The Mad Tycoon of Rome

Kashapa faithfully executed Marcus’s orders.

Marcus collected the first compensation from the defeated Satavahana and established extraterritorial rights in the port area.

Then he withdrew his army and returned to Ctesiphon.

Kashapa, under Marcus’s protection, gathered the dissatisfied factions that had been lurking under the surface and formed a powerful organization.

Satavahana had no choice but to watch his movements helplessly.

Kashapa was Marcus’s man, but he also openly involved Roman merchants in his organization.

The merchants led by Tadius brought huge capital and supported Kashapa’s back.

The birth of the giant trade organization that would later be called the North India Company happened naturally like water flowing.

The people in the port area where extraterritorial rights were set quickly realized that Satavahana was no longer the master of India.

The ones who used to strut around with pride as Kshatriyas also showed their powerless appearance here.

“What? You want me to pay overdue interest? How dare you?”

Today, as usual, the roar of a noble who could not adapt to the new change erupted.

The noble who was blushing was opposite to Tadius who stood in front of him and did not lose his smile on his face.

“You broke the contract, so you have to bear the consequences. Isn’t that right, Kashapa?”

“Of course. The contract is sacred, so no one should take it lightly. Even if you are a Kshatriya or a Brahmin, there is no exception.”

Bharad, the noble who heard Kashapa’s words, snorted as if he was incredulous.

He was a high-ranking noble who was known by everyone in this port area.

He had never had any problems with delaying the delivery date by a day or two as he pleased while doing business.

He suppressed his emotions with superhuman patience and opened his mouth calmly.

“There must have been some misunderstanding. The Vaishya who traded with you is my subordinate. That means he has my protection.”

“Yes. I know that.”

“And you still say that I have to suffer disadvantages because the deadline was delayed by a day? Don’t tell me you don’t know who I am?”

“Do you know who you traded with?”

Bharad could not stand it anymore and shouted, raising his hand to his weapon reflexively.

“How dare you take this attitude to me in this port? I can make this contract null and void from the beginning by my authority according to the Manu Code.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

Tadius gestured and the heavily armed soldiers behind him drew their weapons at once.

“From now on, Roman law takes precedence over Manu Code in this place. If you want to appeal, please do so to His Majesty of your country and Shahanshah of Rome who signed this treaty.”

Bharad, overwhelmed by the menacing soldiers, looked around for a helping hand.

“Roman bastards dare to act as they please in this land. Kashapa! You are a Kshatriya of Satavahana, but you became a lackey of Rome.”

“I’m touched that you think of me as a Kshatriya like you. But why did Manu Code specify us as lower Kshatriyas?”

“You harbored resentment for your treatment…”

“That’s why you should have kept your contract faithfully. Didn’t I announce it several times since a few weeks ago? When you contract with Romans, you have to follow their laws faithfully.”

Kashapa gestured and the soldiers quickly beat up Bharad’s guards and captured him.

The street was full of spectators from foreign merchants to ordinary people because of the commotion that happened in broad daylight.

Kashapa looked around them and shouted proudly.

“As you all saw, Roman law takes precedence over Satavahana’s law, system, and customs here. It will not be tolerated to act recklessly by trusting your status and position as before. Of course, this has nothing to do with most of the good people, so don’t worry too much. Just follow the law and system as you do now!”

The foreign merchants just watched the whole process with wide-eyed faces.

Especially the merchants who came from Han were dumbfounded by the unexpected poor response of Satavahana.

He lost in the war and now he was almost like a vassal state.

They could not imagine that the great country of India would become like this.

The merchants thought they had to report this ominous trend to their country as soon as possible and left their seats hastily.

※※※

The astonishing fact that Satavahana, the ruler of India, lost to Rome was soon delivered to Han’s imperial court.

The unbelievable thing was that the report of the war breaking out and the report of Satavahana’s defeat arrived almost at the same time.

Liu Shi, the 11th emperor of Han, was so annoyed that his head throbbed whenever he thought of anything related to Rome recently.

In the vast palace, numerous officials were waiting for him to open his mouth as he sat on the throne.

The influential figures of the court were all present.

Shi Xian, who became the power behind the throne after Hong Gong died of old age.

The generals Yi Qing and Guo Do, and the supreme commander of the army, Wei Guoqing.

Liu Shi looked around his subordinates and spoke in a different tone than usual.

“I will discuss the state affairs now. Most of you here must have heard the interesting news that came recently. The great western country (Rome) and Tianzhu (India) waged a war, right? Let’s hear how it went.”

Following the emperor’s order, Eunuch read the sentences written on paper.

Liu Shi had tried hard to reduce the import of Roman goods, but he could not find a place where Roman paper was not used, as there was no substitute for it.

The report was written based on the testimonies of Han’s merchants and Satavahana’s merchants, so it was quite reliable.

