The Mad Tycoon of Rome - Chapter 273:

The reason why Rome refused the peace negotiations was clear.

They had already shown their will by sending their ships away when they did not listen to the words at first.

In short, they meant to offer better terms than before.

Of course, this was an unacceptable situation for Satavahana.

It was fine to return the confiscated goods.

But on top of that, they had to pay ten times the compensation and war reparations separately.

That was a huge loss.

Moreover, Satavahana had already made a big concession by accepting Rome’s demand that the king himself come as an envoy.

But now they asked for more conditions.

That was nothing but treating them as a defeated country.

If they continued to fight here, there was a high chance that Satavahana would become a defeated country, but they had not lost the war yet, had they?

Under these circumstances, it was inevitable that the voices of the ministers who wanted to fight a decisive battle grew louder.

“If we lock up the capital and gather defensive troops from all over, we can drive away the enemy.”

“We have to cut off the head of Kashapa who brought the Roman merchants and show them an example. They have to know that our will is firm so that they won’t do such arrogant things anymore.”

Voices of approval poured out from everywhere.

But there were also many ministers who shouted that they had to be more careful.

“I think it’s still too risky to fight with Rome any more.”

“Are you saying we should hand over our country to Rome?”

“That’s not what I’m saying. It’s already clear that the Romans have made a tremendous preparation for this war.

On the other hand, we know nothing about Rome. We only know that they have incredibly strong cavalry. But is that all? The Romans’ reinforcements have not arrived yet. What if they are also good at siege warfare? If the capital falls without even holding out for a moment, what will you do?”

The capital Pratishthana was not a city built for defense from the beginning. It was not suitable to be called a natural fortress.

If the defense forces were not organized in time, the king might have to abandon the capital and run away.

“If we want to fight with Rome, we have to finish our preparations as much as possible and confront them in full readiness. In this situation where we have been caught off guard, we will only break if we clash a hundred times. So please endure this temporary humiliation and wait for the future. If we fight more here and lose, won’t Rome’s demands increase even more?”

“Hmm.”

King Migaspati groaned and bit his lips.

The ministers who argued for caution decisively said that if they wanted to fight, they should lead the army themselves.

No one stepped forward confidently.

No matter how much they thought about it, the defeat they suffered last time was too decisive.

For Satavahana, it was a deep sense of defeat.

For Rome, it was nothing but a scarecrow with a big body.

“General Carni. I want to ask you something just for reference. How can we fight and win against Rome here?”

“It depends on what you mean by winning. Whether it’s enough to push back the enemy somehow or to annihilate them completely. The latter is… honestly, I don’t see a way.”

“What about the former?”

“You have to risk half of the city being destroyed and avoid the enemy. And you have to avoid frontal battles with the enemy and focus on cutting off their supplies. This is not an easy way either and it will take a lot of time, but there is no other way.”

General Carni’s explanation made a cold silence sweep over the audience.

He had fought and won several wars and he seemed to have already concluded that he should not fight with Rome.

Since the situation was like this, no one dared to say that they should fight anymore.

If Rome had started the war to completely conquer Satavahana, they would have to fight like that.

But Rome started this war only to compensate for the damage done to their merchants.

It was not worth making the whole country a mess and barely driving away the enemy.

However, looking at it coldly, they had only lost 30,000 soldiers so far.

It was hard to make the decision to send the king himself to sign a humiliating treaty with the enemy, as if they were a defeated nation.

As they were in a dilemma, time kept passing by.

Meanwhile, the Roman army faithfully occupied the cities and plundered their wealth and food.

Marcus’s policy was to restrain from looting as much as possible if his goal was to merge the lands, but this time he didn’t need to.

This war was a kind of propaganda to show what happens when you mess with the Roman citizens.

Surenas, contrary to expectations, did not even bother to look at the capital.

The way to the capital was already open, but he decided that it was more important to stabilize his rear.

The Roman army thoroughly plundered the southwest of Satavahana and secured their supply lines.

Satavahana decided to gather their defensive forces first and then seek renegotiation.

The negotiation would be very different depending on whether they had a similar number of troops or not.

And then, about a month after the war began,

An incident that stabbed the heart of Satavahana, which was barely holding on, occurred.

The defensive forces that were gathering from various places were annihilated by a surprise attack from the Roman cavalry led by Surenas.

The leak of information was from the Kshatriyas who joined from outside, including Kashapa.

They were not originally part of the mainstream elite group, and they saw this war as a golden opportunity to change sides.

The defensive force of 35,000 men suffered an unbelievable near-total loss from the unexpected raid.

Now Satavahana had no more room to fight any longer.

To make matters worse, they received a report that Marcus’s 30,000 soldiers had landed on the west coast.

The main force that came down from the north was only 50,000 at best.

The enemy army was close to 100,000 just by confirmed numbers.

And considering the qualitative difference between the two armies, the actual power gap was not twice but more than five times.

Now if they held on any longer, the existence of the dynasty itself might be in danger.

