Some time later, a message came from Claudius. It thanked him for the loyalty, and he wished Gaius to convey his and Rome's good wishes to the Iazygian chief when the weather improved. He approved of Gaius' agreement, and if need be, approval was hereby given for the Legion to take military action to support these Iazyges. Meanwhile, Claudius was a little concerned that he had received no promise of support from Scribonianus. Could Gaius determine where the loyalties lay with the other legions, particularly the seventh?
Gaius replied that he was on good terms with Lucius Cornelius Cinna, the Legate of the seventh who was a descendant of a rather famous Roman General with the same name, and with the Tribunes, as they had shared many meals over the winter. He had personally spoken to each of them, and they had sworn their loyalty. He could not speak for Scribonianus, but as far as he knew there was no reason to believe that he too was not loyal.
* * *
As the spring came, Gaius decided the legion should return to Lussonia. He had clear orders from the Princeps, and additionally, he did not like the idea of a legion sitting around in barracks. That left the issue of Vipsania.
"I don't think the frontier is a good place for you," he said, one evening.
"And what do you wish?"
"Go back to Rome," Gaius said.
"And do what?"
"Manage my property, amongst other things," Gaius said. "Of course, the ranch has a steward, and for most practical purposes, he should be left to get on with his job, but I trust you, and there has to be someone with authority, and who can tell me what is really happening, as opposed to what they think I want to hear."
"Who's doing that now?"
"Quintus Flavius. He's Lucilla's husband. Lucilla's my sister."
"You don't trust him?"
"As it happens, I see no reason not to, but he is now head of his own family, and he will have more important things to do, at least as far as he's concerned."
"And that's all?"
"Once you get to Rome, remember, Claudius has asked to see you, so you should do so promptly. Also, I want you to keep your ears open. It seems there were a lot of people plotting against Little Boots, and it wouldn't surprise me if the same didn't happen to Claudius."
"And if I hear something?"
"If it's urgent, warn Claudius. If it isn't specific and immediate, let me know."
Gaius could see that she was not exactly happy to have to go back, but as he pointed out, if a significant campaign started, she would see nothing of him anyway, and he would feel much better if he did not have to worry about what was happening to her. It was something of a surprise to her when he countered her argument that she would be well behind the front lines with the comment that there were no such things. Yes, the Danube acted as a boundary, but only a boundary beyond which Rome had no claim. There was nothing to stop large raiding parties crossing the river, and indeed such an event happened the time they first met. Such parties could travel unhindered for well over a hundred miles, because there was no solid line of Roman fortifications. As long as they raided quickly, they could get away with it, because it would take time for the Roman army to find them. While it might be unlikely for a place like Lussonium to be raided, it was far from impossible.
Accordingly, a few days later Vipsania was put on a boat, and began her journey back to Italy.
Chapter 14
The Legion had been at Lussonium for a week, and having become established, the usual procedure appeared to be that various centuries would march to various fortifications along the Danube, to maintain a presence and establish the Roman boundary. This time would be different. Gaius called the Tribunes and Prime Centurions to a meeting.
"The standard way that Rome fights," Gaius began to address them, "is to form a line, lock shields, push and stab, and as the line gets tired, replace it with a fresh line. This is extremely efficient because the Roman troops are sufficiently disciplined to pull this off, while the other side fight until they tire, which as you know doesn't take all that long. It also works because our armour is very effective, and in general our opponents are relatively poorly armoured. In the one battle we've fought together, the third cohort will tell you how efficient this method is, particularly when the terrain is advantageous, as it was in that battle.
"Why am I telling you all this? Well, there's a problem. In the battle I just referred to, we chose the terrain, and we can't always do that. The basic weakness of this method is that if the enemy can break the line and get in behind us, then the heavy shields are less of an advantage, the armour means our field of vision is less than it might be, and quite simply, heavy means slow. The nimble get in behind and can do a lot of damage.
"The basic problem with the terrain around here is that it's all forest. We can't advance through trees with a fixed line, which means we can't prevent enemy getting in between us or behind us. If they get to intermingle with us, the battle ends up as a one on one slogging match, and if they get in behind us, they get free shots. If we're not careful, the enemy can slaughter us. If you don't think so, remember the Teutoberg Forest.
"Yes, part of the problem there was that Varus was a fool. He went on a punitive expedition without properly scouting out the route and he let his men store their arms in carts. He accepted tracks where marching was little better than single file, and he had an enemy who knew how the Roman army fought and had planned the right way to defeat a legion in a forest. The net result was that his men were ambushed in thick forest, where it was impossible to form proper lines, and in any case the men couldn't even get at their weapons quickly. Those sorts of stupidities are avoidable, but even so, the evidence from other campaigns, such as those of Tiberius in this general region, are enough to indicate we are making things hard for ourselves in the forest.
"Maybe the Varus-type ambush won't always work, but the fact remains, fighting in a forest puts us at a disadvantage, unless. ." He paused, and watched for reaction. The faces were impassive.
"Unless we have worked out a better way to fight in forests," Gaius continued. "Accordingly, this summer we are not going to just occupy defensive positions along the side of the Danube. We are going to have forest drills. Each cohort will divide into two sections, which means some centuries may have to temporarily merge with others. For the purposes of this exercise the first will split into four such sections, as if it were two cohorts.
"Each of these sections will have names, and will take part in exercises in which they are either defensive or offensive. The defensive sections will have to march between two points through parts of the forest. The offensive section has to ambush them, and for the purposes of these exercises, while every soldier will fight with wooden swords, if they are struck with a wooden sword they will behave as if it were real, and there will be an assessor with each attacking party. Archers will have arrows with large soft round ends. Just in case troops run into raiders, each soldier will also carry a gladius, but they will not under any circumstances use them on other soldiers, or else.
"Now, the purpose of this, and why you are here. I want this to be a competition, so we can work out what works and what doesn't in the forest. I also want to see which of you Tribunes can contribute tactically, so feel free to use your imagination, which gets me to the next point of this meeting. Too many Tribunes spend too much time in tents. Now I know some of you are using this period to start a career in administration, and in the end will spend a relatively short period in the army, and I know the senior Centurions effectively lead the cohorts into battle. They do this because they have the experience, and we don't want amateurs blundering around."