Announcement

**Samuel Johnson** · December 27, 2001, 14:57

Chapter 2

=== The Necklace===

To understand why the future was in the East, Fokkis would patiently explain to his sons, one must appreciate the geography and the unique relations Roma had long enjoyed with its neighbors. Our original homeland, now known as the Western Empire, sits on a resource rich plain overlooking two mostly uninhabitable peninsulas, the Indus and the Burmese. Rome was slowly developing this wilderness and had even allowed other friendly civilizations room to settle. To the west of Roma lived the English, who dourly eked out an existence in the desert and hills bordering the Caspian Sea and the English Gulf. Until the recent Sung War commenced, they were losing their land to the aggressive remnants of the Han Dynasty who attacked them relentlessly from the north.

The Romans are a very tolerant people and we humored the English and their snide remarks. We married their difficult princesses and cynically acceded to their demands to bring more “English Culture” to the Roman empire. As one concession to a haughty English princess, the Caesar at that time constructed the Great Library in Cumae. Soon the English scholars were flocking over the border to gain access to this edifice of “English Culture.” Another great work inspired by an English queen was the Cathedral of St. Guinevere in the small horse-breeding town of Viroconium. This church had only recently been completed, Queen Guinevere long dead and the English flowed over the border to worship. The "English Culture" influenced a group of horse breeders to demand protection from the Roman empire and leave the England.

Additionally, all this “English culture” had so influenced the border town of Northhampton that they tarred and feathered their harsh mayor for failing to provide them similar “culture” and set him packing on a mule towards London. Within a year, Northhampton rebels invited Roman pikemen into their gates to protect them from feared reprisals by the English King whose fury was legendary. Nicephorus chuckled at this and taught his sons to be always be aware of the unintended consequences culture brings to the world.

To the north of Roma, the insane, nomadic Aztecs had taken up in the rough Tibetan mountains even though their homeland in the wild, wooly Balkans was rich with resources and possibilities. Some of them claimed to be looking for a lost Aztec city, which their beliefs asserted, would bring paradise and eternal life to the seeker. The Romans found them even sourer than the English and to this day no one has ever seen an Aztecan laugh. Who could blame them, though, as reports filtered from the mysterious capital of mass human sacrifices and nightmarish cannibalistic feasts held by their noblemen? Most of the Aztecan who had settled in the Himalayans were usually tribes who had tired of the flesh tributes required to prove their allegiance and at least one town had converted to Roman governance so far.

While we never understood the Aztec leaders, they became quite useful as allies. Despite their bloodthirst, the Aztecs strangely found comradeship with Rome. There have been many arguments in royal chambers and later the Senate about the morality of befriending this regime. But in the end, we always concluded that we would rather have them on our side than not. Although it is not common knowlege, Roman military forces came across Aztec underground temples in the mountains where thousands of Chinese warriors had been sacrificed, their hearts eaten whole by the priests and their other body parts eaten by the nobility in grand dinners.

Several years after the Han War, for no reason we could explain, the Aztecs cut off all our trade deals. No amount of bribes or concessions would bring them back to the table. For several years, we assigned our foreign and military advisors to watch their troop movements and increased security around the Emperor. But while many theories abounded, none of the wise men could explain this odd behaviour. Even today, it remains a mystery. But it did not matter much now, as the Aztecs were once again happy to do our bidding in slaying the Chinese dogs in this new war.

In ancient times, Fokkis would tell his sons, the Chinese occupied the lands to the East of Roma but we did not deal with them much as their ways were too foreign for us. Understand that the Han War was Roma’s first taste of true conflict with another civilization, although to call the Chinese a civilization is perhaps too generous. It all began several years before the birth of the Savior. One day, a Chinese Han warlord mysteriously emerged from the foothills of the Himalayans and demanded entry to Rome. Cassius, the ruler at the time, reluctantly invited him to the palace. Once there, the Han laid out a map of his vast holdings. The Roman wise men were quite suprised and unbelieving that a single Chinese warlord had united the city-states of the East.

Looking Cassius in the eye, the Han claimed to have done what no Chinese had done by uniting the warring tribes into one large empire. He said, surely you can see that the combined Chinese military is strong and our holdings are immense. If Rome wanted to trade and build cities in China’s borderlands, which he said included the sites of our newly established eastern towns, Rome would need to pay a generous tribute to the Han and contribute all their knowledge to the furtherance of the great Chinese Empire. Only then could we be friends, the brawny emperor said, his eyes glinting like a Siberian Tiger.

