Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 609: Politics

Arial could listen to Amara telling him that he would be the savior of this people and become Asrana, a deity, a divine being whose destiny is to fight Darkness. 

He is fine with that. 

But he is also very pragmatic. Just because Amara said that he would get the Three kingdoms under his feet, did not mean he would just abandon reason

Unless he is given the power of a god today, enabling him to move mountain and split the sea, then he still have to use mortal means

He is almost unkillable in battle. But there is always a possibility. After all, in the end, he is still not an immortal. Almost unkillable did not mean he was unkillable.

It just means he is hard to kill.

And there are also demons. Heavenly Demons as Amara called it. 

This demon is unlike the demons in Arakath. 

These Heavenly demons is ancient. They possess great magic and powerful physical abilities.

They could fight with dragons and gods and goddesses. 

They also have all kinds of knowledge. 

And since Amara is adamant that he is Asrana, then sooner or later he might meet these demons. 

And they might try to kill him. As much a she wanted to believe that there is a Creator out there, guaranteeing his protection, he is more at ease if he prepares himselfhis way.

Looking at his economic policies, it did not seem that bad. 

For it to truly saw any changes, Arial first need to control all the cities in Balhae first. 

For now, he only has the capital city of Balhae as his base of operation.

And even then, it is not the entire Balhae. Outside this city walls, there is still a lord of lords that he needs to bring into the fold.

There are other large cities with their lords and their armies. 

That itself is also something that he needs to be wary off. 

Not all lords could be persuaded with benefits. Some do carry the virtues of the ancient. Some of the would be loyal to the kingdom. 

To ignore that would be an unwise move

Arial had seen such thing before in his Conquest War. There are heroes he meets in the battlefield.

Arial might have killed them all the same but it did not change the fact that even as they were dying Arial respected them very much

There are only a few warriors during the Conquest War that made him such a feeling of sadness.

Like the world had lost a hero

Even in Davarus there is people like that. How could it not exist here in the Shadowlands where still many people respect the old virtues.

And he knows that it is vital that he establish a spy network as fast as possible.

But it is kind of hard if he wanted to use the ten tribespeople as his spies. 

The three great tribes only trustee their own kind and it is because of that most of those that occupied high positions in the three kingdom is people of their tribe

Of course this breeds resentment from other tribespeople under the Three Kingdoms who were treated like second class citizens in the Three kingdoms.

But in the past, there is only order and law but not a lot of personal freedom. At that time, it was necessary.

After all, the people rely on the kingdoms to fend off the Darkness. So, some personal freedom was sacrificed. It is a duty for the Three Great tribe, but also their curse.

Now, that they no longer have to fight, there is all kinds of warlords that appears. And they all have different aims and reason for fighting.

Arial click his tongue. It is not like he could easily found one of the tribes member of the three great tribe that could act as his spies

'If not that, I just need information network that documented other matters. I did not have to rush too much. There would be to many mistakes if I keep rushing like this, he thought to himself.

He then moves to drafting other policies. 

And the other one that required as much care as the economic policy is none other than the political one. 

Political organization is of equal importance in ensuring stability. 

Especially in his current situation. Stability is of utmost importance if he wanted to start conquering the other states

Stability represents order and the law. And Arial knows that he must make feel his presence known.

Not only to the people that is now under his dominion, but people outside. Military power is one thing, political influence is another

If he could avoid shedding blood, that would be best. 

He did not come to the New World to add more sins in his list. He had come here because he believes in the promise of Amara, a promise of redemption.

Like his previous methods, he usually was conscious of the need to retain existing political structure as far as possible

This ensure that he did not introduce too much chaos and did not give him too much work while he went away conquering more distant land.

But since he had decided to make Balhae as his base, he had already decided to change a lot of the political structure of this place

When faced with potential political strike, Arial was always prepared to pursue reforms. Usually other lords would also try to cement favorable political condition thought marriage

But that is how it is done in the Three Kingdoms and not in the Human Continent. 

And even though Arial know this is something he could do to quickly bring the city lords to his side, he would not do it.

If he had no other choice, he probably would. 

But he had a lot of choices. And even if he secures the trust of the city lords with marriage alliances, it would not be able to make him the conqueror of the Three Kingdoms.

The reason is because the tribes would not respect such warrior. 

And it is not like Amara had sent him here so he could marry as many noble daughter as he could.

Arial did not need to do such thing and he knows that trust while it could be fostered to be like that, in such an age of chaos, even marriage alliances is not immune to betrayal

Arial lack any distinct political ideology which give him flexibility and substantial advantage.

Arial was always committed to promoting only that is what is best for him and his army. 

This approach to strategy encouraged a distinctly realist, pragmatic approach to policy, one that is free from the inconvenient commitment of ideology 

But, this is not something he would do. Since he has the ability to not do it, this plan is put at the back of his mind.

At the core of Arial approach to political organization of the empire during the early years was the maintenance of existing local powers albeit with a slight amendment

And the most important thing that he must do in such political organization where he maintained the local powers was always to put his men, the men he trusted in the most crucial position

Thankfully he had a lot of choices and the culture of the thirteen tribes made him quite satisfied. 

The Thirteen tribe when they give their oaths and promises, they would not break it.

Most of them would not betray you unless you betray the promise first. Their religion is not stupid

After all, if one betrays you and you were not able to break the promise then death is the only answer

In such cases, it is permissible to break one promise. Because the other one had break honor first.

Of course, this statement refers to the Ten Tribes in particular and not the Three Great tribes.

From the news he had heard the Three Great tribes is like a serpent with forked tongue. They could promise you, and a moment later stabs you in the back with a smile

Whether this is the truth or not, Arial still could not make up his mind since he did not interact with so many of the Three Great tribe

Most of his soldiers are people who came from the New World, travelling with him from the Gate to the forest and then taking over this city

He did not know if all the bad stories about the Three Great Tribes are the truth or the exaggerations of the Ten Tribes

He put a question mark on the politic on the papers. There is only a broad strategy about it and not a lot of details.

It needs to be elaborated and it is not like he had to take care of every detail. 

Instead, just by giving it a broad strategy, as long as there is a general direction to go on to, slowly, the system would be naturally formed.

For now, he did not have to worry too much since the court is not that big and the territory he has is not that big

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