Caesar Ascending-India Limited Edition Read online

  Caesar Ascending—India

  Limited Edition

  By R.W. Peake

  Also by R.W Peake

  Marching With Caesar® – Birth of the 10th

  Marching With Caesar – Conquest of Gaul

  Marching With Caesar – Civil War

  Marching With Caesar – Antony and Cleopatra, Parts I & II

  Marching With Caesar – Rise of Augustus

  Marching With Caesar – Last Campaign

  Marching With Caesar – Rebellion

  Marching With Caesar – A New Era

  Marching With Caesar – Pax Romana

  Marching With Caesar – Fraternitas

  Marching With Caesar – Vengeance

  Marching With Caesar – Rise of Germanicus

  Marching With Caesar – Revolt of the Legions

  Caesar Triumphant

  Caesar Ascending – Invasion of Parthia

  Caesar Ascending – Conquest of Parthia

  Critical praise for the Marching with Caesar series:

  Marching With Caesar-Antony and Cleopatra: Part I-Antony

  “Peake has become a master of depicting Roman military life and action, and in this latest novel he proves adept at evoking the subtleties of his characters, often with an understated humour and surprising pathos. Very highly recommended.”

  Marching With Caesar-Civil War

  "Fans of the author will be delighted that Peake’s writing has gone from strength to strength in this, the second volume...Peake manages to portray Pullus and all his fellow soldiers with a marvelous feeling of reality quite apart from the star historical name... There’s history here, and character, and action enough for three novels, and all of it can be enjoyed even if readers haven’t seen the first volume yet. Very highly recommended."

  ~The Historical Novel Society

  “The hinge of history pivoted on the career of Julius Caesar, as Rome’s Republic became an Empire, but the muscle to swing that gateway came from soldiers like Titus Pullus. What an amazing story from a student now become the master of historical fiction at its best.”

  ~Professor Frank Holt, University of Houston

  Caesar Ascending—India, Limited Edition by R.W. Peake

  Copyright © 2018 by R.W. Peake

  Smashwords Edition

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Artwork Copyright © 2018 R. W. Peake

  All Rights Reserved

  Foreword

  With Caesar and his army’s foray into India, I went along with them, after a fashion, both of us delving into territory about which we knew precious little. And, like Caesar, I know that I’ve probably made blunders that readers with more knowledge of ancient India might find inexcusable; if that’s the case, I offer my sincere apology and ask forgiveness. While ancient Parthia certainly wasn’t in my wheelhouse, so to speak, there was enough commonality and source material with which I was familiar that I didn’t feel like I was drowning. Such was not the case with India, or at least, so I believed going into it, but although it’s been several years ago now, I went through what I call one of my phases, where I immerse myself completely into an era of history and absorb as much as I can before I move on to something else. And, fortunately, because of my interest in the campaigns of the Macedonian king Alexander, I had a fair amount of research material, at least to begin with. However, like Alexander’s original ambition, Caesar’s plan for India meant that I had to expand my horizons, so to speak, and at least become more familiar with the India of the First Century BCE.

  I will say that one real surprise was just how extensive, and how far south Greek influence extended along the western coast of India, over and above what Alexander and his conquering army brought with him, but it did help me, and by extension Caesar in crafting this story of what will be the beginning of his invasion of India. Both Pattala (modern Thala) and Bargosa (modern Bharuch) were Macedonian/Greek settlements, although the former was by conquest and the latter was an important trading center even before Alexander that was also conquered by a Macedonian. Aside from this information, however, I found it extremely difficult to locate any artwork or representations of the architectural style, so my assertion that both cities were laid out in the grid style popularized by Alexander and copied by Rome is purely conjecture on my part. What proved even more difficult for me was trying to determine what were the dominant aspects of society; specifically, administration, governance and religion, so again, my depiction of a mixture of Greek and native Indian customs is also my attempt, however poor, to offer my best guess. Militarily was more of a straightforward matter, but again, it’s based in my supposition that, since Pattala was invested by Macedon to the point where Hephaestion built the citadel, and given how far north it was, their military was organized and trained in the more familiar style of the Pezhaitoroi, using the sarissa, while the forces of Bharuch commanded by Abhiraka are more of a blend of Eastern and Western influences.

  Concerning the King of Bharuch, Abhiraka, he was a real man, of a group called the Western Satraps, who were considered Indo-Scythians by Greek and Roman contemporary writers, but here was another place I took some liberties by moving him back about a century, only because I was unable to pin down who came before him other than the name Higaraka. Therefore, Abhiraka is now the King of Bharuch (which I simplified from the more accurate Bhragukutchh) and the commander of what will be the stiffest challenge yet faced by Caesar, Titus Pullus, and their comrades in the Roman army. My figure of two hundred elephants wasn’t completely arbitrary; in Strabo’s Geography there is mention of kings who commanded an army with a thousand elephants, while it’s known that Porus fielded more than eighty against Alexander during the Battle of the Hydaspes. Given what’s in store for the Romans, I decided that a force of two hundred of these superweapons of the ancient world would be a formidable challenge without being unbeatable during the first encounter with them.

