Way of Overlord

In this war, Aeryon promoted Burchu and Mukhulai to become a fully-fledged tumen. They could now lead ten thousand men.

Acting tumen and Noyan were removed and these two from humble background become a force to be reckoned with.

Belarion was rewarded with more lands, slaves and Tayak and sheep. Murong clan and the Tuoba clans benefited from this war as many of their clansmen members were promoted.

The one most prominent is Murong Long and Tuoba He. They were both given titles, reward and many other privileges.

Mu Cha and his colleague who mostly come from Wustkazan is also rewarded heavily for devising the strategies fighting against the Nergui tribe

Xiwanu, Lughan, Cahya , Chulun and Mu Cha were all promoted and all of these people once wee enemies of the Brolgadhr but Aeryon magnanimity to reward them based on merit and to have their reward given in front of the whole army ignited a spirit in the hearts of Aeryon men

Aeryon ruled his army through rules, law, through strictness, benevolence and rewards. He knows more than others relying on reward alone is not good

Those who gather because of profit would disperse when the profit is gone. Hence, rewards are what to motivate them but not the only thing.

There is also rules and laws and reason to understand why those rules and laws are given

And it is these kind of structure that made Aeryon army very different from the army of the other chief.

It is because of this that when they attacked the three tribes, Aeryon could separate his forces and still claw his way out of such perilous situation

The allies of the tribe, the Zlata and Duhai tribe is also rewarded. None of Aeryon soldier and allies were forgotten and everyone go back happy.

When this news is heard all over the Southern Great Steppe, the enemies sigh in regrets and the east hasten their preparations.

And Aeryon....where is he now? He is back in Brolgadhr and he now have to face another problem

The harem

..

Aeryon is smiling and his face is flushed red. He close his eyes for a moment and then he laughs. Outside the tent, the songs of victory are being sung

Tens of thousands of his men sung a song that shakes the wind and rustle the grass.

At times, Aeryon could be contemplative.

At times he could be depressed.

But when it is time to enjoy the victory, he enjoys it

He had learn to adapt to this world.

To this culture.

Brutal, vicious, cruel but also honest.

Life has always been like this. There are good and evil and there is ugliness and there is beauty

Some people lived only seeing the beauty and forgot that the ugliness is there and always could rear its head and tainted any beauty.

Some people lived seeing only the bad and forgot there is good, some lived seeing only the ugly forgetting there is beauty

Moderation in all things, balance in all things and one mind could think further, the eyes could see more and the heart could experience more.

Life has always been contradictory.

Some things only have one right choice, but life has many choices and as there are many right choices, there are also many wrong choices.

Life truly is unpredictable.

Even the most predictable life could be turn upside down with one unpredictable choice.

War is not beauty. It is not good. It is affairs that is most full of ugliness. This is a war of conquest. And people die

And for those who loses their people, war is always terrible.

But maybe because life is cheap in this era, victory erases this feeling for a while

It is not that the world are wrong. It is because humans are adaptable.

The narrative that the barbarians are monsters only holds true if the barbarians are of different species and did not have any empathy.

But Aeryon lived among these so called "barbarians"

And because he lived among them, he knows better that they feel love and joy more fiercely than those people in Yan or Roma.

Yan for example always wanted to kill people different from them. They believed collective punishment. The tribes...while there are some that uses collective punishment most small tribes did not use such method.

There is a matter of cost. But there is also a matter of culture. Killing an entire family or clan could even cripple a tribe.

And every one is highly protective of their family. A tribe could even go to war for a death of a family.

Aeryon experience this first hand. The tribalism meant that a family is fiercely protective of their own.

And then there is the matter of culture. Those who could not even avenge their family, how could such person be considered a great person?

There is not many people like Aeryon who could considered the big picture.

Culture shapes a lot of things.

And every culture become the way it is because it served the community.

That is why culture is enduring.

Some habits of culture become redundant as one become more advanced.

And the leader of that community must decide whether more people supported the culture or not and if they didn’t then one could slowly reform the culture.

Culture after all is not artificially created but a force of habit.

It is the natural habit formed when one is in a community, a habit that appears either because of peer pressure or because doing some things would lead to the lack of cohesiveness in a community

And in the Steppe when community is very important to survive the winter, things that lead to the lack of cohesiveness would be side-lines like a natural selection

Aeryon sighed as he closes his eyes and then he shakes his head

"There is many evil and terrible things in this world, but today let’s enjoy the good and nice things in the world" he mutters to himself.

However today, he would enjoy the beauty and revel in the joy. It is always a joy to win a hard battle and to survive a death

To the soldiers and to the people of the world, Aeryon had pacified the west. Khagai when they listen to this....if there was any wavering before....they would not waver now.

And the other western border tribes....they would have no justification to attack him now.

"Chayun...surprised me" Aeryon could not help but smile.

At the same time, he could not help but feel a little bit of fear.

He wonders if he had chosen to take the west in a conquering way, Chayun...if he did what he said he could do, what Chayun said was not an impossibility.

It is an inevitability

Chayun has his own talents.

Yes, he had his father instruction. But Aeryon could sense it. That young man have a talent of his own.

What Aeryon believe he saw....is stability.

Chadha is a man of great intelligence.

He knows when to ride the wind and he knows when the circumstances is hopeless or not. And when he sees it, he rides it

Does he unable to create storms? No, Aeryon after studying this old enemy had found out that this enemy of his was not incompetent

If he wanted, in the past, he could have done what the Khagai could not have done. Because while he is in the west, he is not considered to be one of the western border tribes.

Western border tribes are blessed by that mark of honour but also cursed by it unable to step an inch toward the east.

Western border tribes could not be called western border tribes if they rode east, could they?

But Chagai tribe....under Chadha had a chance to create storms in the past

Aeryon consulted Ashana on this matter and the Ashana is like a history book in the Steppes.

They know the secret histories between tribes, they knew many stories, many feuds and many secrets that even those fighting for it does not know

The Ashana are the scribes, the storytellers, secret keepers.

That is what Ashana is.

More than a shaman, more than some medium between this world and the spirits. They are not this ethereal being but also worldly.

Have to eat, have to sleep, die and suffer just like any other

But if there is one thing that separates them is that they preserve stories.

Some writes it on stone, some writes in their hearts and minds.

And it is from this Ashana he heard the affairs of the past.

To know one enemy is wise.

So, one could learn their strength and from that deduce their weakness. And after learning the history of Chagai tribe, Aeryon reached the conclusion, that Chadha could always raise storms.

But he did not.

And then Aeryon understand.

That old man....is ultimately not the same as him.

Does he not have ambition?

That is unlikely.

If he did not have ambition, he would not have created such ideas of separating the west.

In the end, he does have ambition but he have more compassion to his people

Probably he is the most benevolent and caring chief that Chagai had ever produce.

He buried his ambition so that his people would not die.

He could have raised storms, but in that storm how many of his people would die. With his intellect he probably could already estimate how many people of his tribe would die to fight for that ambition

Maybe he knew the number and then decided it is not worth it to fight this battle.

Maybe in his youth he also wanted the wind to change. Maybe he waited the favourable wind to come.

But unfortunately, in his time, the wind never came. And as he grows older, he might not care that much about expanding his tribe and forging some immortal achievement.

..