Rome must fall.

Chapter 421: Vercingetorix Escapes
Of course, after leaving the consulship, Caesar was still prepared to continue to serve as the governor of the three northern provinces, at least to take the governor of Illyria into his arms, so that he could use troops against the Nix tribe during his next term as governor of a province, get the long-awaited papermaking technology in his hands, increase his wealth, and expand his voice in Rome...

This was Caesar's next political plan after he was observing the situation in Rome in Ravenna at the end of 52 BC (the 21st year after the establishment of the Nyx tribe) and learned that Pompey had issued a new decree allowing him to run for consul in absentia.

But the following year (51 BC), when Marcus Claudius Marcellus became consul, the situation changed.

Marcellus had no grudge against Caesar before, but the main reason was that the Triumvirate almost monopolized all the prominent and important official positions in Rome, which under normal circumstances should have belonged to aristocratic families like Marcellus.

From this we can see that Marcellus not only hated Caesar, but was also dissatisfied with Pompey. However, Pompey was too powerful and he could not afford to offend him for the time being, while Caesar's political position in Rome seemed very fragile.

Therefore, as soon as Marcellus took office, he publicly announced that he would recall Caesar from his post as governor of Gaul. This was because although there had been some local conflicts in Gaul in the past year, there had been no major wars, which meant that the Gallic tribes had basically surrendered to Rome and there was no need for Caesar to lead his army to conquer them.

And he had a more legitimate reason: in 55 BC, the law of Crassus and Pompey gave Caesar a new five-year term in Gaul, and on March 1 of the following year, this term was due to expire.

Caesar obviously had a different opinion on this. He believed that the decrees issued by Crassus and Pompey were to extend their original five-year term for another five years.

Caesar wrote several letters to the Senate explaining the matter, but he did not state when he thought the governor's term should end.

In addition, Marcellus also argued that the supplementary clause proposed by Pompey last year to allow Caesar to run for consul in absentia contradicted the original decree and should not be established.

Marcellus's move was a challenge to Pompey's authority, which Pompey was very dissatisfied with, so he made it clear that he would never support any attempt to recall Caesar before the end of his term as governor.

But under the continued pressure from Marcherus, the situation has changed somewhat.

In September, the Senate met outside the official borders of the city of Rome so that Pompey, as provincial governor, could attend.

Pompey's father-in-law Metellus proposed to discuss Caesar's provincial issue again in March of the following year, and Pompey did not object.

However, when Marculus proposed several motions that were unfavorable to Caesar, such as "to begin to dismiss the soldiers under Caesar who had completed their service, and the soldiers who had not completed their service but could be discharged with honors", they were all rejected by several tribunes supported by Caesar.

This year, in addition to manipulating his supporters in Rome in Ravenna to fully safeguard his own interests, Caesar was also doing another thing: increasing the intensity of grain taxes on the Gallic tribes, and at the same time treating those Gallic leaders and nobles who might be dissatisfied with Rome more harshly.

Because he felt that the Gaul region was too quiet now, and his political opponents felt that he was no longer needed here, so he had to let the Gauls make a bigger noise to let the Senate know that Gaul could not survive without him!
Since reaching an alliance with the Nyx tribe, Vercingetorix has been doing his best to persuade the tribal leaders who had secretly sworn a sacred oath with him to be patient, while keeping an eye on the situation in Caesar and Rome.

In the past, the Arverni tribe had dealt with the Romans mainly in these northern provinces. Now Vercingetorix asked his subordinates in charge of trade to secretly inquire more about Rome.

From the information obtained by his subordinates, the relationship between Caesar and the Roman Senate became increasingly tense, especially after 51 BC... This made Vercingetorix excited, and he believed more firmly in the oracle of the goddess Danu.

But then Caesar's harsh measures against Gaul made survival more difficult for the Arverni and other tribes. Vercingetorix encouraged the tribal leaders who allied with him to continue to endure and survive this most difficult period.

But some tribes could no longer bear it and launched riots one after another, such as the Biturige tribe and the Sinopei tribe, but they were eventually destroyed under the attack of the Roman army.

Vercingetorix still chose to endure, but he was very painful inside.

Seeing that Arverni chose to stand by and watch, the tribes in southwestern Gaul did not dare to act rashly, and thus they were preserved.

However, the test for Vercingetorix was not over.

Caesar prepared to convene another Gallic tribal assembly and specifically asked Vercingetorix to attend.

