Due to the poor harvest and insufficient supplies, Caesar had to disperse his eight legions over a very vast area of Gaul during the winter. This would reduce transportation consumption and allow better access to food from nearby tribes.

However, this led to the Roman Army being spread thin and somewhat vulnerable.

The Gaul tribes in the Belgium region had only recently allied with Rome. Caesar did not trust them, so he not only stationed a considerable number of troops there but also interfered with the appointment of tribal leaders, causing some tribal nobles to harbor resentment.

After Caesar stationed his troops separately, they saw the opportunity to resist the Romans and secretly contacted several tribes to launch an independent revolt simultaneously.

Fifteen Roman cohorts (including the entire 14th Legion and 5 additional cohorts) stationed at Atuatuca were attacked by a large number of Gaul warriors. The forces, in cowardice, chose to retreat and were subsequently surrounded during their withdrawal. Apart from a few survivors who escaped, the fifteen cohorts were almost entirely annihilated, and both Legion Commanders, Cotta and Sabinius, were killed in battle.

This victory encouraged other Gaul tribes to attack the Roman Army stationed in their territories.

The army led by Quintus Cicero was also besieged. He was the younger brother of the former Governor Cicero and could become Legion Commander only to cement the friendly relations between his brother and Caesar.

Quintus fulfilled his family obligations, but he was not a competent military man. When leading the legion into the winter camp, he was even composing plays.

However, when attacked by the Gauls, he earnestly listened to the advice of his officers, chose not to retreat, and held the fort. He delegated authority to the officers, boosted the morale of his troops during the day, and urged the soldiers to reinforce fortifications at night. He did what a Roman Elder should do.

But more often, the soldiers persuaded him to return to his tent to rest, possibly feeling he was somewhat of a hindrance.

Ten days later, Caesar received the emergency message sent by Quintus, showing that he had not established a comprehensive intelligence system in Gaul.

He immediately realized he must act swiftly to rescue Quintus's forces; otherwise, if the Gauls achieved a second victory, the momentum of the revolt would increase.

Thus, he quickly assembled a force of over seven thousand men without delaying for a moment and marched rapidly north.

This military action was undoubtedly very risky. Caesar's forces were far inferior in number to the Gauls, and his soldiers came from two legions that had been in prolonged combat, suffering from fatigue and significant understaffing, but with courageous actions and excellent command, he ultimately rescued one encircled army after another and repelled the rebellious Gauls.

Then, the entire winter, he did not return south of the Alps to winter as in previous years but stayed in Gaul's camps, wary of any possible unrest among the Gaul tribes at any time.

At the same time, he recruited more new soldiers in the province, forming three new legions, including the previously annihilated 14th Legion. Caesar's forces expanded to ten legions.

By early spring of the next year (53 BC, the twentieth year since the establishment of the Nix Tribe), Caesar initiated retaliatory military actions against the Gaul tribes that had not submitted to him—burning Gaul houses and villages, consuming and destroying their crops and livestock, killing and enslaving them, including the elderly, women, and children.

Yes, this was the cruel scorched earth policy.

Thus, every Gaul village and house was set ablaze by the Roman Army; the cattle and sheep seized were gathered together; the wheat fields were not only consumed by Romans or livestock but also washed away by the torrential rains common this season. And after the Roman Army left, those Gaul people hiding in the mountains and forests, for lack of food, would inevitably starve to death.

Most of that year, Caesar was in Gaul commanding his troops, without fighting any major battles, mainly just destroying.

As a result, northeastern Gaul was severely weakened, many areas turned to desolate wasteland, unlikely to recover for decades.

After military operations ended, Caesar convened another meeting of Gaul leaders, with many attendees.

At the meeting, Caesar accused the noble Aco from the Sinone Tribe of being one of the masterminds behind the revolt, publicly flogged him, and then executed him.

The other leaders were shocked, but no one dared to intercede for him.

Caesar felt satisfied with the leaders' performance, thinking that this time, his swift measures should keep the Gauls quiet for a while.

So for some time thereafter, he even had leisure to continue writing the fifth and sixth volumes of the Gallic War, attributing the annihilation of the fifteen cohorts to the mistaken command of the two Legion Commanders, also interspersing with anecdotes about Gauls and Germans, thereby reducing the offense caused to the Roman public by the scorched earth policy he described in the text.