Cassius, his lower lip trembling and his double chins wobbling, told him that in no uncertain terms would Rome be coerced into providing gifts to the barbarian Chinese. He told them that Rome is very generous at the negotiation table and we had much to trade with China if they were willing to do so without threats or intimidation. The Han Emperor stood up and looked down at the portly Cassius and his chilling smile turned into a deadly grimace. “Trade? You have chosen your path, Emperor. But we Chinese will take the path towards the setting sun.” And with that, the Han walked out of the room, glancing only at the Cassius’s pompous military advisor, Brutus. As soon as the warlord left, the court erupted. Cassius was enraged that the Han had made it into Rome without being detected and immediately sent a clan of warriors under direction of Julius Cesear into the Himalayans to detect any further incursions. But soon, Cassius and the court put it in the back of their minds and moved onto to other matters such Marc Anthony’s briefing on the Egyptian trade deal and the need for a harbor in Roma.

Little did Rome realize that the Chinese had recently made a great discovery. About a dozen years before the Han entered Rome, Beijing inventors were experimenting with the iron ore found outside their city. One of the artisans fashioned pieces of ore into animals and discovered they provided ornamental alternatives to the rocks that were used to hold the papyrus down during windy days. As a gift the Emperor, he sent a case of these “paperweights” to the Palace. The Emperor, having little use for the paperweights, dispersed them among his court. One of these paperweights ended up in the hands of a General, who, during one of his many fits of rage, hurled it at bronze shield hanging on his wall. He was surprised to see the damage this little hard rock did to the shield. The Chinese set their wise men and blacksmiths on to the task of shaping this iron into long blades and found these swords efficiently cut through wood and shattered bronze. They even tried it on some captured Japanese warriors and found how well they sliced through flesh. Quietly, out of sight of our border spies, the Chinese trained warriors who could wield these swords. With these swords the Hans united behind one leader.

In the year 30 B.C., it is recorded that two large divisions of these new Chinese swordsmen streamed into the recently established Roman border town of Palmyra and swiftly cut down two divisions of spearman and then proceeded to murder every Roman citizen and male child. They took the Roman females as slaves, concubines and Army whores. Our history books tell us that over 10,000 were killed and 7,000 were subjugated. Only one soul was allowed to escape: a young boy whose fingers were cut off by an iron blade. The boy was ordered to the nearest Roman town to tell of the decimation of Palmyra and the viciousness of the swordsmen. The incident is forever known as the Rape of Palmyra.

The Romans were in a panic. Why did these Chinamen hate us so much? What had we ever done to the Chinese to justify such brutality? Even more alarming, despite years of warning by our military advisors, Rome had never built a worthy offensive force. The Romans of that time had become fat and happy with our great trade routes and all other enterprise was focused on discovering knowledge about trade or stockpiling gold.

After the Rape of Palmyra, the incautious conceit of the leadership was revealed to the population and many demanded the head of the emperor. Augustus Octavos, the adopted nephew of General Caesar, had just taken the throne and wise pundits of the time soothed the population by saying, “Augustus is innocent. It was the villain Cassius and his consul Brutus who fell asleep at the reins of our great chariot.” Soon after, it was revealed that Cassius and Brutus were behind the murder of Augustus’s father, the great General Julius Caesar. General Caesar had long argued for a stronger military, the threat of the Chinese and more research funds directed into war knowledge. Hereafter Augustus Octavos took the name Caesar in honor of his father and his then unorthodox ideas. Brutus quietly disappeared – some say he found refuge in Eastern Siberia with the India government. It was Augustus Caesar, then, who would develop the plan to save Roma from the Chinese hordes. All dissent was quelled as the country rallied around its youthful and, hopefully, wise ruler. Even Augustus’s rivals Marc Anthony and Lepidus swore an oath of loyalty to Augustus to help him in his quest to fight back the Chinese threat.

First, Augustus sent his gimlet-eyed and manipulative consort Livia to the west along with suitable royal children to ransom in development of alliances with Aztecan, England and Germany. Livia opened up our first embassies in the capitol cities and investigated the capital cities of these soon-to-be allies. Augustus was pleased at how he had put Livia’s conniving nature to such positive work. She was also said to be very lucky in her endeavors as several of the most vocal foreign opponents of the war died of a mysterious disease soon after Livia’s arrival.

After the war, all but one of the child hostages returned. The Germans accidentally killed the unfortunate “Little Boots”, son of General Germanicus, after a guard came across him defiling a goat. The guard, afraid the boy’s behavior was the result of a contagious Roman disease struck young Caligula down right there on the spot. Augustus was disappointed but did not demand any tribute from the Germans. The whole business of the goat was covered up and Rome mourned Caligulia as a victim of a Chinese assassin. Some said that the boy, who had been raised in military camps and beloved by the soldiers for his spirited nature, might have been a great war leader and maybe even an emperor one day. Another interesting hostage was the grandnephew Claudius, who returned from the Aztec town of Teotihuacan with a speaking disorder. Some surmised that it was the result of the horror he had seen there.

