‘Yes, sir.’ Geta smiled eagerly. ‘Trust me, sir. I’ll sort them out.’

‘No!’ Plautius stabbed a finger towards him.’That’s precisely what I want to avoid. We’ll be thinly spread and I want no man here giving the natives an easy excuse to rise up. Once your forces are in place I want you to go out of your way to cultivate good relations with local chieftains. Go hunting with them. Get your engineers to build them bridges, baths, comfortable villas - whatever it takes to get them on our side and make them appreciate the benefits of joining the Empire. I want these bog-hopping barbarian bastards Romanised as soon as possible. Once that’s done we can think about extending the province west and north.’

He gestured towards the lands of the Silurians and the Brigantians, and the officers registered surprise at the scope of his ambitions. Plautius observed their reactions and smiled. ‘That’s work for the future, gentlemen. All in good time . . . The Twentieth will continue to advance north of the Tamesis, then cut across to the river Sabrina and establish its base there. I’ll be marching with the Twentieth, so Legate Sulpicius Piso will have to double the guard on his fine collection of wines.’

The officers laughed politely and then the general turned to Sabinus.’You’ll have the strongest column. I want you to move directly north. To here.’ Plautius pushed the Fourteenth Legion’s marker across the map to a point between the Twentieth and the Ninth.’I want you to start construction of a road to link all three legions. That way we can concentrate our forces quickly, should we ever need to. Gentlemen, the end is in sight. Rome can at last consider these lands to be part of the Empire. In a few more years Britain will be a fully functioning province, paying taxes into the imperial treasury.’

‘I rather think that the people back in Rome already regard this vile land as part of the Empire . . .’

The officers’ heads turned towards Narcissus, who had started peeling another pear as he spoke and did not return their gaze.

‘After all, the Emperor had his triumph through the streets of the capital at the end of last year. You fellows are just doing the mopping-up. I’d remember that if I were you. To imply that the Emperor had somehow fallen short in his conquest of the Britons might smack of treason to some people.’ Narcissus lowered his dagger, popped a dripping slice of fruit into his mouth and smiled. ‘A word of advice on how to phrase your official reports, that’s all. No offence intended. Please continue, my dear General.’