  Keen-eyed readers will notice that one of the things that I am consciously attempting to convey is the kind of challenges that I believe Caesar and the army would actually be confronted with as this campaign becomes more about Caesar’s ambitions than its original goal of subduing Parthia and recovering Crassus’ standards. As readers of the first two books know, the challenges posed by the Parthians consisted of their cataphractoi, the use of naphtha (again, my conjecture), and finally, the difficulties posed when facing former comrades in the form of the Crassoi.

  With Caesar’s invasion of India, there are new challenges, and the first of them is based on a truism of military professionals; amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics, and the first thing for me as the author was to look at what would have been a stunningly difficult logistical problem. How would the commander of a massive army in size and power transport and supply that army over a distance of thousands of miles? The overland route from Susa to Harmozeia alone is 710 miles, although that includes the distance from Istakhr to the underwater city of Gur, then the overland route from Gur to Harmozeia. As much as possible, I try to approach the stories I create with an eye towards using everything I have learned about military science over the previous 47 years, ever since I read Basil Liddell-Hart’s strategy as a very strange twelve-year-old, which is why Caesar foregoes any attempt to subdue Sogdiana, Bactria and those tribesmen who proved to be such a thorn in the Macedonian king’s side, along with the incredibly challenging terrain. Also, since this is actually the beginning of the story that I completed with Caesar Triumphant, I feel constraine
d by the idea of working within the framework of the world in which Caesar lives ten years after the Ides, which is when CT opens, particularly the events that I described in CT that occurred prior to that moment. Having said that, I have also realized that I need to make some minor tweaks to the end of the story to better align with the beginning, but the one common thread through all of these stories is the recognition that it’s one thing to lead a force to a distant land, and another thing entirely to support it once it’s there. Consequently, I envisioned the creation of a series of logistical supply points, with the fictional Caesarea, the historical Harmozeia and Barbarikon (Barbaricum), a chain that will diminish in importance as Caesar and his army adapt to what is an increasingly foreign environment and learn to live off the land. Another challenge, and one with which I have had a bit of experience, is how the Romans would cope with more tropical conditions, particularly after spending two years operating in the climate of modern-day Iraq and Iran, and the toll that it might take on men and equipment. Growing up in what, as much as I love my hometown of Houston, is pretty much a malarial swamp on the Gulf Coast of Texas, I’m familiar with things like mold, mildew, and humidity that’s so high you never really dry out, and I can only imagine what it was like for men whose clothing at that point was made of wool, who lived under leather tents, and what a sapping effect that would have on morale and efficiency. It’s just another problem that Caesar is going to have to sort out if he hopes to keep his army with him and continuing their march eastward, to the end of the world.

  What proved to be an equally daunting challenge, albeit in a tactical sense, was how would the Legions of Rome face and defeat the armored elephants of India? The battle of Thapsus notwithstanding, the test posed by facing a force of armored, well-trained, and well-supported elephants is the major new trial facing Titus Pullus and his fellow Legionaries. While the Asian elephant is significantly smaller than its African cousin, they are also more trainable and less volatile, which is why the kings and rulers of the various Indian kingdoms understandably invested so heavily in the cultivation and employment of these animals. Between their armor, the crew who rode on their back, and the massive power of the animals themselves, it’s easy to see why they were the superweapon of their day, and just because of their expense, were symbols of prestige and power. So the question became…how would the Romans defeat these potent weapons? Well, dear readers, you will have to read to find out!

  As always, my thanks go to Beth Lynne, my longtime editor, although it’s also a bittersweet occasion because my equally longtime cover artist Marina Shipova has moved on to other endeavors, so my heartfelt thanks goes to her for all that she’s done for Titus and his creator. So, with this new cover, I’d like to thank Todd Marshall for ushering in a new look to the world of Caesar Ascending. I would also like to thank Dr. Lee Young, DVM, who happens to be an old high school classmate of mine with whom I reconnected, thanks to the wonders of social media, but more importantly for this project, served as a veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo, and whose brain I picked about the elephants who play such an important role in this story, and those to come.

  Finally, thanks to you, my readers, for your patience and support as I try to create stories that you find compelling; I appreciate each and every one of you.

  Semper Fidelis,

  R.W. Peake

  December, 2018

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Bonus Chapter

  Chapter One

  Titus Pullus was bored; there was really no other way to describe the feeling he had, which meant that his Greek servant and good friend Diocles bore the brunt of his irritation.

