Raising Steam

by Peter Rhodan

  The Mair and several of the more important townspeople waited at the Basilica for him to arrive. He despatched the third cohort to occupy the fort as the main force continued to march into the centre of town. The Vicarius per Britannium, who dated back to before Honorius abandoned the island, had fled just before his arrival, leaving the Imperial building empty. The small city militia of just over two hundred where lined up near the Mair. They would be encouraged to join the Republican army. He had introduced a small civic police force in Lugowalion over the winter and intended to do the same in all the main cities and towns on the island in due course. He named the police the Vigiles to continue an old Roman title for such a force. Probably a few of these city militia would become part of that force rather than joining the army.

  Word had come from Coel that many of the Saxoni occupying Brandunum had escaped over the sea back to Frisi coast but those remaining eventually surrendered without a fight. Coel had laid siege to them using his artillery to slowly batter down one of the gates. He had then moved south east along the coast absorbing the few remaining troops of the Comes Saxoni on this side of the sea and was currently in Camulodunum overseeing that town’s addition to the Republic.

  Word also came south that the two hundred and fifty men under arms in the old legionary fortress at Deva were added to the Third Legion with a hundred transferred to the First. With news of the defeat and death of Combrosius, Uthyr at Deva decided he had no choice but to throw in his lot with the Republicans and did so without a fight. As the man could read and write, at least after a fashion, Arturo had agreed make him Tribune of one of the newly formed Third Legion’s cohorts at Eboracum.

  Two months after the battle of Caractorum the whole island south of the wall was pretty much under the control of Arturo and his Republican forces. The only areas still unoccupied were to the far west where the Scotti had taken over much of the coastal areas west of Deva and Isca respectively and Dumnonia to the south and west. These areas would need to be dealt with eventually. He hoped the Dumnoni could be persuaded to join the Republic voluntarily as he needed their tin. Arturo created a new Fifth Legion at Londinium using the militia as a base, swapping out a century of them for a century of his regulars and adding a few Saxoni from those that had surrendered to Coel.

  He spent a month at Londinium, Dubris and other southern cities, touring and being seen, besides dealing with the local officials and explaining the new reality to them. No one really argued but many looked resentful and he was worried about possible rebellion but hoped things would settle down in time without overt action. All his economic innovations should help restore prosperity to the south which would help alleviate any resentment felt. Or so he expected going on the events in the north.

  When he finally returned north the Fifth Legion still only numbered less than three hundred men with only a short company of cavalry, but that was at least a start. Shortly after leaving Londinium and heading north eastward to meet up with Coel word came that Gwallog at Isca had agreed to terms. After meeting up they shared out the latest collection of prisoners. Coel kept four hundred of the men he had captured to split between the Second and the new Third at Eboracum and while Arturo took the reaming five hundred with the First westward.

  The nearly hundred strong collection of Saxoni and other Germans who had refused to serve in the army were also divided up. Half were sent to Londinium to serve as a work force there, while the rest were kept with Arturo’s force. There were nearly four hundred indentured workmen acquired from the prisoners who refused to join the army after the battle of Caractorum and these were spread around the north in various smaller work gangs. The bridge at Eboracum needed rebuilding as it was in a dangerous state of disrepair and a new bridge needed to be built to carry a rail line over the river there so a large number would be working on those projects.

  The work on the line east from Lugowalion that would eventually cross the island would be sped up with more workmen being added as a result of the battle, as would the line south east to Voreda. As soon as Isca was dealt with he would send the First back north but would himself return first Londinium to organise a railway company there and then another at Eboracum before he finally returned to Dervent. It seemed the work of building civilisation never stopped!

  Chapter 23

  The Empire gets the word

  Lucius Macronius, Praefectus Vehiculorum, settled into the chair in his office in the government complex in Ravenna and carefully re-read the letter from Licinius in Londinium, trying to decide if he was seriously alarmed or merely concerned. So Combrosius was no more and this Arturo Sandus was now master of the whole island. That was worrying enough in itself given the history of would be Emperors using the island as a lunch pad for their Imperial ambitions. But that was just one of several other troubling pieces of information that had come his way recently. Large ships with two masts were not really that special, some of the grain ships plying between Africa and Rome had two masts and were quite large after all but still, such ships being built in far off Britannia was a worry. Especially as he had no idea of why they would have a need for such large ships in the desolate north of the island. He had spent a period of three months at Lugowalion when a young officer and no desire at all to ever return to the dismal place!

  He could not follow these stories of steam driven machines of some type. They sounded very farfetched and he could not grasp exactly what was being described. Perhaps it was something like the track ways used in some mines that the ore wagons rolled along. Yes, he supposed the same principle could be used to move goods above ground although it would seem like a lot of effort to gain only a small reward. He could not follow where the use of steam came into the matter all, these engines sounded very outlandish and unlikely. Still he would have to investigate the matter he supposed.

  The items Licinius had sent him were more worrying. There were five coins, two bronze, two silver and a gold. On one side they were lettered Republicae Romanum and at the bottom was a number which he quickly determined was a date, being the year number since the traditional founding date of Roma. In the centre was an image of the wolf with the two boys Romulus and Remus. A very traditional image indeed. On the other side the coins varied. One had a winged victory standing over a fallen foe with the strange word Liyth and last year’s date. Another claimed the Concilium Romanum had been restored and was dated last year as well.

  One of the bronze coins mentioned something called the Universitorum Alladraef, again with a date, this time the current year. Another had a picture of a wheeled vehicle and he realised that that it must be drawing of one of these steam engines but the smallness and crudeness of the drawing meant there was little to be discerned from the image. The gold coin had a victory and the words Imperium Romanum. But none of these designs were what was most interesting. Coins had always been used for propaganda after all.

  What was most interesting about the coins was that the bronze and silver coins each had a number on them. The small one in each case had the number one and the large one had a number symbol he did not recognise but he knew they were numbers from the letter Licinius had sent. Apparently this Republic used coins of uniform weight in fixed denominations. What he had been sent was a one bronze coin and a five bronze coin and the same with the silver ones. And the larger coins with the strange symbol were exactly five times the weight of the small coins.

  The minting of coins was an Imperial prerogative and if nothing else minting his own coins clearly meant this Arturo fellow was intent on building his own Empire. What was it about that island that caused the people there to want be their own masters? Since the first Constantius there had been Caurausius, then Constantinus Magnus, then Maximius and finally the recent Constantius. Now there was this Arturo Sandus fellow who was not even a Roman apparently. Of all those, the first Constantius had been the only one to actually succeed in conquering the Empire. It was like some sort of disease that people in Britannia caught, or something!

  The
other item was a manuballista that Licinius had managed to purloin from a soldier he had gotten drunk and knocked out. Now this was a scary weapon Macronius decided. It had a metal bow and bow string and was cranked by an ingenious cog and ratchet method that enabled it to be fired much more quickly than a regular manuballista. Yes, he would have to show this to the Praetorian Praefect. And he would have to do something about this Arturo Sandus person. Hmmm...