At this point, he suddenly received news from Rome that an incident in the Eastern Province of Rome would significantly impact his subsequent political career.

In 54 BC (nineteenth year since the establishment of the Nix Tribe), after being appointed governor of Syria, Crassus spent almost more than half a year preparing for military operations.

At the end of the year, his younger son Publius led a thousand Gallian Cavalry to the east to join his father.

Afterward, the father and son commenced the long-awaited invasion of Parthia. After successfully capturing some Parthian fortresses and towns, in spring of the following year, Crassus led seven legions across the Euphrates River, seeking a decisive battle with the enemy's main forces.

Crassus was full of confidence because Lucullus and Pompey had proven in the past how easily Romans could crush Eastern armies vastly superior in strength to themselves.

Near Kale City, the Roman Army encountered ten thousand cavalry led by the young Parthian commander Sulena, and a battle of archers and cavalry against heavy infantry began.

With Sulena's more adequate preparations and the endless arrows from the cavalry, the Roman Army's morale eventually collapsed, almost being annihilated during the retreat, with Publius killed in battle and Crassus captured. The Parthians poured molten gold down his throat, causing him to die in agony.

Thus, the Triumvirate lost one of its members.

Only Crassus's Financial Officer, leading some survivors, returned to Syria and repelled Parthian raids on the province, gaining fame for himself.

His name was Gaius Cassius Longinus.

In this year, Caesar fought in Gaul, Crassus fought in Parthia, and Rome was also in turmoil.

Before the 53 BC consul election, the two candidates united and bribed the "Priority Centurion" and the presiding former consul massively. After the exposure, the public uproared, forcing the election to be postponed to summer of that year, and the Senate had to request the veteran Consul Pompey to oversee the election.

While Romans worried about their country's chaotic political situation, an inconspicuous merchant ship sailed into the port of Massilia.

The merchant ship docked, and from it disembarked the Commerce Officer Onomabatis of the Kingdom of Nix and his entourage, along with more than ten Gaul slaves.

Onomabatis's current public identity was that of a trader from the Illyria Province. Since he had visited this City State a few times before and intentionally befriended the port's bureaucrats, he and his group disembarked without much trouble and stayed at the port inn.

In the following days, he sold goods at his rented stall while dispatching people everywhere to gather information.

Later, he announced that he would sell the remaining goods to the villages outside Massilia City, thus forming a caravan to go out and trade.

Massilia had long been dependent on Rome and enjoyed its military protection, having not encountered war for a long time. The City's guards' military preparedness was slack. Even though Onomabatis's caravan had quite a few Gaul slaves, because in recent years Caesar had conquered Gaul, leading to a massive influx of Gaul slaves into the slave markets of the Northern Three Provinces, the adjacent Massilia was also affected, with every household having several cheap Gaul slaves; thus, the city's guards did not doubt and allowed them to pass easily.

The caravan headed westward, and just before reaching the City State's border in the desolate wilderness, the entire caravan stopped.

Among the slaves originally responsible for driving carriages and guarding goods, three Gaul slaves quickly approached Onomabatis.

Onomabatis looked at them not with the casual indifference a master has toward slaves but with the solemnity of a supervisor assigning tasks to subordinates. He said in a deep voice, "I can only send you this far; the rest is up to you. May the Goddess Danu bless you with success in completing the task assigned by the Great King!"

"Since the Goddess Danu has warned the Great King, She will certainly bless us to complete the task, allowing our Gaul compatriots to be saved!" one slave said with determination, and the other two nodded firmly.

"If... any of you are unfortunate enough to be caught by the Romans, do not forget the oath you swore in the temple!" Onomabatis observed them and reminded them solemnly.

"Rest assured, if we fall into the Romans' hands, we will not utter a word even if it means our destruction!" the three responded in unison, resolutely and decisively.

"Good!" Onomabatis signaled his men to give each person a bag filled with food, water, and a bedroll.

After receiving these, the three solemnly bowed to everyone in the caravan and then quickly disappeared into the forest ahead.

"Let's head back; it's time to buy some things." Onomabatis waved and said, even though he believed the lax city guards of Massilia wouldn't notice the anomaly of the caravan, but this matter was of such importance that no oversight was allowable.

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