At that time, news came out: During the process of suppressing these tribes, the Roman army received a tip-off from someone that Vercingetorix was also involved in the riot against Rome, so Caesar would hold Vercingetorix accountable at this conference.

So his subordinates advised Vercingetorix not to attend the conference, but after repeated consideration, he finally decided to attend, and on the day of the conference, he found a way to make himself have a high fever.

At the meeting, he knelt at Caesar's feet, crying and complaining about his grievances, and he also brought Caesar much more food than the Romans asked for. Caesar looked at Vercingetorix's sick and pitiful appearance, and remembered how he had valued him in the past and how he had led the Gallic cavalry to the Roman army. Finally, Caesar declared that those were all rumors and slanders against Vercingetorix, who was loyal to him.

Even though Caesar still had some doubts about Vercingetorix, he could not blame him under the circumstances at the time. After all, the series of measures he had implemented before were too harsh on the Gauls, and even those Gallic tribes that surrendered to him were dissatisfied. If he severely punished Vercingetorix, who was so respectful to him, it would make all the Gallic leaders have bad associations, and then there would be a major rebellion, which would be extremely disadvantageous to him who was now in deep political trouble.

Vercingetorix escaped the disaster and returned to his tribe safely.

By the end of the year, there was no civil war in Rome.

Vercingetorix was somewhat disappointed and complained to Lurios, but he had already paid so much and it was impossible for him to give up halfway. He could only continue to endure the difficulties.

Marcellus resigned as consul, but Caesar was still recognized as the legitimate governor of the three provinces.

However, some of Pompey's behavior and remarks during this period showed that he had become somewhat estranged from his ally Caesar.

On the one hand, he was somewhat jealous of Caesar's continued brilliant achievements in Gaul, and the huge army that Caesar possessed also threatened his position as the first military commander of Rome.

On the other hand, conservative senators were trying their best to win him over, especially his father-in-law's family, to make him feel accepted by these Roman nobles.

Of course, Pompey also knew that if he helped the conservative senators to completely overthrow Caesar, the aristocratic senators such as Cato and Marcellus, who did not like him in the first place, would not need him much in the future, and it would be easy for him to fall into a relatively weak position politically.

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Pompey wanted to weaken Caesar, but he also needed Caesar to continue to serve him, maintain this balance, and allow himself to continue to benefit from this dominant position.

Therefore, he publicly stated in the Senate that he could not accept Caesar's removal from the governorship before March 1 of the following year, but after that day, his attitude would be different.

A senator asked: If on that day a tribune vetoes the Senate’s resolution, what will be his attitude?
Pompey replied: It does not matter whether Caesar opposes the Senate's resolution in person or with the help of a tribune.

Another senator asked: What if Caesar wants to be consul but still wants to keep his own army?
Pompey cleverly asked: What if my son wants to beat me with a stick?
In short, his seemingly ambiguous attitude inspired Cato, Marcellus and a group of people.

They continued to raise the question of Caesar's provincial tenure repeatedly in the Senate.

Although Caesar was far away in Ravenna, he did not sit idly by. He took a fancy to a newly appointed tribune, Curio the Younger, who was a typical representative of the younger generation of Romans. He was notorious for his dissolute life, but also ambitious and daring. He also married Claudius' widow and was known as "Claudius the Second".

Just as Crassus had done to him, Caesar used the gold from the Gallic spoils to help Curio the Younger pay off his huge debts and make him join his camp.

So little Curio took action.

He proposed in the Senate that if Caesar was to be removed from his post as governor of Gaul, in order to ensure fairness, Pompey would also need to give up his extraordinary position as governor of the Spanish provinces, which would also be safer for Rome.

Since Curio the Younger had also expressed this view at a previous public meeting and was supported by the masses, it put a lot of pressure on Pompey.

Although Pompey always found excuses to stay in the suburbs of Rome after becoming the Governor of Spain, his son and capable subordinates were all in Spain and had established considerable business. Moreover, his term as Governor of Spain had been extended during his tenure as consul (52 BC) and was still several years away from its expiration, so he was unwilling to terminate his term now.

Because Pompey was unwilling to express his position, the two sides were in a stalemate for several months. Pompey was even pursued relentlessly by Curio the Younger. His entire third term as consul was questioned and attacked by the other side, and he was in a very embarrassing situation.

Time was quickly dragged past March 1, when the final vote on Caesar's term should have been held.

In the summer, the Senate made a decision: to withdraw a legion from Pompey and another legion from Caesar, and then send these troops to reinforce the Roman army on the Roman-Parthian border.

(End of this chapter)