An hour later, the combined horns of three legions blasted a signal into the air, and from the distance a chariot appeared. The horns continued their triumphal acclaim, the chariot came closer, and in it the helmeted figure of Claudius, Princeps of Rome, stood with one hand grasping the chariot, and one lifted to his troops.
"Imperator!" came the loud acclaim.
Even the senators joined in the acclaim. The Roman army knew who was in charge, and the senators accepted this. They immediately voted a triumph for Claudius on his return to Rome, and it was a very special type of triumph, for Claudius had defeated his enemies in this battle without the loss of a single Roman soldier. It was very clear to everybody that this could never have happened had the attack simply been the expected frontal approach, it was clear to everybody that the elephants allowing a legion to emerge from an impenetrable thicket to attack the rear of the weakest flank had been the key, and nobody could claim to have suggested this. There was no senator who could claim to have thought of anything remotely like this strategy, and most had publicly ridiculed Claudius, safely from a distance, for bringing these animals. Having safely announced the futility of bringing elephants, they could only acclaim Claudius for the success that depended on them.
Claudius was proud, and he had good cause to be proud. The decorations and awards also flowed generously. Gaius, and the other Legates, found themselves the receivers of four further awards, which, on reflection, Gaius thought somewhat excessive. For Gaius alone, the first was for the successful landing and taking of Dubrae. As he remarked to Claudius, this was remarkably simple.
"P perhaps! B b but getting the t troops to sail was not. Anyway," Claudius advised, "t take them. Y ou never know when they m m might come in handy to impress someone."
The next two awards were for the siege on the Medway, and for the defeat of Togodumnus, and the last, the major one, for defeating the Catuvellauni. "I kn know I'm taking the c credit for today," Claudius said, "b b but we know th the triumph should be yours."
"It's much more important that we get a stable government than I get a big head," Gaius said. In a sense he was entirely sincere, but there was a thought running through the back of his mind that he had been promised a triumph. Was this it? A triumph of his, taken by. . No! that thought must be put to sleep. If nothing else, he may have owed his life to Claudius; he certainly owed him his career, and a triumph was the least he could do in return, the one gesture that would guarantee Claudius' tenure as Princeps.
"I I'll get you a b b big head soon enough" Claudius said, and stepped back, and squinted a little with his head to one side as he tried to imagine the effect. Then he added, "Anyway, y you should g get more than your m men," and added that he intended to be liberal with awards to them. And, Gaius realized, Claudius had a point when he added that if Gaius were to make a success of this Roman library, it would help if Gaius himself had plenty of decorations. Victory awards invariably ended opposing denigration. Also, the liberal dishing out of awards pleased the troops, and morale was high as the winter was about to close in.
For the next few days, Gaius had little to do. Claudius had arranged for any British Chieftains that wished to ally themselves with Rome to come to Camulodunum and formally accept the Roman Imperium. He suggested that Matius arrange cavalry escort for the Chieftains, while the other Tribunes looked after the getting of supplies.
Eventually, Falco came to see him. "Sir?"
"Yes?"
"I have organized supplies for our men, and for the various parties, but. ."
"But?"
"Well, sir, with all due respect. ."
"You can say what's on your mind," Gaius said, as he smiled to try to put Falco at his ease.
"Well, sir, I have carried out a survey of the food reserves around Camulodunum, including the nearby villages, and there is no way there will be sufficient food to support three legions. There's another problem too."
"Which is?" Gaius smiled in encouragement.
"There is no nearby port. If I were Caratacus and I wanted to get my own back, when we need to ship food in, I would raid whatever port we used, and as far as I can tell, there is no good port around here safe from winter storms. Feeding three legions will need a lot of food, sir, and for that matter, there really may not be sufficient forest around here to provide the necessary firewood without removing too much of it for the future. "
"And you would recommend?"
"Go somewhere fresh, while we can, sir."
"Then you shall get your wish," Gaius said. "That was a good analysis. We need to control both our food supply and a port, so we are going to set up a temporary base at the Thames, so you can go and get the legion ready to march. As soon as you can get them ready, we head south."
"They'll be ready the day after the Princeps leaves," Falco assured Gaius.
Chapter 27
The day following Claudius' departure for Rome, a bitterly cold wind blew up, rain drifted in from the north, and the air was full of swirling brown leaves. Winter was approaching, and if the twentieth was to move, now was the time. The troops were less than happy at having to march in the cold and wet conditions, but march they would.
It was now that Gaius envied Vespasian. The Augusta had begun preparations to winter over with the Roman allies, the Atrebates, near the south coast. The client king, Cogidumnus, was there solely because of Roman power so he would return the favour and supply the legion, while the legion would protect him from raids from other tribes and from internal plots. Securing the Atrebates as allies would then free up the Augusta and permit it to drive westward along the southern coast next spring.
The Hispana would go north during the next spring, so it would now march northwards and find the nearest coastal port, so that it could be supplied from the sea. Moving north would also give it the opportunity to scout out the first territory it had to cover, and it would also give the Romans the opportunity to approach the Iceni.
There was a further military requirement, related to communications. The Thames provided a natural harbour, but it also provided a natural barrier to land transport. Plautius' answer was to eventually construct a bridge over the river, and also to construct a fort to station some defensive forces. That required some labour, which suggested that a legion should winter over there. Since the Valeria was to advance on Vespasian's right flank, Gaius had volunteered. Thus the day after Claudius' departure, the Valeria marched south.
One of the clear benefits of just having defeated Caratacus at his capital was that a reasonable amount of his wealth had remained, now to be confiscated by the Romans and sent to Rome. The conquered lands, however, included some of the prime agricultural land in Britain, and while the Celtic farmers were poor in gold, Gaius noted wryly, if the new taxes were paid in food he could just about afford to feed his legion over the winter.
While the weather cleared on the second day of the march, the skies were greying as the Thames came into view, and since a decision was required as to where the legion should camp, the legionary surveyors were sent ahead to scout a possible position, with an objective of being at the most convenient point to put a pontoon-type bridge across the river, and also permit ships to berth nearby. While wherever they stopped was unimportant for the Valeria, it was desirable that the initial site could become a more permanent site as a transport centre. They soon found what they considered to be a satisfactory spot, and the legion marched towards it. Both bridge and legion would be downstream from a Celtic settlement that was far too small to be of any use for housing the legion.