Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

While he is effectively occupying the capital city of the state, there is still many cities that Arial could not be sure of their allegiance.

And Arial doubt that these city lords would just listen to him. After all they still have the backing of the kingdom. As for the closest cities to Balhae, they might not have a choice. 

Arial had decided that he would lead a few thousand men to the closest cities, to ask for their fealty.

He would be real hands-on in this matter. This is the importance of knowing the location of the cities. 

He needed that map. He looks up from the parchment and look at the door.

'Still not here?' he thought to himself. He had been writing since afternoon till almost evening. 

Unlike before, he no longer need some wine when he is doing some work in the late afternoon.

Having almost an immunity against drunkenness made drinking wine like he is drinking water.

He had no excuse to rest. 

In the past he could use the excuse of tiredness to rest. But since he is rarely tired unless he is fighting against ten thousand men, he could not really use such excuse.

His courtiers, servants and ministers had always admire him when he would work on memorials until late at night

They called him a very diligent Emperor, hardworking and sacrificing his body to solve the problem plaguing the Empire. 

But they did not know that he did not feel tired and even if he did not do the work, if he goes back to his room, who is waiting for him?

He got up from his seat for a while. 

He looks outside from the window.

The office is high up in a tower. 

When he looks down he could see the people closing up shop, people rushing back to their home. While he did not need physical rest for his body, it did not mean his mind did not need to rest

He looks at the scenery for a few minutes before sighing. The sun had set. He then ordered the servants outside to bring the flaming moss

Flaming moss is something that the thirteen tribe had used for a long time 

While Arial did not know all the unique thing in the New World he had at least found out about the flaming moss

It is a moss near the Red Shore. It had a peculiar ability. When it is burned with fire, it would produce glittering particles that light up a room.

The servants quickly bring the moss to him and hen Arial resumes his work. Today he has been working from morning to the night. Most people would have rested by now. Or enjoy some food with friends.

But Arial had none of his friend here. 

Of course, Arial enjoys the company of his soldiers but for days like today, where he did office work, he did not like to be disturbed.

One could think of it as diligent. Arial think of it as loneliness.

There is no one that he could talk to. Such thing would make a man sick. But Arial could not get sick. 

How unfortunate for him that the sickness stays only in his mind and not his body

Sometimes it is better to at least fall sick once in a while rather than having such a torturous experience in one mind.

He sat back down. He then opens back the parchment and wrote security.

A significant concern of his was establishing security. He trusted Giovanni and Santiago, Edenian generals. But he did not know if he could trust them with local administration.

'Tch' he clicks his tongue. 

There are not many civil officials in his current court. 

And most of those under him, there is not much of a noble. There are some nobles that are being detained in the prison right now and Arial does have the intention to meet them later.

He would like them to simmer first before they negotiated. Some of the nobles controls a lot of soldiers and if they were inclined to swear fealty to him then it would save him a lot of trouble.

This is after all different from the Human Continent where almost all military powers of the Edenian Empire rested on the hands of the Emperor

The lords are limited in the retinue that they could hold. Retaining more than ten thousand soldiers would be akin of showing intent of treason.

And even though the limit is ten thousand, once some noble family began retaining more than a thousand soldiers, then the Hall of War would began monitoring that noble family.

On the other hand, in the Shadowlands, because of the Darkspawn, the lords were encouraged to train their own army and recruit soldiers.

As such, this could not be reversed easily. Places that have more Darkspawn attack would naturally have more powerful soldiers.

It would not be surprising to know that some lords might possess a larger army than the royal army and even more powerful than them because of this practice.

Arial taps his finger on the edge of the table. He was thinking should he left it to Arun. He is the after all one of Arial councilor.

He then nodded to himself as he writes Arun names. 

It is still under consideration

The security of the establishment of his political power is of utmost importance if he were to begin a conquest.

In stories, a conquest is exciting and thrilling. But not many know the efforts needed behind the scenes to make sure that the conquest succeeded

Those who listen to the stories of the Conquest of Zettel all knows about the exciting battles and the colorful characters in the war.

They revel at the bravery of the men that fought, the characters of the heroes and villains and the setback and the victories and losses.

But they did not know that to make sure that victory is at hand, there were many plans that had to be prepared beforehand.

Long hours in the war tent discussing and debating. But of course, as stories do, it must be interesting. 

Nobody wanted to read how the great Emperor sat in his war tent rubbing his forehead, trying to think the best way to break enemy encirclement. 

Nobody wanted to listen to a story where the Emperor was thinking of schemes and plots

They like to believe that their Emperor got up one morning, jump onto his horse, ride toward the battlefield and slew everyone in his way

That their Emperor fought with divine providence protecting him. They like to hear his victories, his domineering presence in the battlefield.

How was they supposed to know that for all of that exiting moments in the Conquest, every victory, all of it is laid down beforehand.

The planning of the battle must be done beforehand to ensure a thousand victories. Know your enemy and you would never lose. 

And remember to know yourself, your strength and weaknesses.

Right now, Arial is trying to conquer all three kingdoms. This is not some small state that he could easily take in one piece.

There must be a strategy, a grand strategy where it would outline how this campaign would go.

Only then, when the battle began, the stories would be interesting. 

'It is a pity that I did not have too much of civil officials. Arun…I guess he could be trusted. I would see first and look if he is really suitable. Beyond this strict requirement, I could leave it intact under the control of the local nobles. Still, I had to convince them. I might need to use some more gentle methods. If I outline the benefits of surrendering and swearing fealty unto me, then I might be able to do this without wasting too many things. He rubs his forehead.

He knows what he needed to do to gain the confidence of the noble lords is to show them that he had the capabilities to contend with the kingdom. 

If he could do that, naturally the nobles would be more inclined in siding with him

'It would also not be bad to retain some of them as quasi-independent states like the kingdoms under the Empire' he thought to himself. 

Arial had many reason to retain it. 

Preserving some of the existing political system held true even if it meant preserving some of the way of the governance of the thirteen tribes. 

He would not hesitate to appoint one of the people of the Three Great tribes to a position of power if need be

The motivation behind Arial decision is not simply because of his feeling of closeness toward these tribes that he could not explained, it is also driven by more practical needs

The existing Vernium bureaucracy and taxation system, while is not as complicated and complex as the bureaucracy and the taxation system of the Empire, there is still complexity in it.

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