Both men had descended several hundred of steps by the cliffs in order to see better the column that was entering the valley, still very far from them. The rest of the legionaries had been ordered to hide behind the rocks and to cover their swords, helmets, spears, and every other object that might cast a metallic glow even in the uncertain light of the weak sun. A couple of men had been sent to warn the rest of the cohort, who ascended the ridge behind them, of the disturbing sighting by Sallustius. In fact, the other four thin centuries that comprised the cohort were advancing behind them with several hours of delay.
The signifer pointed his finger at a new group of men emerging from the canyon where the newcomers were advancing. In this group there were men on horseback, palanquins in which those who were without doubt the hierarchs in charge of all the formation were carried and profusion of cloth banners that fluttered in the wind. The whole, still seen from afar, had a festive air, enhanced by the ample and colorful clothes of some of the characters. Lucius thought for a moment, and then said.
"In spite of the long line of spearmen preceding them they do not look like a military detachment. Rather it resembles a parade that would be more appropriate in a public square, and not in this dangerous gorge.”
"Do you know who they are?" The centurion asked, patting his forehead as if he had solved an enigma.
"No, I've never seen anything like it”.
"They are Chinese, undoubtedly commanded by some important character." Flavius significantly looked at his subordinate and friend. "And you know what that means?"
"I'm confused."
"That we have reached the very gates of the Celestial Empire and that therefore we are leaving Parthian territory”.
"Is that good or bad?"
“I do not know if it will be good, but it certainly will not be worse than being prisoners of our captors.”
Year 38 a.C. - Gobi Desert
At the sight of the stream, the men had stripped themselves of their helmets, armor and clothing, and had entered naked into the murky waters. Since they had descended from the mountain range controlled by the Chinese the two Roman cohorts of five centuries each had entered a moor of stones that progressively transformed into a desert. The century commanded by the centurion Flavius Tullius headed the painful march. For more than a month the only available water came from brackish and shallow wells so the liquid had always been scarce.
One day, after a suffocating morning, a sandstorm had unleashed covering literally the sky and preventing every man from seeing his own hands and feet. The legionaries had marched in this way for hours until they reached a few rocks that sheltered them from the scourge of the wind and the rocky projectiles carried by it, allowing them to rest until the next morning when the end of the storm finally arrived. Flavius Tullius got up very early and headed for the highest dune that the wind had formed the night before to get an idea of the situation in which they were. As the dawn lights spread across the wide landscape, the centurion turned his gaze to the four cardinal directions. The plain looked unbroken in all directions, with only a few distant hills to the east at a distance Tullius could not ascertain. Nowhere were there traces of the remaining Roman centuries ... or of their Chinese captors. The centurion returned to the rocks where the legionaries had already risen and were lighting fires. On the way back Flavius was thinking what he would explain to his men. With no trace of the Chinese the centuria had lost its guides ... but could have found the desired freedom. They would go to those distant mountains he had glimpsed to the east.
Year 37 BC – Celestial Empire
Flavius Tullius crouched behind the rocks at the gorge entrance. At the summits of the elevations he guessed the presence of the enemy archers, and had also detected at a bend in the middle of the canyon the signs of what was doubtless an ambush of the fearsome Tibetan horsemen followed by the hordes of their infants. The centurion returned to positions held outside the gorge by his ally, General Chen Tang, commissioned by the Chinese Emperor's personal representative to support him in the mission entrusted to eliminate the Tibetan mercenaries from the frontier territory of the Celestial Empire. Chen Tang watched him from a distance, and Tullius nodded.
The Chinese infantry began to advance by the cannon under a shower of arrows that produced innumerable casualties among the first rows of soldiers but the Tibetan archers had to expose their situation to make use of their arms and were at the same time target of Roman and Chinese archers that advanced to the rear of the infantry vanguard. Slowly the cliffs were cleared of rebels and the Chinese formation progressed through the narrow valley leaving the space covered with corpses of both sides. The Tibetans on the heights were now capped by the Chinese and their bodies thrown into the void.
