Rome must fall.

Chapter 400: Onomabaitis's Mission

At a meeting to discuss the matter, Lucullus spoke out attacking Caesar.

Caesar attacked him at length with extremely harsh words, which frightened the senior tuna veteran into a trance. In the end, he prostrated himself on the ground and begged for forgiveness.

Lucullus's weak performance marked the withdrawal of the group of people who had occupied high positions in the Senate during Sulla's time from the center of Roman politics.

Pompey's Eastern legislation was passed, and then Crassus's goal was achieved with the help of Caesar, that is, the amount that tax farmers who had the right to collect taxes in Asia had to pay to the treasury was reduced by one third.

Of course, while Caesar was working for Pompey and Crassus, he did not forget to realize his own ambitions. Mixed into the passed proposals were some clauses that he wanted to use to change the ills of Rome.

But Caesar knew very well that although he had become consul, his strength was still very weak and he could not change the current situation in Rome alone. He could only temporarily do some minor repairs with the protection of Pompey and Crassus.

While Caesar was busy with legislation, he also did one important thing - arranging weddings.

Because he and Pompey had divorced at this time, in order to consolidate the alliance with Pompey, Caesar married his only daughter to him.

Julia was young, beautiful, and kind-hearted, and she had inherited much of her father's charm, so Pompey was happy to accept her.

Caesar married Calpurnia, whose father was Lucius Calpurnius Piso, who had a strong chance of being elected consul the following year. Caesar needed this successor consul to protect his interests.

After completing the marriage, Caesar still had one important thing to do - decide where to take office after leaving office as consul.

He certainly would not obey Cato's wishes and manage the villages and trails of Italy. This unprofitable position could not solve his huge debt problem, nor could it realize his ambitions.

He turned his eyes to the north of Italy. After Rome pacified the areas around the Mediterranean, there were few areas left where war was possible. He was well aware that war would bring a double increase in wealth and power.

Therefore, the tribune Vatellius, who had a close relationship with Caesar, proposed a suggestion in the Senate: after Caesar stepped down as consul, he should be granted five years of special command, and the provinces of West France and North Italy should be merged and handed over to him for governance, and he should also have the privilege of choosing the legion commander himself...

Despite opposition from some senators, the proposal was passed with the support of Pompey and Crassus.

Not long after, the current governor of the Illyrian province, Metellus, died of illness. The Senate voted again to expand Caesar's provincial jurisdiction to include Illyria.

A five-year term, a strong army, and the opportunity to establish his influence throughout northern Italy and the Balkans... these were what Caesar wanted.

During this year, as a younger brother, he fought for Pompey and Crassus, met all their needs, and naturally received generous rewards.

In 58 BC (the fifteenth year after the establishment of the Nyx tribe), Caesar went to the northern Italian province with high spirits.

He was not alone, he had a team of staff with him.

In this team, there were many candidates that Caesar wanted to appoint as legion commanders: Labienus, who had served as a tribune and had worked closely with Caesar. In return, Caesar decided to grant him the authority of an independent senior legal officer in the province; the former tribune Vartius, who had made great contributions to Caesar's appointment; Caesar's old acquaintances Balbus and Mamula... as well as the young Publius Crassus, the youngest son of Crassus, the richest man in Rome, and another young man Brutus.

There is one particularly striking thing about Caesar's candidates for legion commanders: except for Crassus and Brutus, who were born into prominent families and whose fathers had served as consuls, the highest official position previously held by the others was tribune. Their families had not produced any great figures for several generations, and these people also lacked war experience, and were completely incomparable to the legion commanders under Pompey, who were a group of outstanding people.

Members of the Roman aristocracy were unwilling to serve under Caesar because, up to that point, no one thought that Caesar would become a great commander, and some even speculated that he might be defeated and killed in a conflict with the Gallic barbarians. ……………………………………………………………………………………

The Boii originally lived in the Po River Plain. They had joined other Celtic tribes to threaten the security of Rome on many occasions. After Rome became strong, they sent troops north to take revenge.

Seeing their neighbors being destroyed one by one by the Romans, the Boii had to migrate as a whole tribe in order to survive. After going through hardships, they came to the plains on the north bank of the Drau River and the west bank of the Danube River.

There were other Celtic tribes settled here originally, and if the Boyi wanted to gain a foothold here, they had to compete with these indigenous inhabitants for land.

