Way of Overlord

Chapter 681: Political Concerns

Treason has many punishment.There is even degree to this treason.

But one thing was made clear.

The reasons why this benevolent and even generous Khan would treat treason as something woefully important is because while he could be lenient on other transgression, treason is one thing he could not allow

The Steppe is not a cutthroat culture. Just like Jianghu is not all about revenge and killing

Of course, the people are hard, the life is had and it created strong people.

But this did not mean that they are monsters that is depicted on those stories and books of Yan and Zhou.

Though they do help with creating the image, an image that the Steppe uses to great advantage.

Before they even ride south, those spineless Yan people would already throw their weapons and seek surrender.

After all, the good life of the Yan dynasty does not extend to the people or the soldier. A strong nation luck is actually the precursor to destruction.

Because all of those who gains the world through war forgets that the people below them that fight these war does not like war

In the early days of the empire those who make military merit could be ennobled and gain merit so they did not care as they could kill people.

But the life of the common people is the same and sometime is even worse.

During the time of Jiang Che, the so-called Emperor Wu of Yan, how many of the common people life suffers?

The current generations of Yan did not live those era , yet they clamour to say like they wanted to life in the era of Emperor Wu of Yan. They all believe that if they live in that era, they would be able to forge unparalleled achievement

That unparalleled achievements are made at the expense of the common people. those who so boasted that they would be somebody in that era where the emperor eats the bones and drinks the blood of the common people, probably would be one of those mud legged people, struggling to survive under the harsh laws, and taxes

Where every home lost a son and father, lost pillars of the family

Whether the Yan dynasty is wide or large did not matter to the common people. It is whether they could eat and whether they could have children, whether they have a house or a place where they could spend their life in peace in old age

But what happened?

The old send off the young men to war, buried the young and grieve for the future generations. The old father sends off the sons, the woman sends off their husbands.

Houses and families wrecked while the emperor dreams of making a name for himself, wanting the title of "Wu" (martial)

All for posthumous name and for prestige, millions of people had to die.

And future generations instead of lamenting the perils and hardship of the people, praise lavishly the Emperor who expanded the nation

The emperor did not expand the nation.

The people did.

They paved it and got nothing for it.

Every inch of land that is won, does not belong to the common people, does not belong to those who fought for it or for the family that sacrificed for it.

Instead, it belongs to the privileged class.

Those families who only sends their sons to command.

And when they fought, they wore the best armours, have the best horses and when the tide turns bad, they were the first one that runs and the common people that ahs to be trampled.

They would raise banners like punishing the barbarians, or expelling the barbarians, killing the barbarians.

But in the end, it is always the common people that suffers and the spoils would always goes to the ruler.

And yet, the future generation ignores those pleas of the people, the cries and screams of widows, of orphans and praise lavishly for emperor that expands the nation.

If they live in that era, one wonders what they would think.

No generations should sacrifice for the next generations. Every generation should solve their own problem

If one could do this, the next generation would solve tehri own problem and the next generation after that also solve tehri won problem, the world would not be so bad.

The emperors always said like this is to pave the way for future generations. In the eyes of the emperor, it is fine to sacrifice the people of today for the people of tomorrow.

But did he ever ask?

And did he sacrifice? It is not his sons, his daughters and his family that he loved that is fighting in those war.

Now, trump later every time.

The future is a sucker bet.

A maybe.

A contingency. A what if?

The only thing that is real is the present. And if you plundered the present of its potential, the future would only get worse

Emperor Wu of Yan robbed the lives of millions of fathers, of brothers, sons, men who is pillar of their family.

He won countless victory.

But each victory brings the dynasty closer to death. Because a country should not be the focus

The people should not live for their country.

Their country should live for the people.

And if the country does not live for their people, then that country should rightfully be destroyed and thrown into the dustbin of history

And because of that action, the Yan dynasty crumbles.

And the ills of the past affect the present.

The grudges they create does not disappear.

The Steppe does not forget the massacre that Huo Qubing and those invaders from the south inflicted to the Steppe and to other ethnic minorities on the outskirts of Yan northern borders.

And since then, the Steppe has been killing the people of Yan without guilt

To the people of Yan, the people of the Steppe is raiders.

But for the Steppe, the people of Yan are the killers of mothers, the killers of children of the Steppe.

They are monsters.

And monsters should be killed.

It helps when the enemy themselves have a fearful image of you.

The people of Yan themselves crafted this image of the Hu people as some monsters. It teaches them to hate but it also instils fears.

But.... life in the Steppe is also not all about revenge and killings. It is also about relationship, and it is about getting best of both worlds if they could.

Other than those who holds great ambition most chief prefers the status quo.

The peace and the routine.

Even if that routine has battle and killings, it is a routine everyone is accustomed to

But the moment Aeryon started his ambition and marched his soldiers all over the Steppe, the stage that Aeryon is playing in is not the same stage normal life is played on. You do not play checkers with people who are using chess pieces and vice versa

In the game of power, it is cutthroat. If Aeryon allows lenient punishment for rebellion and treason, then the chief would not see this as an act of kindness or an act of benevolence.

They would see it as a weakness they could exploit.

And there is nothing more dangerous than an exploitable weakness.

Even if Aeryon did noy want to execute such punishment, he must make a show that he is prepared to do so.

Not doing so would instead foster more tragedies.

The more people think they could get away with rebellion, the more rebellion he would have in the future.

Aeryon could be benevolent and could be lenient but that depends on the circumstances and depends on the time.

This is not yet the time.

If the kingdom is strong, the people hearts are with him, the rule is stable, then when he does give leniency, it would be seen as a show of force, and an example of kindness.

But right now, if he did that, how many people would whisper to the ears of the chief, persuading them to rebel.

External enemies are not yet pacified and internal enemies would multiply.

In such cases, only harsh punishment could deter those who have treacherous intention

Most of those who surrenders to the Khan, surrenders sincerely.

But how could they show their loyalty without being ostentatious and without being accused of just acting.

Only if the Khan have an envoy that could convey the hearts of these surrendered chief, that the chiefs would sleep well at night not worrying whether the Khan would suddenly send men to their settlement and burns and raid their settlements and villages.

Those who surrender, those who were conquered wanted someone to supervise them. Not because they like being supervised. But because the alternative is scarier.

If they were supervised, at least the Khan would not harbour distrust.

Every chief knows that the first step to distrust is suspicions.

Once one heart has suspicion, that is a worm in the heart that could not be eradicated

Suspicion breeds doubt and doubts breeds mistrust.

And once mistrust sets in, not matter how many proof you have, that suspicions would gnaw at the proof like it is rotten wood.

And the end of this distrust is none other than a great tragedy

That is why all of his retainers, all of the chiefs and even the elders praised him when he appointed Belarion as Noyan

A simple appointment but it touches a lot of political nerves and tick of all boxes of political correctness of that time

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