Tullius watched the advance approaching the bend where he knew the Tibetan cavalry and infantry were lurking and at a point ordered his men to advance trotting behind the Chinese soldiers. Timing was critical to avoid carnage of his allies.
The Chinese vanguard approached fateful twist the unnoticed of what awaited him. At one point a black cloud rose from the earth to the sky produced by a thousand horse hulls spurred in unison by their horsemen. The mounted horde suddenly fell upon the Chinese soldiers, slaughtering countless of them in their charge while a large number of Tibetan infantry followed them with their various weapons.
The sound of a horn rumbled in the narrow gorge, and at the agreed signal the Chinese opened up backing into the recesses of the mountain, and the riders suddenly faced a sinister rectangular creature approaching toward them. In their uncontrollable thrust the Tibetans lashed out at the monster that did not exhibit externally visible features coming at close range from it. Again a horn was heard in the valley reverberating its echo between the slopes and as by a reflex act two hundred spears emerged from the closed formation strumming the riders and their horses that rolled in a horrible orgy of blood and mud. The thrust of the Tibetan cavalry had been crushed and their hosts scattered. The Chinese on the side of the mountain fell on the survivors, exterminating them mercilessly. The strange creature continued advancing on the infantry massacring the terrified Tibetans who only managed to try to flee. The feet of the legionaries advanced on a cover of lifeless bodies like an infernal machine.
The commander of the Tibetans had been captured alive but seriously wounded. His horrified eyes had seen his horde torn apart by that bizarre warlike formation. The rebels had been defeated by the testudo or turtle, that rectangular squadron covered by the great and heavy shields of the Roman legionaries, who advanced at a slow pace covering their bodies to the front, the sides and above from the arrows, stones, javelins and enemy swords, and from which the spears came forth at once, and then the sabers to kill all that was outside the formation. Putting this tactic into action required an accuracy that was the product of a long practice in countless battles.
Flavius Tullius smiled. He approached his men to determine his own casualties, which were relatively few. He knew that with that decisive victory he had fulfilled what was required by the Emperor's representative, and now he was in a position to claim the agreed prize. The Emperor had assigned them a portion of the territory to found a village for his legionaries, exhausted by the struggles of a quarter of a century. They would also be given slaves to serve them and concubines to the soldiers, and they would be granted an annual pay to meet all their needs. In return, the Romans had to monitor a border portion securing the trade routes of the Chinese Empire against threats from the Gobi Desert.
Year 36 BC – Celestial Empire
The Han dynasty then prevailing in China sent one of its best generals called Gan Yanshou to the western border of the empire in order to fight nomads that devastated what is nowadays the Chinese Province of Xingiang. This area is geographically separated from Bactriana - where the Roman legion survived - by the Pamir Mountain Range.
After a prolonged forced service under the Parthian yoke part of the Roman troops that had left the territory in which they were
captive moved to the interior of the territory of the Celestial Empire, getting in contact and fighting against the Chinese troops of Gan Yanshou that was left impressed by their discipline and courage. Indeed, in the battle of Zhizhi in present-day Uzbekistan, the Chinese captured white soldiers fighting by forming the "testudos" or turtles placing their shields as armor around their infants and over their heads in a way that was practically impenetrable for the arrows and stones thrown by their enemies as was described above. This formation was characteristic of the Roman legions.
General Gan finally decided to put the legionaries in his service and sent them eastwards, in order to protect an area of the Great Wall which at that time was already built to contain the nomadic invaders. In those days a village called Liqian was founded, Chinese name that had possible phonetic reminiscences coming from the word Legion. In that area the Roman soldiers fought against the Tibetans and other warlike tribes that fought to invade the Chinese Empire.