  “What on Gaia’s Earth,” the Primus Pilus of the 10th Legion, more famously known as The Equestrians, “is Caesar doing? What’s he waiting for?”

  “Maybe,” Diocles replied mildly, “he’s waiting because he’s not as certain that Parthia has been conquered as he wants everyone to believe.”

  “That might be true,” Pullus acknowledged grudgingly, “but he should have prepared for this.”

  “He’s not a god,” Diocles’ tone was patient, but this wasn’t the first time he had heard this complaint, “and the Parthians still have some say in the matter.”

  This was something that Pullus knew he couldn’t argue. He was also aware, mainly through Diocles and because of the Greek’s relationship with Apollodorus, how assiduously Caesar had been working to achieve a state where he could lead his Legions east from Susa without an overwhelming probability that, as soon as they were gone, the remnants of the Parthian nobility would take advantage of his absence. And, while Pullus didn’t know the details, he knew that Caesar was trying to achieve stability within what was now called Parthia Inferior, not through shedding the blood of his Legions, but through the liberal application of gold. What neither Pullus nor any of the other Primi Pili of Caesar’s army knew was how successful their general had been over the winter and into the first two months of the new year. Given the scope of what Caesar planned for this season, this was why Pullus was chafing at every day of delay, an impatience that his general shared, but he was willing to sacrifice a month or two if it meant that the army could march without the prospect of having to turn around and march back. Ever since he had revealed his intention to take his army to India, the Centurions, and to a lesser extent their Optios, had all struggled to explain to their men why they were doing so, which had become by far the most common question being asked by the rankers. This was far from the only challenge facing the Romans, but once Caesar had decided that his pacification of Parthia wasn’t going to be with the sword, but through another means, he was determined to see it through, leaving the army in a state of constant tension about when they would depart. And, thanks to the massive wealth that was now back in Susa, recovered from Sostrate, and augmented by funds from Egypt that Cleopatra provided, knowing that she didn’t have any choice in the matter, Caesar had essentially bought the pacification of Parthia with the last of the Parthian nobility who had either escaped after Kambyses’ ill-fated attempt to break through to Susa, or had been left behind in their satrapy for some reason. Thanks to Bodroges, who had originally harbored private ambitions to wrest control of the Parthian throne back from Caesar once he departed with his army, but in the intervening months had forced himself to accept some hard realities, Caesar learned a fair bit of information about those Parthians who were still at large, or at least about the clans and families to which these men belonged.

  The day after the Crassoi, under the nominal command of Marcus Lepidus, but who was being monitored by Caesar’s other nephew Quintus Pedius, departed for Merv, he had sent armed parties out across the vast empire, carrying a message, which was fairly straightforward. When the flowery language that seemed to be a requirement for every form of communication in the East was stripped away, Caesar was making a simple proposal; in exchange for pledging that they wouldn’t try to usurp Roman rule, those satraps who did so would not only be allowed to remain in possession of their ancestral lands, he promised to double the annual revenue those lands produced. That he was able to do so wasn’t just because he had possession of the Parthian treasury; Bodroges had seen this moment as his opportunity to ingratiate himself with Caesar, and he had proven to be a veritable treasure trove of information about Parthian nobility. What Caesar learned was that the satrapy of Ecbatana was now in the hands of Valash, who had been left behind by his father when the Parthian lord had taken his drafsh of troops, as commanded by Orodes, the King of Kings, to join the spad led by the crown prince Pacorus. On the face of matters, this was straightforward, but Bodroges was able to provide valuable context about the real cause for Valash being
left behind.

  “Valash’s father despised his son,” Bodroges had explained, “because the son wasn’t ambitious enough to suit his father. Nor was he particularly…martial.” Bodroges had chosen the word carefully, but Caesar pounced on it.

  “So this Valash is a coward,” Caesar said, but, despite having thrown himself behind the Roman cause, Bodroges, who knew Valash personally, shook his head.

  “No, Lord…Caesar,” he still occasionally slipped, and while he didn’t really understand why Romans eschewed such conventions, Bodroges was determined to remember, and he hurried on, “I would not call Valash a coward. He is just…” Bodroges thought for a moment, then offered, “I just believe there are some men who do not lust for battle as much as other men, but not because they are cowards.”

  Bodroges would never know that his words struck a chord with Caesar in a manner even more impactful than the Parthian had intended, as the Roman instantly thought of his nephew Octavian, who at that moment was heading for Susa to take command there and rule in Caesar’s absence. In fact, Bodroges had unconsciously echoed almost the exact words that Ventidius had said about Octavian, after his miserable performance with Ventidius and the cavalry at the battle where Pacorus had been slain by Titus Pullus. Consequently, Caesar didn’t press Bodroges to expand, signaling that the Parthian continue, and the young courtier had to think for a moment, trying to recall more about Valash.