Julius's suggestion/Arrival in the North
Julius POV
Two weeks later, young Julius was sitting on his father's throne in regal attire, attending his debut Royal Court session. On the right side of him, his mother looked every bit majestic as she controlled the proceedings of the Royal Court.
"Julius! Concentrate. This court session is important," my mother said, noticing me looking down and bored.
I immediately looked upwards and refocused on what was being said in the court.
"Your Majesty, your Highness, I believe the sewage and water system has become completely untenable. This has caused health and sanitation to drop in our city, causing a few small outbreaks of diseases. Our drinking water is becoming more likely to become contaminated, which is adversely affecting our citizens." Said Steward Cassius Pompea.
"Do you have any ideas on how to alleviate this issue?" Replied my mother.
"Oh, Mother, I have an idea; how about we build aqueducts and public baths?" I said excitedly.
"I know what a bath is, but what is an aqueduct, Julius?" Asked my mother curiously.
Suddenly realizing my mistake, I quickly replied, "Mother, it's a water system composed of pipes, ditches, canals, and tunnels that carry water and keep it fresh to drink. It can also alleviate our sewage problem by carrying it outside our city to the awaiting carriages before it goes off to the farmers. I called in an aqueduct I thought of this because this city can stink sometimes when they throw the sewage out the window onto the streets below.
Also, If we built public baths for the citizens, we could alleviate health conditions and make some money back by charging for entry."
Slightly sweating, I thought, 'Damn, it can be hard sometimes pretending to be a child and explaining how I came up with this myself.'
"That's actually a surprisingly good idea, Steward Cassius. What do you think?" my mother asked excitedly, as her son had a brilliant suggestion.
"It's definitely doable, your Majesty and Your Highness; I will get our best designers to see what they can do. This won't be cheap, but it will help alleviate a few different issues." Replied Steward Cassius.
"Good, get on it; let's move on to the next issues," my mother answered.
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Elsewhere outside the battered city of Averom, the King of Romanium was arriving with the reinforcements for the northern campaign. Walking straight through the destroyed gatehouse, the heavy marching footsteps sounded like lightning all around, bounding off the remaining buildings, which gave a menacing and intimidating sight to the local residents. Immediately the King made his way to the central square, where he met a worried Marshal-General Helvius.
"Your Majesty, welcome to Averom. It is great to see you again, but unfortunately, it's not under better circumstances." Said Marshal-General Helvius with an enigmatic smile.
"Thank you for welcoming me, my friend. It's been a long journey. What is the latest?" King Junius asked.
Marshal-General Hevius thought momentarily before replying, "Within the last two weeks, Legate Stanop has left the city of Fremba, leaving a small detachment garrison, proceeding forward on his battle plan, successfully capturing another two towns deeper in enemy territory. But it is not all good news, as the barbarians have started a scorched earth policy, burning fields and supplies while retreating from Legate Stanop's army, stretching his supplies to the limit.
On the eastern flank of this war, Legate Fralia, with the support of Legate Justinius, also left a small detachment in the city of Yeom and proceeded further into enemy territory. Surprisingly, they encountered little resistance, conquering another two cities and four towns. Legate Fralia sent a letter, worried that they had retreated deeper into their territory to regroup and counter-attack us when we least expect it."
"Interesting. Send a letter to the Legates. To stay on course, we need to keep the pressure firmly on them. Let's attempt to force the enemy into a full-on confrontation instead of playing dirty tricks. As long as we can keep our supply lines safe, our logistics will be solid. With the added help from the Kingdom of Hesper, supplies will soon start being delivered to the western flank to stabilize it.
In one week, I want to move toward our next target, the city of Prola. With these fresh and eager legionaries being added, our conquest should be much smoother." Stated King Junius.
"Yes, your Majesty." Replied Marshal-General Helvius as he saluted his king before leaving to carry out his orders.
"Sigh, if only we could utilize the rest of our legions if only our borders were more secure," sighed Junius as he considered the future.
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Over on the eastern flank of the war, Legate Fralia was leading her battle-hardened men toward another barbarian city; like the previous cities she had come across, the city seemed deserted with the tribe up and fleeing towards their capital.
While slowly marching towards the open gatehouse, the Legate asked, "This is weird. Have you ever seen anything like this, Legate Justinius?"
"No, Legate Fralia, this is a new tactic for me. Either they are regrouping at their capital, Galea, or, even more sinisterly, are planning an ambush, but where we could only guess." Answered Legate Justinius.
Legate Fralia, upon advice from the experienced Legate of the 10th legion, put her hand up to stop the legions' advance and make camp. She decided it would be best to play it safe and send a contingent of legionnaires to scope the city before entering.
"Centurion Decium, scout the city with 1000 legionaries. Make sure you check top to bottom. I want no enemy soldiers there to surprise us. Send a messenger back to us if you encounter any trouble; the legion will be on standby." Legate Fralia ordered the Centurion after making camp.
"Yes, Legate." Replied the Decium after saluting.
Five minutes later, Centurion Decium left with 600 swordsmen and 400 spearmen, running fast but vigilantly towards the city of Rasqa. Passing under the open gatehouse, they slowed down to a walk, taking in all the empty streets around them.
"Let's first go to the city square and fan out from there. Check buildings on the way; I want no surprises," said the commander, slowly leading his men toward the square after checking that the surrounding buildings were locked up tight with wood nailed over the windows. While keeping vigilant of the surrounding houses and alleyways.
Suddenly, a swishing sound was heard as arrows were let loose from the roofs of the surrounding buildings, cutting down the legionaries indiscriminately where they stood.
"Enemy ambush shields up! Messenger, run to the main camp," Decium shouted, ordering his legionaries.
Immediately his legionaries put their shields up above their heads in an attempt to block the incoming enemy fire. Unluckily for the legionaries, this left them exposed at ground level, as they soon found out when barbarian axe men came pouring out of the previously bolted doors of the building, quickly surrounding them. Within one minute of the confrontation, Decium had already lost over 300 legionaries from the opening volley of the battle.
Centurion Decium attempted to meet the barbarians with equal force, but it was impossible as they surrounded them and ferociously cut them down from all sides.
"Form up. Make a circular shield wall. We just need to hold out until our reinforcements arrive," shouted Decium.
Outside the city, the messenger had just arrived at the camp, running up to Legate Fralia covered in sweat and breathing heavily. He was lucky to get out while he did to deliver the message to their Legate.
"Legate Fralia, We have been ambushed near the city square archers fired from above, and then barbarian axemen smashed us from the side." Said the messenger in jagged short breaths.
Upon hearing this, Legate Fralia, without missing a beat, ordered the legion's main fighting force to charge with her into the city to save their fellow legionaries. While archers and engineers stayed behind to protect the siege camp.