchant you told me about. Was it silk that you called it? It looked really soft and luxurious. I thought it would make a fortune if I brought it to Rome.”
“Right? The Parthians are taking a cut in between, so the price is ridiculously high, but the nobles will still open their wallets without hesitation.”
Originally, Rome recognized the existence of silk more than ten years later in the future.
And it was Caesar, who had a lot of vanity and cared about his appearance, who personally made silk popular in Rome.
But even after that, Parthia blocked Rome and China from each other and kept the silk price high.
From Parthia’s point of view, it was an opportunity to make a huge profit from intermediary trade, so they wouldn’t give it up.
Silk, which caused a huge craze in Rome, was said to cost more than one horse per yard.
Marcus planned to bring this silk to Rome while making a relationship with Parthia.
Of course, selling silk was only a secondary issue.
What Marcus really aimed for was to make connections with the high-ranking nobles of Parthia.
Parthia was a powerful country that claimed to be the descendant of Persia and could not be underestimated.
In the original history, the Roman legion led by Crassus suffered a near-annihilation from Parthia.
It was one of the worst defeats in the history of the Roman Republic, and it resulted in the tragic death of Crassus and his second son Publius.
It was a future that Marcus could not let happen.
Even after that, Parthia clashed with Rome several times, but Rome never completely subdued Parthia.
There were many reasons, but the biggest cause was that Rome could not maintain its long supply line.
Parthia’s persistent resistance also contributed to that.
These two obstacles were not problems that could be solved in a short time.
He needed to spend time and slowly and surely deal with them.
Marcus told Tadius his next mission in a small voice that only Tadius could hear if he concentrated.
“There is a prince named Mithridates III among the sons of the current Parthian king Phraates III. He is violent, impatient and has a bad temper. Contact the nobles who are connected with him. Don’t be too hasty, just get results within five years.”
“It would be hard to make a relationship with the nobles who are close to the royal family, but in five years… it seems possible. I will do my best.”
The current Parthian king Phraates III had two sons.
They were Orodes II and Mithridates III.
Mithridates III was a different person from Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus who was at war with Rome.
Marcus planned to use the subtle power struggle between the Parthian princes as much as possible.
It would be a long time in the future, but he had to sow the seeds of conflict early so that he could harvest them at the right time.
‘He said that battles are just a way of confirming the victory of wars.’
Marcus intended to faithfully apply the lesson he had learned from Pompey.
He had to be sure of winning at least 90 percent of the time before going into war.
Marcus then explained to Tadius the details of what he should be careful of.
He started to review a large amount of data and check all the possible variables.
His vision of the distant future and his excellent judgment were exerted to the limit.
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Pompey moved leisurely but faithfully practiced his strategy of winning before fighting.
He did not focus only on defeating Mithridates.
If he won hastily, Mithridates would always recover as he had done before.
He needed to cut off his breath once and for all.
The reason why he spent time in the rear was to prepare for that foundation.
Pompey first released the pirate slaves he had captured.
He had already executed those who were of poor quality and had committed too much plunder, but there were still more than 20,000 prisoners left.
Most of them were people who had lost their families and lands in the eastern wars and became pirates.
If the rear was not stable, the legion would lose its strength to advance as time went by.
Fortunately, Asia Minor was not an undeveloped land where barbarians lived.
Cilicia, which was the base of the pirates, was originally a place that boasted fertile land and abundant resources.
It was just that too many wars had swept away many cities and lands into ruins.
Pompey provided land for the prisoners who had received unexpected mercy so that they could live a stable life again.
“From now on, cultivate diligently and get away from violent life. If you settle down and live here, you will never be driven away again.”
The prisoners shed tears and swore loyalty at his kindness.
He moved the prisoners only to inland areas, considering the residents of the coast who had been plundered by the pirates.
The prisoners accepted it and worked hard to restore their new homes.
He also successfully completed the stabilization work of the provinces that Lucullus had failed.
Pompey used the knight class moderately and secured taxes stably.
The existence of Marcus, who was a representative of the knight class, made things even easier.
“Won’t you give them time to prepare if you drag on like this?”
The legionnaires expressed their doubts, but Pompey dismissed them.
“They might recover a little. But if we spend time, we’ll benefit more than them.”
Mithridates, who had been driven away by Lucullus, had already returned to Pontus and regained his old territory.
His subordinates worried that Mithridates would fully restore his former power if they gave him time like this.
But Pompey knew exactly what was going on in Pontus.
He might have regained his territory, but he could not replenish his lost troops in an instant.
Pompey did not make a fuss or underestimate his enemy unnecessarily.
At the end of spring in 66 BC,
Pompey finished preparing for his advance without any worries in his rear.
As soon as he was fully equipped, he attacked like a storm.
Pompey led his ten legions straight into Pontus Kingdom.
Mithridates was caught off guard.
He was fooled by his leisurely preparations.
He did not expect him to attack so suddenly.
The Roman army that came in like a tide was strong.
The ten legions swept away the small defense force of Pontus and approached the capital city.
“Counterattack! Gather all troops!”
Mithridates did not just sit back and take it either.
The Roman army’s advance was too fast, so he could not expect reinforcements from Armenia.
But he mobilized his abundant funds and formed a force of more than 30,000 men.
He concentrated his troops in the capital and planned to siege until the Armenian reinforcements arrived.
But Pompey mocked Mithridates’s plan and launched an all-out attack.
The cities of Pontus fell into the hands of the Roman army.
He also heard bad news that the deployment of reinforcements from Armenia would be delayed.
In the end, Mithridates had no choice but to fight Pompey with his 30,000 men.
