Son of Julius Caesar: Rebuilding Rome [Business/Republic building] Chapter 96 : In Caesar We Trust

"Move! Keep moving! What do you think you’re doing?! Are you trying to burn the whole stack of papyrus?!"

"Sorry, sir!"

"Don’t apologize, just be careful! If a fire breaks out right now, we are all dead n!"

Babu let out a heavy sigh, rubbing his bald head.

In the dead of night, dozens of n were frantically sorting through mountains of papyrus.

They were staff from both the strategic office and the insurance division. They had literally been dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night.

Despite having every reason to complain, the staff silently and diligently verified the endless rows of numbers on the ledgers.

Outside, the city was draped in pitch-black darkness, but inside, the room blazed with the light of dozens of oil lamps.

"This section is finished!"

"We still have a lot of old nurals over here! It needs more sorting!"

"Finish it as fast as you can! We need at least a rough outline of the situation before sunrise!"

Babu snatched up a sheet of papyrus and sat down to review it himself.

It wasn’t just his team; even the slaves who usually worked for tellus were currently rushing back and forth, hauling stacks of docunts.

But the most surprising sight was the two n sitting at the corner table.

Lucius Caesar and Felix.

Both of them were reviewing the financial ledgers right alongside the rest of the staff.

At a gesture from Lucius, Babu hurried over. The two n greeted him with grim expressions.

"Did you find sothing, sir?"

"The arrow has already left the bow," Lucius replied, his tone hard and cold.

"And we don’t have much ti left before it strikes the target."

***

Damn it. I thought even ancient Romans would have so basic concept of risk managent.

"tellus kept a reserve ratio of barely five percent."

Hearing my words, Babu gasped, his breath catching in his throat.

"Five percent? You an he kept a re five percent of the deposits in actual money?"

"No wonder they couldn’t pay out the rchants. They didn’t have anywhere near enough coins on hand to begin with."

I tapped the papyrus in my hand.

The reserve ratio dictates the percentage of custor deposits a bank holds onto in cash.

For example, if the reserve ratio is ten percent, the bank can loan out or invest the remaining ninety percent.

Given the economic infrastructure of Ro, a safe reserve ratio would have been at least thirty to forty percent.

But tellus had kept a asly five percent in the vault and loaned out every single sesterce of the rest.

"He wanted to lend money to as many people as possible," Felix noted from beside .

"Because the more people who owed him money, the more political clients he gained, thereby expanding his influence."

"And now that ambition has beco the noose around his neck. I’m willing to bet the other banks are in the exact sa position."

tellus’s bank was actually considered one of the more stable institutions.

I didn’t even need to look at the ledgers of the smaller banks to know they were already gutted.

"So, what is our next move, young master?" Felix asked, looking at .

"The reserves these banks hold are far lower than we anticipated. Even if we help only the healthiest institutions, it will require an astronomical sum."

"Perhaps walking away is the best option here," Babu interjected, breaking his silence.

"We’re like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. We are biting off more than we can chew. It might be wiser to downsize the upcoming festival and get out of this ss right now."

"..."

I pressed the heels of my palms against my exhausted eyes.

If I didn’t get so sleep soon, I was going to be the one collapsing next.

Babu was right.

No matter how much cash we had stockpiled, we couldn’t personally back the entire Roman banking system.

That was a job for the Republic—specifically, the Senate, who held the keys to the treasury.

After all, this catastrophe was entirely the fault of politicians and bankers who completely ignored risk managent.

"But if all these banks go under, countless citizens and rchants will lose their life savings. The festival failing is the least of our worries. The entire Roman economy could be in ruins for years."

"But it cannot be helped, young master. We must ensure our own survival first if we are to have any hope of rebuilding Ro afterward," Felix argued.

A heavy silence filled the room, punctuated only by the rustling of papyrus as the clerks continued their grim work.

"There has to be a way."

I looked out the window at the dark streets of Ro.

In the distance, the Appian Way glowed faintly, illuminated by the streetlamps I had installed.

It didn’t take long before the sun rose.

And when it did, a corpse appeared on the banks of the Tiber.

***

The body was discovered on the banks of the Tiber in the early hours of the morning.

As a massive crowd of citizens gathered, the corpse was hauled out of the water and onto the dirt.

