Chapter 198 : Single Decisive Blow

"Looks like the Romans are still busy working on their defensive lines," Casticus remarked, his eyes lingering on the map. "What news of the Helvetii?"

"Their vanguard should be passing through by now. We cleared the gorge in advance, just as you ordered."

"Then word should arrive shortly," Casticus said.

As one of the noble families of the Sequani, Casticus had a large number of loyal followers.

Yet claiming chieftain for himself required the right opportunity. To reclaim the power his father once held—power he believed was rightfully his—he was willing to do whatever it took.

Even if it meant joining forces with the Helvetii.

"But the elders will not take this lightly. If we allow those brutes to march across our lands..."

"The Helvetii swore not to pillage so much as a single village in our territory. They even handed over hostages as a guarantee. No matter how much the elders grumble, once the Helvetii pass through the gorge and set foot on our soil, they will have no choice but to accept it."

Casticus’s lips curled into a cold smirk. He had already struck a secret pact with Orgetorix of the Helvetii and Dumnorix of the Aedui.

He would grant the Helvetii safe passage through the gorge, and in return, they would back his bid for the chieftainship.

With Helvetian warriors behind him, he could seize power while keeping Rome in check.

No matter how stubborn the elders were, they wouldn’t dare try to expel a massive Helvetian host already inside their borders. They would be forced to bend to his will.

Just then, a scout burst into the tent.

"An urgent dispatch from the Jura Gorge!"

"Are the Helvetii through?"

"Well... the thing is..." The messenger stammered, glancing uneasily at Casticus.

"Out with it! Speak!"

"...The gorge is completely blocked."

"Blocked?" Casticus shot to his feet. "By the gods, what are you talking about?!"

***

The explosion high above the Jura Gorge had triggered a catastrophic landslide. Massive boulders broke loose and plummeted from the heights, taking half the cliff face down with them.

Most of the Helvetian scouts in the pass were crushed beneath the rubble. The survivors, caked in dust, scrambled back the way they came.

"T-The mountain is coming down!"

"Run if you want to live!"

They sprinted back to the main host in sheer terror to deliver the news.

"The Jura Gorge collapsed?! Of all the cursed times for this to happen..."

"It was the Romans," Orgetorix cut through their panic. "Did the scouts not report hearing a tremendous roar from above before the rocks fell?"

He looked around at his shaken staff.

"They possess the ash of fire as well. They must have used it to bring down the cliffs over the gorge."

"What do we do now, Orgetorix?!" Divico and the other elders demanded, their voices raised in fury. "We burned our homes and fields on your orders! If we cannot cross the river now, hundreds of thousands of our people will starve to death right here!"

"Then we cross the river."

"Cross the river?! The Romans have already dug in on the other side! With the Jura Gorge blocked, how on earth do you expect us to—"

"Do you propose we sit here and rot? Or beg for Rome’s mercy?"

The elders swallowed hard, shrinking under Orgetorix’s cold glare.

"From the moment our migration began, moving forward was our only choice. And I have prepared for such a contingency. Select the fiercest warriors from every clan," he commanded. "We will soon cross blades with the Romans."

Meanwhile, Lucius Caesar was riding along the banks of the Rhodanus.

***

"You performed magnificently this time, Lucius."

Pomptinus clapped a heavy hand on my shoulder.

I was riding alongside him and the other legates, inspecting our defensive perimeter.

The legions had dug deep trenches along the Rhodanus, piling the excavated earth into ramparts behind the trenches.

Inside the ditches, sharpened wooden stakes pointed upward to impale anyone reckless enough to charge in.

Rows of massive, crossbow-like contraptions lined the ramparts—scorpiones, a staple of Roman warfare.

Though they resembled crossbows, these bolt-throwers drew their power from the torsion of tightly twisted animal sinew.

In skilled hands, a scorpio could unleash multiple heavy bolts every minute.

An exceptionally nasty weapon for defending a fortified line.

"With the Jura Gorge blocked, those barbarians must have realized they are trapped," Pomptinus said. "If they value their lives, they will turn back and go home."

"According to our intelligence, the Helvetii burned all their homesteads and granaries before departing," I replied.

Torching your own home isn’t a decision anyone makes lightly.

It was an unmistakable declaration of resolve: there would be no turning back, no matter what. They wouldn’t pack up and go home just because the gorge was sealed off.

"We cannot afford to lower our guard."

"Naturally. Our defenses along the Rhodanus are already complete," Pomptinus replied with a dry cough.

Did my caution offend him?

"Should they attempt a crossing, my 10th Legion can rapidly redeploy to the breach and cut them down."

"My cavalry will ride with them."

Over the past few days, volunteers had steadily arrived in Geneva. My cavalry force had quietly swelled to nearly two hundred riders.

As we rode past the trenches, I sank into thought.

Pomptinus’s strategy was textbook-perfect.

Dig trenches, erect ramparts at every viable fording point, and keep round-the-clock watch.

The moment the Helvetii tried to force a crossing, concentrate the main force and crush them at the water’s edge.

Standard Roman doctrine at its finest.

Even though the Helvetii vastly outnumbered us, defending from fortified positions along the riverbank gave us an overwhelming advantage.

Yet an unsettling knot remained in the pit of my stomach.

Could the enemy truly have failed to foresee this?

They had rushed their migration precisely because they had caught wind of our troop movements.

