< 257. Ro >
Publius continued to speak as if nothing was wrong, ignoring Shi Xians hardened expression.
In fact, you should not forget that your side is largely responsible for this situation.
What do you an by our responsibility?
Im referring to the lukewarm attitude you showed during the war. The Senate believes that your country deliberately watched the situation with so intention.
Intention? Thats too much speculation. At that ti, 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 didnt 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 wouldnt have been too hard to provide us with your experience and information from fighting the Huns many tis, 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. Thats why the Senate made this decision, so I hope you understand.
What if he said he couldnt understand?
Shi Xian realized painfully that he had no choice.
He had no choice from the beginning.
The choice was entirely on Ros 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, Ro 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 couldnt 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 Ro to lose.
But Ro won a great victory in the battle of wheels, even after losing 200,000 soldiers.
This was evidence that Ros national power was much higher than Hans.
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 Ro might be aiming for that and trying to trade directly with neighboring countries.
But he soon thought that this was too much exaggeration.
Ro 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 ti.
Are you sure you dont want to reconsider?
This is not up to . I have to follow what the Senate has decided. Im not the governor here, but just acting as one.
I see. Ill tell the Emperor your intentions. But I hope you rember that this will only hurt both sides if it damages the friendship between our countries.
Ill convey your ssage to my brother and the Senate.
Publius smiled brightly and escorted the envoys out.
Shi Xian didnt cling any more and prepared to leave Ctesiphon right away.
Judging by Ros attitude now, it seed certain that they had decided to restrain them.
It seed better to return as soon as possible and prepare a counterasure than to stay here and be humiliated.
He picked out a sturdy horse and a skilled rider and ordered them to return to Changan as quickly as possible and report the situation.
The silver lining was that Ro made this decision simply because they were offended by Hans attitude.
There was also so self-inflicted aspect to it, so Shi Xian couldnt openly express his dissatisfaction.
But he still confird that Ro didnt act with a ticulous plan in mind.
The reason why Shi Xian made this mistake was not elsewhere.
Publius also didnt know why Marcus made this decision.
My brother doesnt seem to like Han very muchI cant guess why.
Publius muttered as he casually glanced at the gifts left by the envoys.
Its 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, Im sure my brother didnt do this because he hates Han. He must be looking at the future years ahead and drawing a big picture.
Even if I dont understand it now, ti will prove that Marcuss judgnt was right.
Publius felt that he was still lacking to grasp his brothers deep intentions.
It will start in a few days. Am I the only one in the family who cant participate?
He looked wistfully at the far west where Ro was.
The other siblings, including Julia, had left Syria a few months ago and boarded a ship to Ro.
Even Cleopatra and Arsinoe were with them this ti.
The unwritten rule that foreign kings could not enter Ro was long obsolete.
That was because the sacred boundary line that separated that territory no longer existed.
Its a pity that I cant see the historic mont that will be rembered for hundreds of years but theres 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 governors residence.
The next decades would face more drastic changes than the hundreds of years that Ro had walked so far.
He began to understand a little bit what Marcus had said before.
The tis were changing.
The evidence to prove that fact was constantly appearing in Ro 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 gas.
That was the usual life of Romans.
But even for them, there were so special days.
It was the gladiator gas.
Especially when it was not a regular ga but a big match for a title, crowds filled the Colosseum and Marcus Campus.
The large-scale ga that was about to open also received a similar response.
To be precise, it was an unprecedented excitent that covered the whole of Ro.
The ga 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 Ro to see this match, which was held only once every four years.
And this ti, it was not just a ga.
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 ga beca 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 ergency gas and extended the event day by force.
As the date approached, dignitaries from various regions arrived in Ro.
Marcus planned to make their entrance into Ro 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 costus, but they were accompanied by senators who had entered the Roman Senate.
This was not much different from Caesars intention.
They wanted to elicit peoples welco by emphasizing that they were friends of Ro.
On the other hand, Romans felt proud of seeing foreign royal families wearing their traditional costus.
It was an opportunity to feel directly that Ros status was shining in all directions.
The final touch was Egypt.
Cleopatra and Arsinoe, who wore dazzling costus 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 Marcuss position.
But there was already a rumor in Ro that Egypts pharaoh was Marcuss woman.
But no one blad 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 Caesars daughter.
They felt satisfied with seeing Cleopatra and Arsinoe being courteous to Marcus at the welco 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 cant 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 Marcuss child inherits the throne of Egypt? Does Egypt beco 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 Caesars, but confident.
We are more than kings. We will be Ro.
< 257. Ro > The End
Reviews
All reviews (0)