Chapter 719: Unification is Near

Mountain men are strong and powerful and hardy

But they lack the tactical advantage and the kind of tactics of the Steppe that allow the Steppe people to walk all over them.

The Steppe is besieged on all sides and withstand all kinds of attack against them and they of course learn something from all of this

Even though the Steppe is not united now they all have experienced the danger of being subjugated and they have evolved, and learn from their enemies

The northern Steppe learns from Roma. The western Steppe learns from the Western Zhou methods, the southern Steppe learns from the Yan dynasty and the eastern Steppe learns and imitates from those around them

The mountain tribes attacks the eastern tribes of the Steppe or they come down the mountain and robbed the people of Yindu

Going to the mountain is not an easy task and even Aeryon did not yet have such elite intelligence agency that reach that far.

The mountain range that separates Yindu and the Great Steppe, is tall and treacherous.

There is many peaks, and there is thick deep fog and sometimes the weather is very unfavourable.

The road could become muddy and there is many bushes and many hiding places from crags to caves to trees and forest all over the entire mountain range. The eastern Steppe people that deals with these mountain tribes also develops methods that others did not.

Southern Steppe learns how to use formation, how to use weapons and armours. Not because the Yan people teaches them

Because human are adaptable.

They learn from what they see.

And that is what the Southern Steppe learns.

They learn how to make Yan weapons and Yan armours, stole them and wore them and kill these invaders that take their lands.

And the western people learn cavalry armours because of the Western Zhou.

The northern Steppe tribes learns of formation and Roma military discipline.

The Central region of the Steppe take what knowledge they can but they mostly focused on how to restrain cavalry.

One might feel weird that a steppe tribes trying to think of a way to stop cavalry tactics. But that is because the tribes in the central region...their enemies are not external enemies

Their enemies have always been the tribes of the Steppe.

From all sides they are surrounded by other Steppe tribes.

Many of the common people born in the central region of the Steppe had never even go to Yan, to Roma, to Yindu or to the Western Zhou

They might have seen the merchants of different races but they did not know where this place is and never have the time to go to them

The threat to the central region of the Steppe has always been the Steppe tribe around it

So, the method they learns is a hodgepodge of method.

And just because it is a hodgepodge of method did not mean it is a dysfunctional method.

Most of the method is how to counter cavalry and ow to counter cavalry archers.

They learn all they could to make sure their tribe did not get annexed or subdued or dominated.

Then what kind of method that the Eastern border tribes use develop when their enemies is the mountain people

They learn how to make hooks, learn how to climb mountains, how to set up camps in the mountain, knowing the dangers of the mountain, the trees, the animals, the insects, the weather and many more

It is a knowledge bought with the lives of countless generations of those people who fought against the mountain people.

The mountain people also learned how to fight against the Steppe people and what to target when fighting against the cavalry method of the Steppe

But just because you learn the method did not always means you could use the method.

And that is what happens to both the mountain people and the Steppe people that inhabit the eastern part of the Steppe.

That mountain range that seems to separate the Steppe and Yindu is the dividing line between the two civilization. To the people of the Steppe, the only way to go to Yindu is either to scale the mountain and walk down the other side.

Or goes through the narrow valley along the entire eastern region . these small valleys and mountain route, almost like a narrow route that could be found all over the eastern border of the steppe has already been known by the people of the Steppe.

Dama is not the first overlord in the eastern border of the Steppe that gain their power by subduing the mountain people.

Aeryon become an overlord and raises his men from the central region of the Southern Great Steppe. In the past, there is rarely an overlord born in that area in the history of the Southern Great Steppe

This is because that land is cold in the past.

But nowadays, that place has fertile lands and fertile grass and is good for the horses to graze and for the Tayak and goats to graze.

It is very different from the past.

Dama utilizes what most overlords that is born in the east would do.

The almost inexhaustible supply of powerful and brutal warriors of the mountain tribes

Subdue the mountain tribe, integrate them into the army and then sweep every tribe in the vicinity or force them to surrender or submit.

Using the mountain tribes to subdue the steppe tribes

In the history of the Steppe, there were many overlords that rises in the east using this kind of method

Dama is just another one. Aeryon is also just another one. But this time it is very different than the last time.

There is Aeryon who has now reached a size of influence that has never been seen since the time of the Qayan

This time, Aeryon had conquered almost all of the tribes in the central region and the western region of the Southern Great Steppe.

He basically controls two thirds of the Steppe just by influence. Unlike a game, where you just map paint the region when you conquer it and everyone listen to you, real life does not work like that.

It is his finetune that made the chiefs and the warriors listen to his orders and respect his laws and rules.

And where did this influence come from?

His army, his reputation and prestige.

All of this added up to his influence that enables him to order someone to die even when he is not there

Those who dares to rebel is annihilated.

Aeryon is unlike some other chief that like to drag out the punishment and he himself did not like to torture his enemies

But he did not hesitates to kill an entire tribe.

As he said it he is already exterminate their clan.

There is no need to go to far and even torture them when it is not necessary.

This fine line between brutality and generosity made Aeryon a wise ruler that knows how to balance punishment and rewards.

His execution is not brutal but it is thorough.

He would not torture you but he would wipe out your family.

And if you submit to him and truly serve him he would not humiliate you and he would not short-change you

Aeryon now control most of the west and the central region.

As for the other chiefs on the periphery of his borders and control zone, they could easily be subdue after Aeryon defeated Dama

And Aeryon control these chiefs with military power and at the same time the system he is now creating.

The full power lies on the Khan. It is reminiscent to the method of the emperors of the settled empire around them

Aeryon himself provide for his warriors and his people.

The warriors under him is eager to expand and they are given titles and position, and all kinds of supplies.

Land is numerous in the Steppe and is not that highly sought after.

There is however land that is protected or under the rule of the Khan which made them a place of peace

Not to mention that certain clans wanted grazing rights and certain rights that the Khan either restricted or created

The khan guarantee passage of safety and would attack anyone who attack people of his land.

This new rule is just established but it is already a rule that everyone obey and listen to.

Aeryon is set to create a more lasting legacy than any of his predecessor.

The chief could not see it but those wise men who had walked the world and see the world, knows that even if Aeryon did not manage to unify the Southern Great Steppe, the system he built would outlast him

Some of the system of governance of military is still nascent and there is still overlapping of responsibilities.

Some of it is because Aeryon did not want to push too much, the other reason is because the condition didn’t allow it.

Wartime measure is different from peace time measure and one must adapt

What dos this show and signifies? It means that the Khan measures even if he dies would not dissolve in one generation.

Aeryon did not yet have an heir, but if he dies today, his advisor could pick one of the relatives of the Khan to take the helm

It would not be like the story of the past where one hegemony in the steppe would end with one generation.

It is the same with the East with Dama instituting some kind of province system

Aeryon also made a state like system.

Everyone could feel that this time it is a different. This time, the Southern Great Steppe could be unified!

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