Heir of Aurelian

Chapter 88 Maintaining Order in Gaul

In the borders of Roman Gaul sat a village that was mostly inhabited by the families of the Frankish warriors who had perished in Hispania. These men and women were now in open rebellion against Marcellus’ rule after besting Constantine, and slaughtering his army in the Pyrenees. Ordius stood at the rear of his army. Marcellus had given him roughly 12,000 men to secure the region of Gaul and to use them as a means to remove the local Franks as punishment for their crimes.

The Franks who had settled in Gaul, despite being foederati of Rome for decades, had sided with Constantine and his rebellion. In doing so, they had turned their backs on Rome. Marcellus was a man who would not let treason go unpunished, and as a result, he decided to expel the Franks who still dwelled within Roman borders.

It just so happened that these Franks were unwilling to move back to Germania. After all, the other Germanic tribes were more powerful than they were. Should they return to their ancestral homeland, their peers would only bully them. As a result, an armed insurrection had taken place in Gaul. Something Marcellus had already anticipated.

The Frankish villagers had taken up whatever arms they had buried in rebellion against Ordius, and the new military dictatorship that was imposed upon them. They gathered in their villages, and fortified them with wagons and felled logs as makeshift defenses. Currently, Ordius and the first of his two legions were standing off on the other side of these fortifications, raining arrows down upon the villagers. As for his other legion, they were deployed under a subordinate to quell another area of unrest._.

Ordius sighed as he saw the Franks fall to the wayside, as the raining arrows plunged into their bodies and skewered their organs. Such a pointless loss of life, or so he thought. It was evident that most of Franks’ hardened warriors had died in Hispania. These men and women who currently took up arms were simple farmers. They were not the battle-hardened veterans that the Franks were renowned for. Or at least those who were west of the Rhine.

Few men wore armor, and most used poorly maintained shields and crude spears as their weapons. When compared to the Ranks of the Roman Legions, they were lacking in every way. At the front of these fortifications was a Roman battering ram, which was slowly bashing away at the wagons, pushing them aside so that the legionaries could break through and slaughter the enemy.

Eventually, the wagons were smashed to pieces by the hardened iron battering ram, and the Roman legions flooded into the village like a tidal wave of red and silver, their iron scale armor glimmering under the light of the sun. Steel plunged through the flesh of the Frankish citizens and reaped their lives. Once the main defensive line had been broken, those poor souls who had rebelled quickly routed. But there was nowhere to go, as the rebels had blockaded themselves within their town. All they could do was a struggle until the bitter end.

The Legions did not break formation; they were well trained, and raised their shields as they pressed through the city. Working together in unison like a well-oiled machine as they plunged their steel spatha in to the torsos of their enemies. One by one, the Franks fell to the Roman onslaught. This wasn’t a battle, or even a rebellion, just another slaughter. Ordius could hardly gaze upon the gore, as the streets of the town flowed red with the blood of its inhabitants.

Those who were of Gallo-Roman descent hid within their homes and boarded up their windows, doing nothing to come to the defense of their barbarian neighbors. Though Ordius didn’t enjoy massacring villages, his orders were to bring the region of Gaul under his control, and as the Military Governor that was what he intended to do, no matter what the cost.

By the time the sun set in the evening, the stench of blood and bile filled the streets. The Franks who had rebelled against Marcellus’ authority lie dead, their bodies hewn across the town. There was no mercy for those who resisted the authority of the Emperor. Ordius sifted through the blood-soaked streets with a downcast expression, gazing upon the corpse of a young blonde girl who clutched a stuffed doll to her chest.

His heart bled as he witnessed the loss of such an innocent life. He wanted to condemn whatever man had put innocent children to the sword, but there way no way to find out that man’s identity. Eventually, he found a group of his men surrounding a smaller group of women and girls. The women had been stripped naked, and were crying with tears as the legionaries were about to force themselves upon them. That is, until the voice of the Military Governor erupted in fury behind them.

“What is going on here?”

The Centurion in charge of his unit gazed upon Ordius without the slightest sense of guilt or fear in his eyes. Instead, he wore a proud expression on his face as he held onto a girl as young as thirteen.

“Legatus? We were just taking advantage of the spoils before taking them as slaves. You know how it is!”

Ordius was displeased with this remark, and instantly unsheathed his blade and stuck it through the man’s unarmored neck. The Centurion gazed in shock as the life faded from his eyes. His soldiers were immediately frightened upon seeing this and took a few steps back. Ordius quickly gave a command to his troops as he scolded them.

“Get dressed, and keep yours hands off of the merchandise! Who gave you permission to claim the spoils as your own? Are you a filthy barbarian? We are Romans! And we have rules of conduct we must abide by! You do not get to do as you please to the defeated. Do I make myself clear?”

The soldiers all nodded their heads in approval as they heard this. They were too frightened to make a comment on what the Legatus had said. After saying this, Ordius scowled before continuing his journey through the streets of the town.

By now, the Gallo-Roman citizens had descended from their hiding spots and began to thank the Roman legionaries for their mercy. As for Ordius, he made sure that his Legion acted with the strictest discipline. Though this slaughter could have been avoided had the Franks only done as they were told. He did not want any unnecessary cruelty to be inflicted upon them.

Thus, while Marcellus was planning to meet with Sigefrida’s eldest brother in an attempt to gain the Suebi as Foederati. Ordius begun to ensure that his troops did not behave like the Barbarians they were sent to remove. He also ensured that an unnecessary slaughter like this would never happen under his command again.

Many of these legionaries were drunk on power after their first victory, and now believed they could behave as they damn well pleased. They would soon learn under the lash of the Legatus Gaius Licinius Ordius that this was not the case.

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