In such a difficult environment, the Boyi people had to change their traditions. They elected a king for the entire tribe. This king had great power. In addition to the sacrifices, which were handled by the druids, he was also responsible for military affairs, diplomacy, and tribal affairs. As a result, the Boyi tribes were united and burst out with great strength. Eventually, they conquered other tribes and became the most powerful force in the western Danube plain.

However, the King of Boyi is not hereditary. If he dies of illness or makes a serious mistake that causes dissatisfaction among the tribes, the tribal leaders will apply to the Druid Priests Group to hold a tribal meeting and elect a person with both ability and virtue from among the leaders to become the new king...

So when the negotiations with the Nix tribe failed, the Boyi people resolutely gave up their king who had caused the tribe's defeat and become a prisoner, and re-elected a new king.

The new King Boyi promised his people that he would try his best to defeat the Nixes and rescue his captured compatriots!
This means that the war between the Boys and the Nixes will continue, but because of the strength of the Nixes navy, which controls the entire Drao River, the Boys cannot send large troops to cross the river to fight, and the sneak crossing of small troops can only have a little harassment effect, and often they never return.

Therefore, there were few land battles between the two tribes, but there were many naval battles, in which the Boyi lost more than they won.

Compared to the proactive attitude of the Boyi people, the Nix tribe seemed very quiet. They focused their main energy on absorbing and digesting the new territory.

In 60 BC (the 13th year after the establishment of the Nix tribe), the Nix tribe moved its main village again. The new main village was located at the original main village of the Perustai tribe, on the south bank of the Drao River.

Maximus took the trouble to make this decision, firstly to gain better and faster control over the territories of the three original Pannoni tribes in the north, and secondly to express to the tribesmen through actions the determination of the Nyx tribe to target the Boyi people for its next expansion.

One day in February of 58 BC (the fifteenth year since the establishment of the Nix tribe), Maximus was handling tribal affairs in the main house when a servant came in to report: Chief, Onomabaitis from the Ministry of Commerce wants to see you.

Why did Onomabaitis come back so soon this time? ...Maximus thought: "Let him in."

Onomabaitis, an Illyrian, was once a member of the pirate group of Chalcympas. Later, Pompey launched a military campaign to eliminate pirates throughout the Mediterranean. They were forced to flee back to the mountains. At the suggestion of Chalcympas, they joined the Nix tribe and became members of the tribe. They were given land and houses, and their lives became much richer and more stable than before.

But not all pirates can adapt to such a life of going out early and coming back late, eating from the soil. For example, Onomabaitis, he has been a pirate for more than ten years and has long forgotten how to farm. Even if there are people from the Ministry of Agriculture to teach him farming techniques, he didn't learn it too seriously. Moreover, the territory of the Nix tribe is getting larger and larger, and the population is increasing. The foreign auxiliary people have to complete the public works of the tribe, such as bridges, roads, dams..., and help the officials who are busy with tribal affairs to farm. They really can't spare any extra manpower to help ordinary people reclaim the land.

Although ordinary Nix tribesmen would hire their fellow tribesmen to help farm the land based on their friendly relations with the Yapod, Aldi, and Skodischi tribes, the problem of labor shortage always existed.

Oenomabaitis had been traveling in the Mediterranean for many years and had seen the world. When he discovered that this was the case with the Nix tribe, he plucked up the courage to ask for a meeting with Maximus and proposed his own solution - to walk out of the mountains and buy slaves in the towns of Italy.

"Buying and selling slaves" is a taboo word in the Nix tribe, because the old tribesmen in high positions in the tribe have experienced such pain, but Maximus is not sensitive to this. On the contrary, he is very happy that Onomabaitis has such an idea, and he specially persuaded the department heads in the political hall: "We are not helping the tyrants by doing this, but helping those slaves out of suffering."

After hijacking a ship, the pirates would demand a ransom, sell the stolen goods, and sell the captives who could not pay the ransom...Oenomabaitis used to be in charge of this aspect of the pirates. Although he now had to change from "selling to buying", it is undeniable that he had rich experience. For this reason, Maximus directly promoted him to the Ministry of Commerce, specifically in charge of purchasing slaves, and also assigned him several subordinates.

The paper money circulated by the Nix tribe could not be used outside. Fortunately, the goods produced by the Nix tribe today were becoming more and more abundant. They could use cloth, pottery, wood carvings, furniture... to exchange for various raw materials provided by the surrounding friendly tribes. Therefore, there was still some money looted from Italy. Maximus asked Onomabaitis to carry some gold and silver coins, bring his subordinates, and also sent a team of legion soldiers to act as guards, disguised as a caravan.

(End of this chapter)