The body was already bloated from the river, making the face difficult to recognize.

They had only managed to identify the man based on his clothing and the signet ring on his finger.

"A rchant nad Gracchus, you said?"

"Yes. They say he deposited a large sum of money into one of the banks, and when the panic started, he couldn’t get a single coin back."

Felix and I stood at the back of the crowd, looking down at the corpse.

A woman, presumably his wife, had collapsed next to the body, weeping uncontrollably.

The surrounding citizens watched the tragic scene with grim expressions.

Felix spoke up again.

"I heard the creditors who had lent Gracchus money began hounding him relentlessly, demanding imdiate repaynt."

"So he was driven to suicide."

I scanned the faces of the people gathered by the river.

Throwing oneself into a river wasn’t a common thod of suicide in this era.

Typically, people chose to slit their wrists or drink poison.

There was a possibility he had been chased down by his creditors, or outright murdered.

But with the man already dead, uncovering the truth would be nearly impossible.

If this panic continued, there would only be more victims like him.

As I turned my gaze, I spotted a very familiar face.

"Lucius. I didn’t expect to see you here."

"I could say the sa to you, Publius."

Publius Crassus was seated upon a litter, heavily guarded by his slaves, as his father often was.

As I approached, he stepped down to et .

"What brings you to this side of the city?"

"The sa reason as you, I imagine."

He offered a faint, bitter smile.

"It is a truly horrific tragedy, is it not?"

"If the current situation holds, this tragedy will only repeat itself."

I observed Publius carefully.

Crassus was one of the very few n profiting from this crisis.

He had primarily lent money to the plebeians, yet ironically, his bank was the most resilient in the face of the panic.

By honoring every single withdrawal request without hesitation, he had reaffird his credibility.

He must have managed his reserves conservatively from the very beginning. Then again, Crassus already possessed more wealth than he could ever spend.

He had no reason to recklessly gamble with his depositors’ money.

Knowing that, was he secretly celebrating the downfall of his rivals?

"We must stop this crisis from spreading any further. For the sake of the Roman citizens, if nothing else," Publius said.

"Don’t you agree?"

"I do."

That was unexpected.

I couldn’t tell if he was being entirely genuine or not.

I honestly thought Crassus would just sit back, wait for every other bank to burn to the ground, and erge as the sole power in the field, as he always does.

"My father intends to lend ten million sesterces to the banks so they can give money to their clients," Publius continued.

"We can always collect on them once the panic subsides."

"Ten million sesterces. That is no small sum."

It was the exact amount he had promised as a marriage dowry.

To an ordinary citizen, it was an unfathomable fortune.

"Of course, the exact terms and thods of repaynt will need to be thoroughly negotiated. Wouldn’t you agree?"

I nodded instead of answering.

He definitely knew I had visited the tellus estate last night.

"I can also put up several million sesterces of my own. But even combined, I am not sure it will be enough to stop the panic."

Was he going to leverage this to push for the marriage alliance again?

But Publius’s response was different from my expectations.

"I already promised to assist you, Lucius. And my father shares my sentint."

He locked eyes with .

"But we cannot simply toss our coin into the Tiber. If there is no viable way to save these banks, we must step back. If our combined wealth isn’t enough to steady the market..."

"There might be a way."

I cut in smoothly.

Caesar and Crassus.

And Pompey.

In the original history, the First Triumvirate was a secret, shadowy alliance.

It was a clandestine pact between three n to carve up the Republic’s power and maintain their dominance.

But there was no rule saying it had to be a secret in this tiline.

I had already been seen publicly eting with both of them on nurous occasions, and I was officially engaged to Pompeia.

The fact that I was running an insurance empire backed by Crassus was common knowledge in Ro.

Publius shrugged slightly.

"Would you care to elaborate? I am going to need a concrete plan if I am to convince my father."

"This crisis was born from a loss of credit. A loss of trust."

Bank runs have occurred countless tis throughout history even in ancient Greece and Ro.

When clients lose faith in a bank, it is only natural for them to rush to withdraw their money.

If they firmly believe they can get their money back at any given mont, no one actually bothers going to the bank.

"Caesar. Crassus. Pompey."

I said the nas slowly, letting them hang in the air.

"Right now, there is no one in Ro who would dare ignore the weight of those three nas."

