The Mad Tycoon of Rome

< 257. Rome >

Publius continued to speak as if nothing was wrong, ignoring Shi Xian’s hardened expression.

“In fact, you should not forget that your side is largely responsible for this situation.”

“What do you mean by our responsibility?”

“I’m referring to the lukewarm attitude you showed during the war. The Senate believes that your country deliberately watched the situation with some intention.”

“Intention? That’s too much speculation. At that time, our country was not in a situation to help you return, because the Emperor was ill.”

Shi Xian had already anticipated this kind of complaint beforehand.

And Publius also knew that he would give such an answer.

“Of course, we didn’t expect direct assistance. It would have been much easier to win if you had attacked the Huns from behind, but it must have been difficult to raise an army given the distance. But it wouldn’t have been too hard to provide us with your experience and information from fighting the Huns many times, would it?”

“We tried to provide as much as we could…”

“Everyone has one or two unavoidable reasons. But you have to show more sincerity to build trust. In that regard, your country missed the opportunity to earn our trust by itself. That’s why the Senate made this decision, so I hope you understand.”

What if he said he couldn’t understand?

Shi Xian realized painfully that he had no choice.

He had no choice from the beginning.

The choice was entirely on Rome’s side.

And he also guessed perfectly why they were doing this.

‘How petty of them to retaliate economically for not helping them enough.’

According to what Shi Xian heard here, Rome had achieved an overwhelming victory in the Hun war.

It was hard to believe, but it was undeniable that they had crushed the Hun cavalry in the battle of wheels.

He couldn’t understand how they did it, but it was true.

Han had also defeated the Huns in a frontal battle, but that was not the Huns at their peak.

It was a huge army that unified all the Huns and absorbed other nomads as well.

There was no answer in a frontal battle.

The military of Han judged that way and expected Rome to lose.

But Rome won a great victory in the battle of wheels, even after losing 200,000 soldiers.

This was evidence that Rome’s national power was much higher than Han’s.

They were behind in national power, technology, and overall level.

Shi Xian suddenly imagined what would happen if this fact spread to neighboring countries.

‘No. That must be prevented at all costs. It could lead to the collapse of the order of the Han Dynasty.’

He even suspected that Rome might be aiming for that and trying to trade directly with neighboring countries.

But he soon thought that this was too much exaggeration.

Rome was a powerful country, but it was still a barbarian in the west.

How could they be familiar with the ideology of the Han Dynasty, which maintains the order of the central plains?

It would be a bad move to expose their weakness by showing such a sign.

Shi Xian desperately managed his expression and asked one last time.

“Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?”

“This is not up to me. I have to follow what the Senate has decided. I’m not the governor here, but just acting as one.”

“I see. I’ll tell the Emperor your intentions. But I hope you remember that this will only hurt both sides if it damages the friendship between our countries.”

“I’ll convey your message to my brother and the Senate.”

Publius smiled brightly and escorted the envoys out.

Shi Xian didn’t cling any more and prepared to leave Ctesiphon right away.

Judging by Rome’s attitude now, it seemed certain that they had decided to restrain them.

It seemed better to return as soon as possible and prepare a countermeasure than to stay here and be humiliated.

He picked out a sturdy horse and a skilled rider and ordered them to return to Chang’an as quickly as possible and report the situation.

The silver lining was that Rome made this decision simply because they were offended by Han’s attitude.

There was also some self-inflicted aspect to it, so Shi Xian couldn’t openly express his dissatisfaction.

But he still confirmed that Rome didn’t act with a meticulous plan in mind.

The reason why Shi Xian made this mistake was not elsewhere.

Publius also didn’t know why Marcus made this decision.

“My brother doesn’t seem to like Han very much…I can’t guess why.”

Publius muttered as he casually glanced at the gifts left by the envoys.

“It’s too far away geographically to be a target of trade, let alone competition…”

Normally, considering the benefits they were getting from Han, it would be more profitable to increase the amount of trade.

Of course, it would be better to trade with other eastern countries, but they had to expand the Silk Road more to do that.

The only ones they could trade with right now were the kingdoms around India.

“Well, I’m sure my brother didn’t do this because he hates Han. He must be looking at the future years ahead and drawing a big picture.”

Even if I don’t understand it now, time will prove that Marcus’s judgment was right.

Publius felt that he was still lacking to grasp his brother’s deep intentions.

“It will start in a few days. Am I the only one in the family who can’t participate?”

He looked wistfully at the far west where Rome was.

