Year:537 AD
Eastern Roman Empire
Syracuse
A few hours ago
After victories against the Visigoths in the Iberian Peninsula for control of important ports like that of Malacca, Hispalis, Baelo Claudia and the islands of Ebesus and Palma, all led by the Praefctus classis Nova Romanorum, Lucius Theodosius, great-grandson of Quintus Theodosius.
With his naval skill he put a great humiliation to the Visigoths in the battle of Hispalis, 100 Visigoth warships led by Alaric the invincible against 10 Romulus ships equipped with tar grenades and the fearsome Destructor, a catapult that followed the shape of what would be a proto cannon, being quite revolutionary for a catapult in addition to reaching 500 meters away, something that made the battle a disaster for the Visigothic Kingdom that had to cede all of southern Hispania and the Balearic Islands to the Caesarian Empire, signing the Treaty of Hispalis, making the Visigothic king Teudis cede a good part of their former territory to these Western Romans who lived in lands beyond the sea.
Now with the Western Mediterranean under Roman control again, Lucius Theodosius, on orders from the Caesarian Emperor John I of the Agrippa Dynasty, sent over 50,000 soldiers to aid the Eastern Romans against the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths.
Lucius Theodosius, you can see that the Romans who came to the New World and the Romans who stayed in the Italian peninsula, still spoke Latin and maintained the same phonetics, not using any word of Germanic origin.
Walking through the streets of Syracuse, Lucius finds a boy being attacked by thieves who stole his money and he shouted:
"Help someone stop those thieves!!!" The boy shouts.
Lucius with the soldiers attack the bandits and kill them in a dead end street,Then the soldiers realize that these bandits were actually vandals who remained after the end of their kingdom and were trying to cause chaos in the Italian Peninsula.
Lucius hands the money back to the boy and asks the boy:
"What's your name boy?" Lucius asks.
The boy was a little afraid of what this mysterious soldier wanted with him and replied:
" My name is Gaius Petrus, I am a servant of the Dux of Sicily, I am 14 years old and I work on his farm in this city." Gaius answers.
Lucius chuckles and pats the boy on the back and asks:
"Do you know who I am?" Lucius asks.
The boy shakes his head and Lucius answers the boy:
"I am Lucius Theodosius Junior, I belong to the Theodosian Dynasty, which has as its ancestor the emperor Theodosius I who ruled the Roman Empire when it was unified, however I am from the branch of the family that survived, my great-great-grandfather was Paulus Magnus Theodosius, more than 130 years ago he discovered new lands and from there a significant number of Western Romans moved to our current territory.Our Emperor John I sent us here to help our Eastern Roman brothers to reconquer Italy from the rule of the Ostrogoths of our homeland who possess the blood of Latium running through our veins and that's why we're helping Emperor Justinian to reconquer Italy from the barbarians and who knows, the Iberian Peninsula from the Visigoths." Lucius replies.
The boy was impressed by who was speaking, his parents had told him about a legend that the Romans in the apocalyptic 5th century ventured into the sea and discovered new lands, but a few years before the Fall of Rome, they never returned and they were called "Filii Theodosii".
Then the boy gets excited and asks Lucius:
"What is it like to live there? Are there monsters in the sea? And are there monsters in the territory you live in?" Gaius asks.
Lucius starts laughing at the questions young Gaius asks and answers:
"There are no monsters on the high seas or anything like that, since I made commercial voyages crossing unknown lands with ships until I reached the Red Sea and I say with all certainty, there are no monsters and about what it's like to live in our nation, it's as if we were discovering a new world and we discover every day a new people, many of whom live a tribal life like the Germanic tribes and Huns. We discovered several foods and fruits that only exist there, such as blueberries, for example.We export these spices to our Eastern Roman brothers and to the Persians, this is how our people are sustaining themselves without needing so much support from Constantinople. "Lucius answers.
With this answer, young Gaius is struck by how different the Romans from the lands beyond the sea were from the Romans who remained in Italy, so he kneels before Lucius and begs:
"Please take me away from here, I know how to write and read, the ancient Ostrogothic governors chose young men who had the ability to read and write, I was the only one from this city to be chosen.Then the Eastern Romans arrived and now I am a servant of the Dux of Sicily, but I do not want to stay in this world of chaos and brutality, my parents were killed by the Ostrogoths after they suspected of having Eastern Roman agents spreading rumors.Now I know that Theodosius' sons are not a legend, I can serve in anything from cleaner to rower, just take me away from here."Gaius begs.