Soon after Livia’s machinations had concluded, the newly formed Western Alliance marched their enthusiastic warriors through our lands to face their doom at the hands of the Chinese swordsmen. While the cynical Roman citizens marveled in private at the foolishness of these English and Aztec allies, they showed their gratefulness by filling the allied warriors hands with bread from our wheat fields and dried beef culled from our vast cow herds. Meanwhile, Rome built its defenses and slowly turned to the great task of building an offensive force. Our military leaders noted the Germans and their warfighting techniques. One of the liaisons to the Germans later became the renowned Roman general, Trajan who attributed his success to what he learned from the warlike Germans.

Augustus also found an enemy of the Chinese to the far, far, east: the much-maligned Japanese. Despite the fact they were in an interminable war with the Germans, their war chief accepted Augustus’ invitation for a meeting in Rome. After consuming a Roman meal of spicy pasta and Babylonian wine, the Japanese strongman jumped to his feet and stood at attention, “The enemy of our enemy is our friend, great Caesar-san! How can the lowly Japanese help the grand Roman people?” Augustus felt he could trust this bloodthirsty tyrant and laid out his maps and war plans much to the excitement of his guest. Even, today in the library of Rome one can see the orange stains are rumored to be the marinara-laced drool of the Japanese strongman. It is also said that the Japanese strongman’s galley was loaded to the brim with our best spices and a pile of gold as well. But, when recounting the story, Augustus has been quoted, as saying that gift the war chief most valued was the Roman instructions on how to make pasta noodles.

With their tough and maniacal samurai, the Japanese relentlessly raided the Chinese coast razing several Chinese island towns in the process and no doubt infuriating the Chinese Han. This threw the Chinese off-balance as swordsmen that had been advancing on the Roman towns now turned towards the East. Although we constantly extol the English and Germans for their role in the Han War (the Aztecs tells us they reject the concept of admiration), it is to the Japanese that we truly owe a debt. And so every year in the 11th month of the year after the Han War, we meet with the Japanese to share a common meal of pasta and wine.

Having bought the Romans time, Augustus completed the fortification of the eastern cities with gangs of warriors and city walls. Simultaneously, in the old cities of Roma, he built an offensive force of horsemen and catapults. In an early battle using these catapults, the Romans captured a Chinese town north of the eastern cities and showed our mercy by not razing as they had done in Palmyra. Instead, we recruited Chinese blacksmiths and attempted to discover the secrets of their powerful swords. But the loyal Chinese craftsmen resisted and would not give up their secrets. Strangely, it was the snooty Babylonians who came to our rescue. In the past, they looked down their noses at us. But even a fool could see that the Chinese advance would eventually touch their holdings. While the stingy Babylonians would not join our alliance, they shared the secret of Iron in return for our spices and ivory. Great hope enveloped the land when we found a source of the iron ore outside one of the Eastern cities. But as many of the workers had been impressed into military service, it took several years to build the road into the hills to cart the ore back to Rome. So our defensive war continued.

One thing the Romans learned quickly was that their catapults could not only shoot into cities but could be fortified from within to blast the attackers. The Eastern Romans used their archers and horsemen to create diversions when the enemy advanced on a weakly fortified city. And they prayed to Mars, the God of War, to bless the Plan of Augustus. The War God must have been pleased at the Roman entreaties for during this time we lost none of our cities and our forces got stronger and stronger. The frustrated Chinese could only attack outlying farms and mines. But Palmyra still lay heavy on our souls and it stoked the flames of vengeance until it burned strongly in the hearts of all Romans. The fingerless boy, now a grown man, would travel from town to town lecturing the citizens on the brutality and viciousness he witnessed.

When Augustus felt his offensive force was adequately built, he ordered Trajan to build an operational plan to attack the Chinese. With Roman horsemen operating at great risk, we destroyed what Trajan called the enemy “lines of communication.” This reduced their ability to send reinforcements or gain access to their resources. We remember with sorrow the Chinese cutting down many, many horsemen during those years. So for each division of heroic horsemen killed, we dedicated a catapult and sent it towards the east.

**Samuel Johnson** · December 27, 2001, 16:47

Chapter 2 (continued)

But the biggest innovation in the Han War came once again from the great Augustus. With the discovery of ore and the forging of many swords Augustus thought long and hard on how we might trump the Chinese. He concluded that one only fights a battle of numbers if one puts swordsman against swordsman – and Rome lacked the numbers of China.