In the end, King Megaspati sent an envoy to the Roman army again and asked for a reinforced negotiation.

This time he said he would accept not only the original terms but also whatever Rome offered.

Marcus sent back a letter with a content that could be seen as neither acceptance nor rejection.

The content written in the letter was simple but humiliating.

It was an arrogant speech as if he was calling a subordinate.

But what could he do?

King Megaspati decided to answer Marcus’s call and summoned his guards.

There was no one who opposed him anymore.

※※※

King Megaspati dressed himself in the most luxurious clothes and accessories as befitting the king of Satavahana and arrived at the Roman camp.

He couldn’t lose his dignity as a king of a nation even if he had practically lost the war.

The soldiers who followed him also paid attention to their outfits so that they wouldn’t be intimidated by their momentum.

‘Are those the eagle cavalrymen I’ve heard of?’

King Megaspati swallowed his saliva as he looked at the cavalrymen who were lined up inside the camp.

The wings spread out on their backs were impressive and oppressive.

The spears they held were so long that he could easily believe that his soldiers were skewered by them one after another.

Normally, such long spears would have weak durability, but he didn’t hear anything like that.

‘It’s said that no matter how much they stabbed them with spears or shot them with arrows, they couldn’t even scratch their armor… Does that mean their iron refining technology is on a different level from ours?’

King Megaspati realized that they had little chance of winning from the beginning as he looked around the Roman camp.

At first he thought that only those who wore eagle-shaped armor were the problem.

The soldiers’ reports also focused on them, and when he saw them in person, their pressure was extraordinary.

But as he looked around more, he realized that the problem was not only those who wore eagle-shaped armor.

The entire Roman army was armed at a level that was incomparable to theirs.

He felt a chill down his spine when he realized that such a powerful nation was within reach by boat.

What kind of conditions would they demand?

What did they really want?

He had never imagined it as a king.

He stepped on the crimson carpet that was laid in the center and walked towards the middle of the camp.

He felt a pressure that made his heart feel like bursting, but he didn’t show it on his face.

Around the stairs where a sturdy chair was placed, there were people who looked like the close aides of Shahanshah.

Among them, a person with an eagle-shaped medal and an old man who still emitted an enormous pressure stood out.

When King Megaspati stopped at his place, the man with the eagle medal bowed his head and looked at the stairs.

“Lord Marcus. The Samrat of Satavahana, Megaspati, has arrived in response to your call.”

His voice was dignified and faded away.

A few seconds later, a surprisingly soft voice came from above the stairs.

“Welcome. Samrat of Satavahana. I am the lord of the east, or from your perspective, the west. The Shahanshah, Marcus.”

His voice and attitude were not as oppressive as he expected.

But King Megaspati didn’t feel relieved.

Rather, it would have been easier for him in the negotiation if the other party came out with a coercive attitude based on his power.

That’s because it’s easier to find a way out of a conversation with an emotional opponent.

The one who stabbed the heart of another country with a soft speech was the most troublesome enemy.

“It’s nice to meet you. I am Samrat Megaspati of Satavahana. First of all, I assume that you are willing to negotiate since you invited me like this.”

“Of course. In fact, it wasn’t supposed to get this big in the first place. I regret that it turned into such a tragedy.”

It was a shameless remark for someone who invaded at the same time as declaring war.

But of course he wasn’t stupid enough to say that out loud or show it on his face.

“That’s true. There must have been a better way to handle this more smoothly.”

“If you had agreed to the negotiation proposal that Surenas sent here in the first place, we would have gone back. But you didn’t accept it and instead sent an army, so we had no choice but to do this.”

In other words, he meant that they had to suffer more to come to their senses since they didn’t listen when he first spoke.

King Megaspati twitched his lips and nodded stiffly.

“That’s… reasonable.”

“But you didn’t stop there and didn’t show any sign of negotiation until I came here, so I can’t be too generous either. If it was before the war, maybe, but I have to get a fair compensation for the blood of the precious Roman citizens that flowed.”

“Excuse me for asking this, but how many casualties did your soldiers suffer? As far as I know, it’s not even a hundred.”

“That’s right if you only look at the absolute numbers. But Rome doesn’t take lightly even one drop of blood shed by a Roman citizen.”

King Megaspati desperately suppressed his emotions so that he wouldn’t burst into laughter.

More than 50,000 Satavahana soldiers had died by confirmed numbers.

And he said he had to get paid for the blood spilled by his soldiers who died in tens, not hundreds.

“So… tell me what you want. I’ll listen and make a decision here.”

“Simple. Twice the amount of all the reparations we demanded before. Plus, pay for the food our army consumed so far. And also give us some consolation money for the families of the dead Roman soldiers.”

King Megaspati’s face twisted involuntarily as he couldn’t suppress his emotions anymore.

Marcus ignored his expression and added another word as if he had forgotten something.

“Oh, and one more thing. Transfer the sovereignty of the lapis lazuli region to Kashapa, your Kshatriya. And we will monopolize all the lapis lazuli that comes out of there.”

End