China is today a country with a remarkable racial homogeneity, since more than 90% of its inhabitants belong to the Han ethnic group, which in turn constitute 20% of the total world population. However there are pockets of populations of different origin in its vast territory. Particularly in the tiny Liqian, a good part of the population exhibits physical characteristics remarkably different from those of the Chinese population, including taller bodies, blue or green eyes and brown hair, as well as prominent noses, that denote mixture with another racial origin. Genetic studies carried out, although incomplete, conclude by attributing an Indo-European origin higher than 50% to the genetic load of those inhabitants. Archaeological findings made in the area coincide with these conclusions, since ruins of fortifications similar to those realized by the Romans at that time were found.
Chapter 2
He had spent the previous two days visiting as much as possible of the city of Beijing, including a brief stroll through the Forbidden City and a sightseeing, which although selectively showed what the Chinese want to exhibit gave him at least an idea of the magnitude of the gigantic city. He had promised himself to return before going to Europe in order to complete the visit to the Palace Museum, although this was an almost impossible task to carry out fully on a brief visit.
Now he had packed his bags and was eagerly waiting for his host and guide in China to show up. In a couple of opportunities he thought that the expected person had come in front of him, middle-aged Chinese men, who in his fantasy had the appearance of university professors. In one case he stood up in order to greet him but the candidates passed by to the hotel refectory where breakfast was being served. He began to get nervous fearing that the organizers of his trip had forgotten about the appointment they had made with him what would have meant having made the long trip from Venice to Beijing in vain. As he meditated over all these things, his eyes absentmindedly followed an Oriental woman walking through the hotel lobby. Much taller than the rest of the women, and even than most of the men passing through the busy hallway, her silhouette stood out by her slim, well-groomed appearance. Ivo began to encourage the illusion that she laid her eyes upon him but shook his head not to encourage false hopes. With surprise he noticed that the woman, once in the middle of the lobby, looked in every direction as if looking for someone and unexpectedly made her way towards him without hesitation. The young man looked at her a little disoriented as she approached and extended her hand.
"Mr. Bianchi, I suppose." She said in English. "I'm Dr. Zhou."
Surprised, the man jumped to his feet and shook her hand. In spite of being six feet two, he noticed that the lady was at his eye level.
"Doc ...?" Ah! Yes. Nice to meet you, I'm Ivo Bianchi all right.”
"Zhou Lian," the young woman replied. "Or perhaps for you Lian Zhou." She looked with his slanted eyes the face of the man who could not recover of his surprise. "My name is Lian ... you can call me that." Then with a slight pout added. “Sorry, unlike many Chinese women I do not use a Western nickname, such as Lucy, Nancy or Susan.”
“No no. Lian is absolutely fine." Ivo tried to get out of his surprise and smiled." It's ... musical.”
For some mysterious reason, this statement produced a loud laughter to the woman whose sound also seemed melodious to the interlocutor.
"I have an SUV waiting at the door with a driver. Are you ready to go out?”
“Yes Yes. I´ve already paid the hotel bill. "Ivo realized that if he did not get out of his state of stupor he would seem stupid.
"Allow me to help you with your luggage." Dr. Zhou said.
"Absolutely no, thanks. I can carry everything. It is not a big deal.”
Once the suitcases were loaded into the vehicle the driver, a young man who only spoke Chinese and laughed all the time approached the traveler. The Italian extended his hand one more, which the driver shook with a little surprise.
"Dong was born and lives in the area we're headed to. It is not a cosmopolitan region like Beijing or Shanghai and therefore he is not accustomed to deal with foreigners or their familiarities. But he knows the route and the region to which we are going.”
Lian's voice was soft and indeed harmonious and spoke English with a slight Chinese accent. Ivo would later discover that she had lived four years in San Francisco in her childhood, accompanying an uncle, a manager of a Chinese state-owned overseas trading company. The boy was staring at Lian's face, though he tried not to be intrusive. It was a perfect oval and her features were delicate and feminine forming a beautiful ensemble. Her body was slender and elegant, an impression her height enhanced. The Italian felt the embarrassment that her nearness caused him.
