Soon, the nobles of the Senate, led by the head of the Kelling family, began to take action.

While mobilizing their legions, these nobles also began transferring their family property under the guise of preparing supplies for the army.

Commodus, absorbed in his excitement, was oblivious to the actions of the nobles.

While the Senate was busy with their work, news of Gaul's declaration of independence spread far and wide.

While the provinces were shocked, there were also those who were eager to make a move.

The British and German provinces, in particular, were eager to declare independence together.

These two provinces were vastly different. The former was isolated overseas and had always been regarded as a colony by Rome, which constantly exploited it.

The latter, having fought against the northern barbarians for a long time, had an army whose fighting power was arguably the strongest in Rome.

One has been subjected to long-term oppression, while the other possesses overwhelming strength; it's inevitable that they would have some other thoughts.

Furthermore, they had previously concluded a military alliance treaty with the Gallic province, so once Gaul was destroyed, it would be their turn next.

Therefore, although they did not declare independence directly like the Gallic provinces, they began to make preparations in secret.

By late October, the six legions of the Senate had assembled and then left Rome, marching in a grand procession toward Gaul.

Upon learning the news, King Dacto of Gaul also issued a nationwide mobilization order.

Because Penes had previously led the Praetorian Guard in looting and massacring the Gauls, the Gauls had long harbored deep hatred for the Romans.

As soon as Dacdo issued his mobilization order, countless young Gallic men, armed with their own weapons, rushed toward the eastern border.

All the noble lords in Gaul generously organized their guards and knights to go together.

By the time the six legions of the Senate were a hundred miles from the Gallic border, Gaul had also mobilized nearly 200,000 men to garrison the border.

Of these 200,000 people, nearly 80,000 were young and strong men from Gaul who came spontaneously, 40,000 were the defeated soldiers left behind by Liu Bei, and the remaining 80,000 were guards and knights led by a group of Gaul noble lords.

Fortunately, this army had the full support of a group of noble lords, and its food and supplies were quite plentiful.

When the six legions of the Senate arrived at the border of Gaul, they were also taken aback by the endless Gallic camps in front of them.

However, upon seeing the Gallic army's diverse array of weapons and various costumes, the nobles of the Senate breathed a sigh of relief.

In their view, although the Gallic army was numerous, it was just a group of peasants who had temporarily gathered together, and it was impossible for them to defeat their six well-equipped elite legions.

After two days of rest, the Senate led six legions to launch the first attack on the Gallic army's camp.

Many of the young Gallic men and guards were going to battle for the first time and had little combat experience.

Therefore, the Senate legion was unstoppable in the early stages of the attack, successively breaking through more than ten Gallic camps and killing or wounding nearly 20,000 Gauls, while they only lost less than 3,000 men.

Despite suffering heavy losses and repeated defeats in the face of the Senate's army's offensive, the morale of the Gallic army rose rather than fell.

Everyone knew that if they were defeated, their wives, children, and elderly parents back home would become easy prey for others to exploit.

Therefore, although they were outmatched, all the Gallic soldiers fought to the death, and even before they fell, they would cling to the enemy and perish together with them.

The Gallic army's tenacious resistance exceeded the expectations of the Senate.

After ten days of fighting, the Gallic army lost nearly half of its camps, and its casualties reached as many as 50,000.

However, the remaining 150,000 men had their fighting capabilities greatly honed after repeated battles.

At this time, the legions under the Senate had also suffered about 10,000 casualties, and the casualty ratio had reached nearly 20%. Their initial momentum had been completely lost.

Therefore, the Gallic army also began to attempt a counterattack against the Senate army.

Despite suffering heavy casualties, after more than ten days of fierce attacks, the Gallic army successfully recaptured the lost camps and pushed the Senate army back beyond the border.

The German governor, who had been hiding behind the scenes, saw that the Gallic army had successfully driven the Senate out of the country, and immediately dispatched two cavalry legions under his command to travel day and night to a place a hundred miles behind the Senate army.

November 24th, the seventeenth year of the Kaiyuan era.

Two Germanic cavalry legions also launched a surprise attack on the Senate army's camp.

Faced with the sudden attack of the cavalry legion, the Senate army, already exhausted and demoralized after repeated battles, was also defeated without any power to fight back.

The Gallic army seized the opportunity to launch a full-scale attack, coordinating with the German legions to launch a fierce offensive against the Senate army.

Under the combined attack of both sides, the Senate army suffered heavy casualties, and even its commander, the head of the Kelling family, died in the chaos.

Ultimately, after a fierce battle, less than 20,000 members of the Senate army successfully broke through the encirclement.

However, the 20,000 who fled did not head towards Rome, but instead headed east, heading straight for the northeastern Slavic province.

The surviving senators knew that once they fled back to Rome, Commodus would seize their remaining 20,000 troops and devour all their wealth.

Therefore, these nobles decided to flee to the Slavic province, the furthest from Rome, and then unite with the Slavs to resist Commodus's attack.

On the other side, after defeating the Senate army, the former governor of Gaul, Dactus, also took off his original official robes and was crowned King of Gaul under the auspices of Bishop Rico of the Pacific. He then established the Gallic Royal Court and various levels of government, making it the first province to officially break away from Roman control.

Following Dacto, the German governor also announced German independence and the establishment of the Germanic Kingdom, forging a brotherly alliance with the Kingdom of Gaul.

Following this, the Governor-General of Britain also declared independence, establishing the Kingdom of Britain, and similarly signed an alliance with the Kingdom of Gaul.

The successive independence of the three provinces immediately caused a stir throughout Rome.

The other governors who had similar ideas were also tempted, but they did not dare to act rashly.

Everyone was watching to see how Commodus would respond.

Commodus, the new emperor of Rome, was also furious about the independence of these three provinces.

However, considering that these three kingdoms have united, his fourteen legions might not be able to defeat them.

Commodus then ordered a large-scale expansion of the army, increasing its size to twenty-five corps.

Such a large-scale expansion of the military also led to an empty national treasury.

However, Commodus disregarded this and directly ordered an increase in taxes on merchants and ordinary people to supplement military expenditures.

His actions immediately aroused dissatisfaction among many Roman citizens and merchants.