Chapter 1 (partial)

Now that we had conquered the Franks and started to absorb them into our culture, there was an immediate problem that resulted from our victory.

We now had a border with the Gauls. They were related to the Celtics and could communicate with many of our people. This territory was the area that would become known as Germany. The Gauls were an expansionist group due to pressure from the Slav tribes. Broken into small tribes, they could be handled easily. Once one of the tribes became dominant, they would be a handful.

Our ability to communicate with them was another opportunity for us to change their culture. Unfortunately for me, there was a dominant tribe at our northern border. This area would become Alsace-Lorraine in the future. Alsace-Lorraine would be the site of many future battles between modern France and Germany. The area is rich in coal and iron ores, which was a constant bone of contention.

I wasn't ready for a battle with the Gauls then, so I had to stabilize our mutual border to avoid war. By stabilizing the border, I meant making it so strong they wouldn't dream of crossing it. Sure, they could dream of crossing our border but not do it.

Our common border was too long to build a wall along its length. At least all at once. We had done this enough that my people had it down to a science. First, we kept a large army stationed along the border to prevent incursions while we built our defenses. This tactic was countered by the Gauls stationing troops on their side of the border.

The only difference was that we understood logistics and the need to provide food to our army. The Gauls were still at the point where they lived off the land.

Living off the land worked for an army on the march, not for a stationary army. They soon had killed off all the deer and wild pigs in their area. They had to go further and further to keep their men fed. Any farmer in their area had long fled, leaving little in their wake.

On the other hand, we cut roads immediately so supplies could be brought to the new front. In some cases, we were able to rehabilitate old Roman roads. Our frontlines had been laid out. Along the frontier, we had a series of forts built. At first, they were nothing but rough camps built like the old Roman marching camps.

As soon as one of these camps was ready for occupancy, we usually started on a more permanent version in a few days. They could withstand anything less than cannon fire with double-wide concrete walls and watch towers. Inside the walls, we built standard barracks and support buildings. We also added oversized warehouses. The idea was to have more than enough food to feed our people and provide the Gauls food if needed.

I wanted to be a good neighbor while being prepared to fend off attacks. The surveyors started laying out the roads and railroad paths to connect Paris to the northern border. There would be three main roads and mainlines out of Paris. There would be several roads crisscrossing so traffic could be diverted from one location to another as needed.

While the physical stuff was underway, we also opened a dialog with the chieftains along the way. We wanted the local Franks to benefit from what we were doing and to influence the Gauls on our border.

We ensured that our Franks were well fed and had MASH units visit them to address health problems. Baroness Agnes had started with a single mobile hospital. She now had one hundred of them fully staffed and working our country and our allies.

They moved freely about the country. We always sent a guard contingent along, but it was woe to anyone who attacked a MASH unit. They were hailed as miracle workers everywhere they went, and to attack them was madness. The locals would hunt them down and kill them to a man. It only took a couple of times, and the units were sacrosanct.

All along our border with the Gaul, we sent teams to upgrade their food and grain storage and improve their roads and MASH units to help with their health care.