The other siblings, including Julia, had left Syria a few months ago and boarded a ship to Rome.

Even Cleopatra and Arsinoe were with them this time.

The unwritten rule that foreign kings could not enter Rome was long obsolete.

That was because the sacred boundary line that separated that territory no longer existed.

“It’s a pity that I can’t see the historic moment that will be remembered for hundreds of years… but there’s nothing I can do. The construction of this city is no less important than that.”

Publius shook off his regret and looked at the imposing splendor of the new governor’s residence.

The next decades would face more drastic changes than the hundreds of years that Rome had walked so far.

He began to understand a little bit what Marcus had said before.

The times were changing.

The evidence to prove that fact was constantly appearing in Rome and the East.

※※※

Romans always loved festivals and looked for fun things to do.

Especially the citizens living in the prosperous Italian peninsula.

After finishing their daily work, they would go to the bathhouse to play chess or sit in a tavern and play card games. 

That was the usual life of Romans.

But even for them, there were some special days.

It was the gladiator games.

Especially when it was not a regular game but a big match for a title, crowds filled the Colosseum and Marcus Campus.

The large-scale game that was about to open also received a similar response.

To be precise, it was an unprecedented excitement that covered the whole of Rome.

The game that would start soon was not a simple title match.

It was the king of kings match where the champions of each region clashed.

Many people flocked to Rome to see this match, which was held only once every four years.

And this time, it was not just a game.

The Senate decided to award Caesar and Marcus glorious titles at the stadium.

They thought it would be good to have the ceremony here because more people would gather than any other event.

Caesar gladly accepted this.

Marcus did not object either.

As a result, the upcoming gladiator game became a prelude to an unprecedented event in Roman history.

Invitations were sent out to the allies as well as the powerful people of the provinces.

Even with the large stadium built by Marcus, there were not enough spectators, so they added more emergency games and extended the event day by force.

As the date approached, dignitaries from various regions arrived in Rome.

Marcus planned to make their entrance into Rome an event.

The citizens looked at the powerful people from different places with curiosity and wonder.

The first ones to arrive were the chiefs of Gaul and Britain.

Caesar deliberately included Vercingetorix, a popular hero, in the procession to draw cheers from the Romans.

The citizens gave generous applause to Vercingetorix, who entered side by side with the Gallic chiefs in Roman armor.

Next, the royal families of North Africa, Cush, Axum, and Nabatea entered in order.

They had one thing in common: they wore their own costumes, but they were accompanied by senators who had entered the Roman Senate.

This was not much different from Caesar’s intention.

They wanted to elicit people’s welcome by emphasizing that they were friends of Rome.

On the other hand, Romans felt proud of seeing foreign royal families wearing their traditional costumes.

It was an opportunity to feel directly that Rome’s status was shining in all directions.

The final touch was Egypt.

Cleopatra and Arsinoe, who wore dazzling costumes as pharaohs of Egypt, captured the eyes of many Romans.

Their beauty, which was now at its peak, also contributed greatly.

Cleopatra did not include her children in the procession, considering Marcus’s position.

But there was already a rumor in Rome that Egypt’s pharaoh was Marcus’s woman.

But no one blamed Marcus for that.

In Romans’ perception, the two pharaohs were nothing more than concubines of Marcus, not his wife Julia, who was called the reincarnation of Venus and Caesar’s daughter.

They felt satisfied with seeing Cleopatra and Arsinoe being courteous to Marcus at the welcome ceremony.

It was a pleasure to see the pharaohs of Egypt, who had once ruled the world, showing polite manners in front of a Roman.

“The queens of Egypt can’t do anything in front of Marcus.”

“Of course. No matter how much they are kings, Egypt is practically nothing but a province of Marcus.”

“What if Marcus’s child inherits the throne of Egypt? Does Egypt become a Roman territory?”

“Well… is that so?”

Caesar smiled contentedly as he looked at the crowd of citizens.

He whispered to Marcus in a low voice that only he could hear.

“The ceremony will start tomorrow.”

“It seems so. It was long and short to get here.”

Marcus nodded slightly with a smile to Arsinoe, who was politely clasping her hands in front of him.

Caesar joked to him.

“How do you feel about becoming a king?”

It was a very low voice that no one could hear.

Marcus chuckled and answered.

“A king? Father-in-law, we are not just that.”

His voice was lower than Caesar’s, but confident.

“We are more than kings. We will be Rome.”

< 257. Rome > The End