Satavahana had traded with Roman merchants and forcibly detained them and took their goods.

This enraged the Shahanshah of Rome, who led his army and made Satavahana’s king surrender in less than 100 days.

As a result, Satavahana was in a great turmoil with pro-Roman factions and Roman merchants gaining power.

In summary, this was the content.

“Satavahana was known as a dominant power in Tianzhu, but it collapsed so easily. It’s unexpected.”

“Rome has the strength to defeat even the united Huns. It’s natural that Tianzhu is no match for them.”

“But still, it collapsed too quickly… Maybe Tianzhu didn’t know the strength of Roman army well.”

“To be honest, we don’t know much about their formation either. We only know that they have an unusually strong military power.”

Shi Xian cut in between the conversation of the generals with a click of his tongue.

“You are analyzing the wrong point. The fact that Tianzhu is weaker than Rome is already revealed by the result, and we can easily find out how it happened. The important thing is why Rome attacked Tianzhu.”

“According to the report, Tianzhu treated Roman merchants rudely, didn’t they?”

“That’s just an excuse for war. We need to know what Rome is thinking.”

“Oh, now that you mention it…”

Yi Qing’s thin eyes gleamed with a strange light as he looked at Shi Xian.

“Didn’t you go to Rome yourself? I heard you had a very unpleasant experience then.”

“I think Shi Xian would know Rome better than us, so I’d like to hear your opinion.”

Guo Do also let out a faint sneer with a hint of sarcasm.

When Rome said they would export their goods to other countries and reduce the import of silk, Shi Xian tried to go to Rome himself and resolve the situation.

But he did not achieve any effect and returned to his country with humiliation.

To make matters worse, Hong Gong, the head of Eunuch, left the world and Eunuch’s power in the current court was not as good as before.

Shi Xian blamed all this on Rome to avoid the stigma of being incompetent.

He claimed that Rome had planned to harm Han from the beginning with a sophisticated design.

Shi Xian decided to push that the war with Tianzhu was also part of that plan.

“Rome, especially Marcus who is in Shahanshah’s position, is a man with tremendous ambition. He won the war with Tianzhu and started working on dominating it as he pleased. He might try to set up administrative districts like Military or Military Camp that we have established.”

At that time, Han had established a Military Camp in modern Vietnam area and a Military in northern Korea and Manchuria area to exercise their dominance.

Among Military Camp, Im East County had lost its function, but Na Lang County, Da Fang County, and Mysterious Way County were still functioning well.

Maybe Rome also wanted to expand their dominance in a similar way to Han.

Liu Shi found Shi Xian’s argument quite reasonable.

“So can we say that Rome revealed their ambition to expand their territory eastward? Tianzhu is their bridgehead?”

“That seems reasonable to me. Their greed has no end. They pretend to trade with us while stealing silk and tea.”

“Speaking of which, what happened to that matter? Didn’t we say we would protest formally?”

When Liu Shi heard that Rome was producing silk and selling it to other countries, he almost collapsed from high blood pressure.

He knew it was useless, but he sent a formal protest letter to ease his anger a little.

But strangely enough, he did not receive a report that the answer had arrived, even though quite some time had passed.

As Liu Shi’s questioning gaze poured down, Shi Xian hurriedly scratched his head and stammered.

“Tha-that is… it was so arrogant and rude…”

“The wrongdoer gets angry instead. Tell me what the answer was, even if it’s a brief summary.”

“Yes. Tha-that is…”

Shi Xian closed his eyes tightly and told him the answer that came from Rome.

“They said silk and tea are originally Rome’s…”

“What?”

“And they said a great country needs dignity that does not care about such trivial matters. If you fall into a small country yourself, you will not be able to resist the great country. They beat around the bush, but in summary, they said something like this.”

The center of the world, the Central Plains.

Who ever dared to say such a rebellious thing to the emperor of that place?

Liu Shi exploded with anger and rose from the throne with a red face.

“How dare these lowly western barbarians!”

Fearing that the sparks would fly to them, Eunuch’s quickly lay down on the floor.

The military leaders also lowered their eyes and waited for the emperor’s wrath to subside.

Liu Shi gritted his teeth and shouted for a while.

“I will cut off all trade with Roman bastards. They will feel anxious when they have no place to sell their goods.”

“Yo-your Majesty! But…”

“What. Is there a problem?”

“Tha-that is, sugar is a luxury item, so we can cut off the import, but we don’t have any substitutes for things like paper right now. If we go back to writing on bamboo slips, the efficiency will be too low…”

“Then make paper! The Roman bastards can steal our goods well, why can’t we do it?”

Considering that paper was originally made in Han, it was a ridiculous farce.

But paper would not be developed properly until decades later, and even if paper was made, the quality difference was too big.

Liu Shi calmed down his emotions and sat back on the throne and sighed deeply.

“I will never forget this humiliation. I will pay them back by any means.”

End