I wouldn’t be surprised if they had anticipated our defenses along the river. The real challenge was figuring out what they were actually plotting...

"They will likely feign crossings at multiple points to stretch our lines thin, masking their true objective."

"Do not fret so much. Thanks to that telescope you crafted, our scouts can spot them from a long way off." Pomptinus shrugged. "No matter what tricks those barbarians attempt, they cannot hide an army of that size."

A few days later, I learned that both of our assumptions were completely wrong.

"They’re concentrating their entire host at a single point?"

***

The Helvetian crossing commenced exactly twelve days after my arrival in Gaul.

"They’re crossing the river!"

The Helvetii hadn’t even bothered trying to disguise their crossing point. Instead, they boldly massed their main host in plain sight at a single location.

Worse, they chose the narrowest, shallowest stretch of the river—the easiest place to wade across, and consequently where the Roman defenses were most heavily concentrated.

"Have they lost their minds?" the legates muttered, squinting across the water.

I raised my telescope beside them. Helvetian warriors were lashing long wooden rafts together, rapidly assembling a floating pontoon bridge.

It seemed they had some capable engineers in their ranks after all.

"Utterly brainless. Attempting a crossing right under our noses."

"Well, to move hundreds of thousands of people across the river, this was their only viable route. We hardly needed to stretch our lines so thin."

As the legates traded smug remarks, Pomptinus barked an order.

"Send word to the 10th Legion. Advance immediately and annihilate them while they are mid-crossing."

"Governor, wait a moment."

"What is it, Lucius?"

I gathered my thoughts before speaking. Someone on the other side clearly understood Roman strategy.

That was why they had tried to bypass us through the Jura Gorge in the first place, deviating from the history I knew.

So why make such a blatantly obvious mistake now?

"They could be luring us into a trap."

"An army is at its weakest while crossing a river," Pomptinus countered. "Even if it is a trap, a Roman legion does not cower from battle."

"The Governor speaks true," another legate chimed in. "Hesitating now only gives them time to establish a foothold. Striking them mid-crossing is our best chance to seize the initiative!"

"If we don’t crush them now, what do you suggest we do?" another demanded.

"Even if they finish that makeshift bridge, moving horses and supply wagons across it will take time," I argued. "Their infantry will cross first to secure a bridgehead. Before they can build a proper bridge for their entire host, they’ll have to neutralize our fortifications. Once they cross, they will assault our lines."

"So you are proposing we sit back and defend?"

"Yes. Whatever surprises they have cooked up with Vesta powder, our fortified ramparts will not fall easily. Let them break themselves against our defenses. Then we counterattack."

A makeshift bridge made of lashed rafts is inherently narrow and unstable. A mass retreat across such a bottleneck would be impossible.

"If we play this right, we can wipe out their main force in one clean stroke."

"Wait for them to regroup and attack us? That is far more reckless!" the other legates objected at once. "We must crush the crossing immediately, just as planned. That is the only way to drive them back while keeping our casualties to a minimum!"

A tense silence descended over the ridge before Pomptinus finally spoke.

"Your logic is sound, Lucius. If we focus on defense, they will not break through easily. But the risk is simply too great. Striking when the enemy is at their most vulnerable remains the most rational course of action."

"I shall obey your command, Governor," I said.

His logic wasn’t flawed. Under normal circumstances, I would have agreed without hesitation.

But every instinct in my body screamed that something was wrong.

"In that case, allow my cavalry to ride in the vanguard."

"The vanguard?"

"Yes. I will lead my riders forward in a reconnaissance in force. With a compact, mobile unit, we can probe their position and force them to reveal whatever weapons or tricks they’re hiding."

"Very well. Proceed." Pomptinus nodded.

I rode down the hill and summoned Metellus and Antony, who had been waiting at the base.

"Just what I needed. My limbs were growing stiff from sitting around," Antony said with a grin, cracking his knuckles. "Finally, a proper brawl with these savages."

"Keep your head, Antony," Metellus warned. "The lives of thousands of Roman legionaries hang in the balance."

"If you two are ready, let’s move out."

I said, bracing my feet in the stirrups.

My very first proper battle was about to begin.

***

The moment Lucius rode out of earshot, the remaining legates spoke up in unison.

"Lucius is blatantly stalling for time until Pompey arrives."

"My thoughts exactly. Powerful as this Vesta powder may be, what terrifying weapon could barbarians possibly haul across flimsy rafts?"

"Even if they hurled bags of the powder, they could only throw them so far. Our legionaries’ pila will pierce their throats long before they get close."

"And volunteering for the vanguard? He’s merely trying to steal the glory from you. He dressed it up as reconnaissance, but he clearly means to claim the honor of striking first while the enemy is still mid-crossing!"

The legates vented their grievances without restraint. To them, every suggestion Lucius had made seemed suspicious.

Who in their right mind stays on the defensive when holding an overwhelming tactical advantage?

"He takes us for fools."

"Deploy the main force, Governor. Break the Helvetii’s spirit in a single, decisive blow!"

Pomptinus remained silent beneath the barrage of advice. After a brief pause, he finally gave the command.

"Order the 10th Legion to advance. Time the assault so they engage the enemy alongside Lucius’s cavalry."

To the blare of Roman horns, the infantry fell into disciplined ranks, locked shields, and marched toward the riverbank.

Thus began the engagement that history would remember as the Battle of the Rhodanus.

What followed was heralded by a colossal, earth-shattering explosion.