Lucius saw that this young man had potential that could be used to increase the Caesarian Empire's technological innovation capability, so he spoke:
"I recognize the potential of someone who stands out from the rest, I know that for a peasant any chance of improving his life, he would leave the countryside to live in another land and knowing this I will talk to the Dux of Sicily to see what our agreement will be regarding his departure from Sicily." Lucius spoke.
With that, Lucius and his soldiers went to a hotel in the city to rest from the trip they had and went to sleep.
Syracuse
One day later
Finally, after a few hours of debating with the Dux of Sicily, Lucius was able to say that for what he earned from his commercial trips crossing unknown lands and accumulating large sums of money, the deal was at least fair, so he sealed the deal with a handshake and said:
"Dear Dux of Sicily, I assure you that this young man would not be of much use for complex matters, he is just a peasant who memorized a few words in Latin and already thinks he is Marcus Aurelius,my Emperor John I, sent us in addition to helping the Eastern Romans reconquer Rome from the Ostrogoths, it was also to maintain relations with the slave owners and this young man will work on a corn farm in New Julian owned by a friend of mine, so here is my simple support for the reconquest of Italy, 100 gold coins and a box with spices from my land." Said Lucius.
The Dux of Sicily was impressed by the amount of gold and spices and gave him an imperial letter granting the sale of young Gaius and after that Lucius left the Dux's administrative headquarters.
Young Gaius was already on the Romulus and after he learned that he was now free from being Dux's servant, as soon as Lucius entered the Romulus he thanked him with a handshake and Lucius said:
"You are now considered my slave, so don't show too many signs of joy, it would be too obvious that I am stealing people with great potential, until you are in the Caesarian Empire you must be treated as a slave, this ship will leave for New Rome full of supplies and some animals, one of my soldiers will go with you to take you to my house, I hope you have understood that In the Caesarian Empire, you will at least have a chance to have a better life, whereas here in the Old World you might be a servant your whole life, if you don't have this potential that I saw in you, maybe you "I don't think you'll become some accountant or civil servant, but I hope my instincts are right and you'll be something much greater than a lying peasant." Lucius said.
Young Gaius is still impressed by how different he was from the Eastern Romans and the Ostrogoths, so he says:
"I will not disappoint you my lord, I will be useful in the Caesarian Empire and I will use all my intelligence to raise the new homeland of the Romans, count on my loyalty to Emperor John I and to Caesarian Empire to become as great as Rome was in its glory days." Gaius spoke.
Lucius leaves the ship and the ship leaves a few minutes later, on that same day in Rome, King Totila sacks the Eternal City and causes even more wear and tear on the past of the city that was considered the capital of the world.
A few weeks later, Lucius's naval force destroys the Ostrogothic navy and a part of the Frankish navy at the Battle of Sienna.On land, the Caesarian army humiliated the Ostrogothic army in the battle of Latium in which 1,000 grenadiers and 4 Destructors defeated 7,000 soldiers, this being the greatest victory of the Caesarian army in the Reconquest of Italy, in terms of battles without the help of the Eastern Romans.
The young Gaius Petrus, ten years from now, would invent the world's first preservative, meaning that meat that previously rotted could now be carried on the ship for up to 75 days before it could be consumed by the population, this caused meat sales to soar with the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid Empire becoming major consumers of meat from the Caesarian Empire.In the year 560, Gaius introduced the steel plow into agriculture and the first fertilizer made from chemical materials that were available at the time, thus there was a great food revolution in which he made gain the title of Dux of New Latium and this would become the most prosperous province of the Caesarian Empire, second only to New Rome.
Gaius Petrus married a daughter of a wealthy merchant, his wife's name was Helena Flavia Maria, thus he became Gaius Petrus Flavius, Dux of New Latium and the first of what would be the Flavian dynasty whose most illustrious descendants were Leo Flavius Junior or Leo I, the first emperor who ruled over the entire East Coast and founder of New Cyprus.