It was a brave but reckless decision.
Mithridates had lost to Lucullus even when he had much more troops.
And the force that Pompey commanded was twice as much as Lucullus’s.
Of course, Mithridates had a trick up his sleeve.
He intended to attack Pompey’s main force before the Roman army scattered around could gather again.
The problem was that all his thoughts were read by Pompey.
“When they get anxious, their vision narrows and they make rash moves.”
Pompey smiled coldly at the Pontus army camp that was spreading out in the distance.
He already had nine legions gathered in his camp.
He deliberately did not summon one legion to limit Mithridates’s escape route.
The war was decided as soon as Mithridates led his army to the battlefield.
“The chariots that Pontus is proud of are hardly visible.”
The composition of the Pontus army was far from perfect from the start.
Originally, the Hellenistic kingdoms operated a large number of elite troops based on their rich funds.
But most of the soldiers he saw were infantry and lightly armed cavalry.
There were some cataphracts, which were heavy cavalry, but they posed no threat to Pompey.
He joked with Marcus, who was watching the situation with him.
“I wanted to show you how to use the stirrups that your father made as much as possible. This will be a good demonstration stage.”
“Are you going to fight a cavalry battle with them? Cataphracts are formidable opponents.”
“That’s only when they fight head-on. In fact, the way to deal with the Hellenistic heavy cavalry has been concluded a long time ago. There is nothing more pitiful than clinging to a method that has already been defeated.”
Bang! Crash!
The loud sound of ballistas firing signaled the start of the battle.
The accuracy of the ballistas was not very high, but it was enough to make the enemies flinch.
No matter how cataphracts they were, they could not charge through the scorpions and ballistas’ fire frontally.
Moreover, the Roman army had scattered iron spikes on the ground to make it difficult for the cavalry to approach.
Of course, Mithridates was not a man who lacked learning ability.
He had no intention of using the same tactics that had failed against Sulla and Lucullus.
“Cavalry, flank the enemy and strike them hard! Infantry, hold the front line until the cavalry breaks through!”
After suffering defeats for decades, one would inevitably absorb the enemy’s strategy, whether they liked it or not.
Mithridates applied the hammer and anvil tactic that the Romans often used, with some modifications.
In fact, the Hellenistic kingdoms had also used this tactic since ancient times.
The one who perfected this tactic was none other than Alexander the Great of Macedonia.
Technically, they were the original inventors of this tactic.
However, the Romans had a much higher level of proficiency in this tactic than the Hellenistic kingdoms after Alexander’s death.
The Romans adopted this tactic as their own after Hannibal refined and improved it even further.
Mithridates had learned the difference in tactical capabilities between him and the Romans through his repeated defeats.
So he decided to try using the same strategy that he had suffered from, after doing some research.
He was confident that his cavalry was superior to the Romans’, even though their legionaries were formidable.
Of course, this was a grave miscalculation.
Pompey, who read Mithridates’ intentions, placed his cavalry on the flanks, equipped with stirrups.
The Pontic cataphracts, who charged fiercely, were stalled by the sporadic attacks of the Roman cavalry.
The decisive difference between Pompey’s army and Lucullus’ army was this point.
After the stirrups were distributed, the Roman army did not hesitate to train their cavalry.
The light cavalry maintained a stable posture and fired accurate shots, while the other cavalry fought more easily on horseback.
Marcus had concealed the information and prevented the development of heavy cavalry using couch lances, but it was not a problem.
Instead, they greatly increased their archers, which were not actively used by Rome.
The bow was not very important in the Roman army. However, Pompey felt the need to use archers more aggressively after learning about the existence of stirrups.
He imported a type of composite bow from Syria and increased its range and power.
With this overwhelming increase in cavalry power alone, the strength of the Roman army had almost doubled from before.
“What is this! Why can’t we break through the Roman cavalry! And what are those archers! Since when did they have such a large number of troops in that category!”
Mithridates was confused when his elite troops failed to perform their role as a hammer.
At first, he underestimated the Roman cavalry, but they were not mediocre at all.
Under Pompey’s training and command, the elite cavalry were stronger than he imagined. It was like facing those Parthian cavalry.
Moreover, his central force, which was supposed to be a sturdy anvil, was quickly breached by the fierce onslaught of the Roman army.
Especially, Spartacus’ unit in the white cohort stood out with their brilliant performance.
As a hole opened up in one axis of the front line, the Pontic army began to collapse rapidly.
The hammer and anvil tactic required that while the anvil held on, the hammer-like cavalry would strike at the enemy’s rear.
However, the anvil was pierced by the enemy’s attack, and the hammer was tied up and unable to strike back.
Inevitably, the Pontic army fell into a tragedy of fleeing without putting up much resistance.
Even worse, their slow-moving infantry were surrounded by the Roman army without being able to escape properly.
Mithridates had no choice but to retreat while watching his gathered troops being slaughtered.
“Rome…Rome…what a cursed name!”
He didn’t know what to do. He lost no matter how he fought or what he did.
If it weren’t for his subordinates’ eyes, he would have wanted to tear his hair out and scream in frustration.
But he didn’t give up. He always got up again after losing many times. He would do it again this time.
He reassured himself like that.
At that moment,
He saw Pompey’s dignified figure wearing a scarlet cloak in his fleeing eyes.
Strangely enough, he could see his expression clearly even though they were quite far apart.
His eyes were indifferent even though he had achieved a great victory. He took it for granted.
Maybe that’s why.
He felt a sense of anxiety that things might not go well this time, unlike before.
The anxiety writhed in Mithridates’ chest.
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