The trip lasted twenty hours and was done in two stages, so they had to stop at a rather humble inn on the way. As Lian apologized for the strenuous trip the young man explained that he used to travel backpacking all over Europe so that he was accustomed to all kinds of discomforts. The talk between them became fluid so that both could exchange news and form a general opinion about the other.
Zhou Lian was three years older than the boy, had obtained her diploma of anthropologist and had worked doing studies in her professional area for diverse Chinese universities in communities of the Desert of Gobi, and already had been years before in the general zone where Liqian stands although for a few days. When Ivo asked her what institution the girl was working for, she gave the name of an office dependent of the University of Beijing dedicated to ethnic studies.
Watching and listening to the woman gave Ivo a special pleasure. Her gentle voice and a pleasant tone were relaxing and her face constantly attracted the young man's eyes much to his regret.
<< God, how beautiful she is! >> He thought trying to keep her thoughts and feelings from being too obvious.
Ivo had noticed that even when the woman spoke to him she avoided looking directly into his eyes, which he attributed to some real or feigned shyness of well-bred Eastern women. Unable to contain himself, he heard himself expressing his desires aloud.
“Come on! Give me a look.”
The surprise was mutual and the man's face was stained with flush for not being able to control his impulses, but the message fulfilled his purpose. Obviously flattered Lian focused her eyes on him and kept gazing. They both felt that a thin sheet of ice created between them for cultural reasons had been broken. The girl had a beautiful smile and Ivo had to react to not appear as an enthralled fool.
"Sorry, I..." He did not know how to go on with the sentence but he did not have to; Lian burst into a cheerful laugh that showed that the event had been liberating for her too. Her hand settled for a moment on Ivo's, the first non-formal physical contact between them.
The rest of the long journey became more bearable. Although she had been in Europe before, Lian was very curious about Milan, the man's hometown, and especially of Venice, and asked him to tell his experiences in the city, which Ivo did selectively, so he avoided talking about his relationship with Federica, who was actually the source of most of his experiences in Ven
ice. The young man aptly thought that her curiosity was an obvious sign of his intelligence and cultural level. Added to that was the fact that they both had many interests in common, which was not surprising since their professions had many points of contact. The fact that they were both speaking English, which was not the native language of any of them, did not prevent the flow of sympathy between two people of very close ages. The ethnic and cultural differences, far from representing a barrier between both, were a further incentive to reciprocal interest.
As the trip advanced Lian also had to admit to herself that she secretly felt a strong attraction for this tall, thin foreigner with reddish hair and light eyes, something like the antithesis of the Chinese man.
The car made three stops in Lanzhou, capital of the extensive province of Gansu, in Jiling and in Yongchang, no too far from its destination.
Finally, the chauffeur, who participated in the conversation by means of Lian's translations, announced.
"We have reached Liqian.”
The three of them descended from the vehicle and began to walk with no definite direction in order to stretch their legs and obtain a first view of the town. Ivo felt a first disheartening impression of the small, humble village, with its houses scattered on sandy, dusty ground. The homes, with a total that would not reach a hundred, were entirely of a single floor, made of clay bricks and alternated with posts of unknown use nailed to the dirt streets and a few trees gathered in a lonesome group. The small town is surrounded by the low, relatively close hills behind which the immense Gobi Desert stretches, while looking to the south they could see the snow-covered Qinlian Mountains. A small irrigated area with the scarce previous water of Qinlian was the only green note of the rugged panorama.
Walking a hundred steps they reached what was the remnant of a wall of military origin, now reduced to about thirty meters in length and a height that oscillated between a meter and a meter and a half but that according to the stories of the locals had been much more extensive and high in the past. Its presence was explained by the military post that the town had had in the past.
The Challenge of the Legion Page 2