Pompeia had told sothing similar during the papyrus incident.

No one in Ro could afford to ignore the na ’Caesar’ anymore.

And she was right. The mont rumors spread that I had invented a new papyrus, the market price of Egyptian papyrus plumted instantly.

Using a na to manufacture trust.

Wait, wasn’t that the very definition of advertising?

Building credibility through an established image, and leveraging that trust to drive human behavior.

That was the fundantal essence of marketing.

If that was the case, the key to solving this crisis might already be in my hands.

"We just need to let the citizens know," I said.

"We need to tell the people that the three most powerful families in Ro have joined forces to resolve this crisis."

***

"Tell the n to break camp. We march for Ro imdiately."

The very day the news from Ro reached the Rubicon, Caesar stepped out of his command tent and issued the order.

"But Imperator! Weren’t we scheduled to return in ti for the Floralia?"

His adjutant scrambled after him, utterly bewildered.

"If the situation in Ro is truly that volatile, wouldn’t it be wiser to remain here and observe the situation before—"

"No. What matters most right now is ti. If we hesitate for even a mont, the very foundation of Ro will shake. At this point, the festival doesn’t matter anymore."

Gaius Caesar spoke with authority.

He had stripped off his heavy armor and drawn his toga over his head, capite velato, as befitted the Pontifex Maximus.

"We leave for Ro. Right now."

"But before we depart, shouldn’t we at least send word to your son...?"

The adjutant stamred nervously.

"We need to inform him so he can make preparations for our arrival."

"No, we cross the Rubicon now. Do not worry about Lucius. I guarantee you that boy is already making the necessary preparations."

Caesar vaulted onto his horse and flashed a bright smile.

"I trust my son."

***

"Right now, all we can do is trust my father."

"But the master is all the way at the Rubicon! Even if we send our fastest courier, he won’t receive the ssage in ti."

"Which is exactly why we have to trust him."

I kept my pace brisk as I navigated the streets.

Sending a ssenger to consult with my father would take far too long.

By the ti I got a reply, the opportunity to stop the bank run would be long gone.

What decision would my father make the mont he heard the news from Ro?

If my gut was right...

"Father will act imdiately. He has always been a man of swift judgnt and action."

That was Caesar’s absolute strength.

No matter the circumstances, no matter the insurmountable odds, he was a man who never hesitated to throw the die.

During his elections, during the Gallic Wars, and eventually, during the civil war against Pompey.

Not just in the history books, but from what I had witnessed firsthand over the past decades, that was exactly the kind of man my father was.

"Alright, let’s assu the master arrives in Ro exactly on ti," Felix sighed deeply, struggling to keep up.

"How does his arrival solve this financial crisis?"

"Think about it, Felix."

I whispered, glancing at the desperate citizens gathering around us.

These people were flocking to , hoping I could sohow save them from ruin.

"Pompey and Crassus both wield unimaginable power. But it’s not just them. My father is returning. He is a victorious general fresh from a wildly successful campaign in Hispania."

And he wasn’t just bringing back glory.

"He brings massive spoils of war, and the deeds to countless newly developed silver mines."

"But it would take several months before we could get any silver from those mines."

"The important thing here is how people perceive it, not the actual silver."

Felix’s eyes widened in realization as he nodded.

"You’re going to use that wealth to change public sentint.."

"Exactly. If those three n publicly unite and declare they are supporting the banks, the citizens of Ro will have no choice but to believe them. All we have to do is facilitate that ssage."

"And how exactly do we do that?"

"I have an idea."

I reached into my tunic and pulled out a sheet of paper.

As more and more citizens crowded around, begging for an audience, I looked at Felix.

"The most important thing right now is letting as many people as possible know that the three families have joined forces to deal with this crisis."

"Are you planning to distribute flyers? Like Lady Pompeia did?"

"We have to. But pasting a few dozen sheets in the Forum and the main streets won’t be enough. We need enough copies to cover the entire city of Ro."

"But even if we hired every single scribe in the city right now, it would be impossible to write out hundreds of copies in a single day."

"That would be true, if we actually had the scribes write them out by hand."

I nodded.

There was a much easier, far more efficient thod.

What if there was a way to perfectly duplicate the exact sa text, over and over again?

"What if we use stamps?"

"Stamps?"