From the captured Chinese, Augustus learned that their swordsmen were merely tribal peasants ripped from their mother’s breast at a young age and involuntarily impressed into a harsh service. Roman generals on the front had noticed that when the Chinese swordsmen were losing they did not always continue to maintain their fighting spirit. Augustus concluded that the best infantry must be made up of well-trained volunteers -- career soldiers, he called them -- chosen from Roman citizenry for their strength, loyalty and patriotism. He called these units legions and the soldiers were known as legionaries. Because of their dedication to the Empire, they trained faster and their professionalism would help them endure the most horrific conditions without succumbing to barbarism. Augustus also determined that they must be well equipped and so the legionaries were not just equipped with the long sword and the shorter gladius but also were issued a javelin for distance attacks and a wooden pilium for defense. This gave the legions many tactical options to exercise and spurred even greater innovations. He also equipped the legions with carrobalista and catapult to enable them to perform siege operations. Finally, Augustus also wisely included with each legion priests, clerks, engineers and specialists who ensured that the legions were paid, their spiritual needs attended to, broken equipment could be fixed (although the legions were charged for the costs) and they slept in fortified camps when they were on the march.

Each legion was about five thousand men organized in a hierarchal matter right down to the 8-man squadrons who shared a tent, a mule to carry the equipment and meal supplies. The leader of the legion was a legatus, usually an aristocrat (later, with the rise of the Republic, all legatus were Senators). This commander oversaw several centurions who led the “centuries” within the legion. Correspondingly, the centuries were composed of smaller units known as cohorts.

The centurions often inspired their soldiers through their heroic deeds and upstanding character. Of particular pride were the staffs the legions would carry into battle. Each division (or cohort), century and legion had their own staff and a signifier to carry it. The signifier wore a leopard or tiger’s head – often it was a matter of pride that the commander of the cohort or legion had hunted the animal and killed it with just a javelin and gladius. On the staff were the many symbols of the home cities of the legions and battles and exercises in which they had fought and bled. Many legions adopted a special staff known as the elephant standard whose head was made from the gold of the Himalayan Mountains and the tusks were made from the ivory harvesters of Rome.

When word arrived of the first legion victory in the hills south of the Eastern Range, a spontaneous celebration occurred in many Roman cities that inspired the citizens to work all the more harder to help in the defeat of the evil Han Chinese. The tale is told that on his deathbed, Augustus heard the news of this victory and was rumored to say, “On this great morning the destiny of Roma has begun.” That evening he died.

After mourning Augustus and celebrating his staggering 60 years of rule, the now aged step-son Emperor Tiberius, his beloved mother Livia long gone, succeeded him and launched the great offensive. Tiberius was ruthless in his conquest but started in the plans to end the war, consolidate our holdings and rebuild our defenses and striking forces.

Several years later, Claudius, who had returned from the Aztec lands to mourn Augustus, ascended the throne. These two emperors oversaw the remaining years of the Han War by conquering and consolidating four key Chinese towns. While Tiberius had turned away the Chinese diplomats pleading for peace because he was not yet ready, it was Claudius who finally relented and showed the mercy that the Chinese never extended to us.

In flowery, convincing language, he put forth to the citizenry that the Romans were not by nature conquerors – that we were traders and, to scattered boos, he averred that the Chinese had paid many times over for the Rape of Palmyra. Claudius argued that peacefully bringing the Roman way of life to the Far East would be a more profitable course of action. As the conquerors took stock of their new cities, it was noted that Rome had effectively cut a huge swath into the Chinese empire. This divided the coastal cities from their mainland. Rome also gained what we believed was the only Chinese source of iron ore in the hills to the south of Beijing. So, with the reluctant approval of the citizens, Claudius sued for peace. Despite outward appearances, the Chinese emperors emptied their coffers and paid a much-resented tribute for many years after. The only jarring note was when the Chinese Emperor arrived to sign the papers and deliver the gold. Claudius started when he noticed a strange necklace around the approaching Chinese warrior-king. For there, to the great disgust of the Roman court, around the sneering Han’s neck hung ten small and now shriveled and blackened fingers. Even today, the wisdom of ending the Han War is debated in our newly found universities and the great barracks of Veii.

But Claudius was no pacifist. His time with the Aztecs had chilled him on the nature of Man and despite the mercy he showed to the Chinese, he decreed that Rome should garrison and continue to upgrade its powerful Army in the East in order to deter any future Chinese aggressions. Remembering with sorrow the slaughter of our brave horsemen during the early Han War offensive, he also sought knowledge that would strengthen this useful military unit. He concluded that only by allowing the landowners the ability to share in the profits of the resources and maintain a workforce could the young men of their families be able to afford the expensive armor, weapons and horses needed to create Trajan’s dream of a Calvary Legion.

Throughout the inter-war period, our schoolchildren and soldiers were constantly reminded of the Chinese brutality and Roma remained on high alert. And as the Eastern Empire came to being, the Byzantine Emperors artfully manipulated events to win more and more control over this most powerful Army.

Announcement

The Dragonfly Conspiracy

The Dragonfly Conspiracy

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