Chapter 724: Learning From The Enemy

As for why the veteran soldiers is discussing about the policy and cares about it, is because they have learned why in the past that the Yan dynasty seems so invincible to them

It is not because they are braver than the people of the Steppe and it is not because they are favoured by the heavens or any of those myths they shrouded themselves with to fool the tribes of the Steppe

Kultai also scoffed at this "how could those gods of Yan reached the land of the Skyfather and Earthmother. They would not allow it"

The reason why the Yan soldiers seems invincible is because of their armour, their weapons

Their arrows is more penetrating, their armour is more durable, more sturdy, their sword is sharper, and more cutting

So, they achieved the feat of killing more people.

And of course, to counter this, the Steppe people perfected the method of riding and archery, and master the art of cavalry archers.

And generation after generation, they honed this method fighting among themselves and fighting against the empire around them and they have managed to counter these invaders

They are a group of people born on the horse and their abilities with the horse surpassed those sheep herders and mud people.

Why? Because could their training on the horse compared to a people who lives and dies with their horse?

They could not compare and unable to compare

And the Khan uses all the people he could use.

Those who could contribute something to the kingdom and if they could be persuaded to join, the Khan would not slight them and he would not disappoint them

That is the general image that Kultai ahs of the Khan. As for his personal value, Kultai could only rely on the anecdotes of the Khan he had heard.

But his father also teach him that to learn about someone, it is not as good as experiencing themselves.

Only through seeing a person and look at how they deal with things would you know what kind of a person that person is

Kultai did not know but the architecture of the Khan kingdom is very different from the others around them

He would probably notice this later.

Because the regions that the Khan first start his legendary story is near the Yan frontier and close to the Wall of Yan and now with the Khan controlling the Wall and using that wall stone to create his capital cities and cities, using the scholars and artisans and craftsman from Yan , the capital city of the Brolgadhr tribe, it looks like a Steppe capital that absorbed Yan engineering and designs

There is the design of the Steppe in the motifs, in the paintings, decorations but there is also the magnificent palace structure of the yan dynasty seemingly implanted in this hybrid creation

It becomes even more grand and even more beautiful.

This is one of the idiosyncrasies of the Khan that his men never understood. He did not have the habits of many of the chief of the Steppe and he have the habits that no chief of the Steppe has like his appreciation for art and his high emphasis on craftsmen.

There are chiefs that employs scholars that fled the Yan dynasty and there are some chief that favours the craftsmen but none favours the craftsmen as much as the Khan in terms of treatment and in terms of respect.

The Khan did not have many wives.

As of now, he only had three wives.

Most chief have a few more wives and a few dozen concubines.

But the Khan did not have that many women around him and this khan of theirs, at times value utility very much, but at the same time, he could also be quite peculiar with aesthetic, more like an artist.

It is the case with the palace.

If the Khan only wanted a palace, the engineer that he had could quickly build one as long as they create the foundation for the walls and for the towers and the castles and everything inside the palace compound

Yet, there is all of this motifs, and design changes

Kultai has heard the words of the veterans that did go to the Palace.

The Palace itself is not completed.

At first, it seems like it would be completed.

But then, more renovations and more residence is added inside the palace compound and more halls is added , more tents, more places and more tower added.

There is three separate residence for the three wives of the Khan.

And these three wives also have their own retainers and warriors that follows them from their tribes and also have position in the harem

All the veterans’ soldier that went to the palace all said that when they enter the palace, even though they were already awe to meet the Khan, when meeting the Khan in the throne room, that feeling is mixed with dread and fear and the majesty of the Khan seems truly inviolable.

Even from the barracks one could see the Palace structures like the towering building.

One of them is used to look at the stars and determine the weather and seasons.

Ashana who have such talents is employed by the Khan and employed there

Kultai hope someday he would also be invited into the palace.

Kultai look at the distance and smiles.

"One step at a time" this is the advice of his father.

Kultai took a swig from his water flask and then begin walking around the barrack.

The barracks is usually tents and different tribe have different ways of making the tent for the soldiers and military gatherings

And they usually have a ground from where they train.

There is the inner barracks and the outer barracks.

The inner barracks is in the city and their training is mostly about defending the city, defending the capital and defending the palace so their training is focused on defensive methods, things like holding on sieges, and how to attack from the city walls, and other methods of defending.

They also learned this method from the scholars and the builders they capture or from the soldiers that defected mostly people from Yan who have experience fighting such battle

As for the outer barracks, they are the common soldier, the regular soldiers, the cavalrymen, the cavalry archers, the armoured infantry.

They are taught the method of attacking, of sieging, of how to move in formation and follow orders, how to disperse and then regroup, how to use the weapons more efficiently, and in what situation should they use certain methods

They were taught how to conquer and how to deal with the enemy. The generals learns a bit more

If the soldiers were taught on how to attack, the generals is taught how to command men, how to view the war, and what is considered winning and losing.

The Khan ambition is vast. There is no need for all of this if the Khan simply wanted to conquer the Southern Great Steppe.

Kultai after spending only a week in the military system of the Khan and seeing the military men of the Khan believe even if they fight the east right now, they could win

But the Khan delayed a year.

And he trained his men, pacifies any rebellious elements, raises up defence, creating systems and even care for the people under him.

This shows to everyone that this Khan did not intend to stop.

Maybe there is a reason why the Khan did not yet attack the northern area.

Kultai had a nagging suspicions it is because those tribes in the north could not really pose a threat to the hegemonic ambition of the Khan.

Instead they fulfilled a role that the Khan wanted them to fulfil.

This is just his speculations and he did not know if he is right

To the Khan, those northern tribes, they are like a wall.

A wall from the Central Great Steppe tribes.

The Central Great Steppe has always been mired with all kinds of internal problem.

They are famous for it.

Some of the merchants and some of the tribes near the Empatarah river on the side of the south of the Central Great Steppe might have heard of Aeryon but they probably did not know the full story.

And the central great steppe rarely have problems with the Southern Great Steppe. Most of their dangers usually come from the north.

The Roma raided the Northern Great Steppe and the Northern Great Steppe raided the Central Great Steppe.

The western great steppe tribes also sometimes attack the Central Great Steppe not to mention the Eastern Great Steppe who would always send a raid teams and warband before winter

But the Southern Great Steppe is not the same.

While there is clashes and there is raiding, most of the Southern Great Steppe in the past decade did not need to attack the Central Great Steppe

And even the Western Great Steppe in the past decade or so, lessen their attack on the Central Great Steppe.

It is not out of benevolence, not out of the kindness of their heart or any of those moralistic bullshit they got people in their own tribe believing

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