Chapter 674: Great Changes in the Southern Great Steppe
The Southern Great Steppe is now in a period of great change.
Esbizuk is looking to stay on the East, solidifying their hold on the East by conquering and creating governance region on the territory they conquered.
There are hierarchies and because there are hierarchies there is order and with order come organization.
And an organized tribe composed of many other tribes is no longer just a tribe. This is a nascent formation of a country.
On the west of Esbizuk, there is the Brolgadhr tribe, led by the rising young chief Aeryon son of Rakarys, who had conquered most of the tribes on the lower south and is now about to finish his undertaking on the west.
On the north, there is the Vihur tribe
In the beginning of Aeryon rise, the chief of Kazan warns the chief of the Vihur tribe that there is an upstart on the south.
The chief of the Vihur tribe after listening to the many reports from merchants who came from the south and hearing the name of Aeryon also know the danger
He went down with his men probably intending to ascertain the matter. If he had succeeded back then, there might be a coalition of the northern chiefs to attack Brolgadhr and maintain the status quo
But coming down the south, he is afflicted by a cold and went back to the tribe before dying
And now that tribe, one of the strongest and largest tribe on the north before Aeryon Conquest is now on the verge of splitting up. Instead of pacifying the northern tribes and clans, they are now mired in their own internal battle
Could the young Khan be really blessed by the heavens?
If at that time, the chief of Vihur tribe ascertain that Aeryon is trying to break the status quo of the Southern great Steppe, today, Aeryon and his tribe might not have achieved such expansion so quickly and so smoothly.
Probably the Vihur tribe would organize a northern hunt, ordering and asking all of the northern tribes to hunt Brolgadhr tribe on the south.
Then there is the Aestan tribe
The Aestan tribe have always bene wary of the Ultar and of Brolgadhr.
They could not interfere during Aeryon attack on Wustkazan and they fear to move because of Ultar. There are many reasons why they did not make any moves.
But now things had changed.
Ultar is now on the verge of crumbling.
But is that really so?
If Aestan had a bit of awareness left, when they saw Ultar tribe is crumbling, they should have sent men toa attack the Brolgadhr tribe.
Because when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold.
But if Aestan have such a vision, could they have been stuck in the north all of these years?
If any of them have some kind of entrepreneurial spirit of wanting to go out of their hills and mines, would they still stay on the north. Even if they could not ride south, they could ride up north.
Aestan tribe leadership is worried but they also lack vision. Many people are unaware of how Burchu and Mukhulai managed to force Ultar tribe to such a situation where they had to fought a decisive battle.
Burchu is a spearman.
While he is good at fighting, he is still a greenhorn in the matters of tribal politics. But Mukhulai was not.
A slave, he was...but he was a slave of a chief. And he learned politics. Or to be more precise, tribal politics.
Since there is no central authority in the Steppe for thousands of years, tribal politics is more like interpersonal relationship
The loyalty of the chief lies only to their people, their clans and their tribes....and to the promise of their ancestors.
The promise to the gods, to the Skyfather and the Earthmother. Anything other than that, everything could be negotiated with.
Mukhulai managed to persuade the Aestan tribe to do a sneak attack and take some of Ultar lands. If they have any vision they would not have agreed.
But like a starving jackal that could only see what is in front of them, they actually listen to Mukhulai and attack Ultar and Ultar which as unprepared for this have their allies and their settlement raided and plundered.
And Mukhulai simply ambush any incoming reinforcement or force.
So, instead of a long war, Mukhulai managed to force Ultar tribe to abandon their strategic plans and follow Mukhulai pace. It forces the Ultar to stage a decisive battel to try to repel Mukhulai and Burchu from the centre of Ultar tribe.
That battle become the place where Burchu and Mukhulai carved their name in history of the Southern Great Steppe.
Winning that battle, Ultar forces are now scattered, tehri leadership crumble and in the ancient times, this kind of damage is paralyzing.
Ultar bordered the Aoshizan tribe, the combined tribe of Aoshi and Askazan tribe on the north.
They also bordered the Aestan tribe toward the east
The Oglan tribe to the west
Ultar tribe once had the idea of attacking Oglan tribe. But right now, Oglan tribe is now facing the Aoshi tribe
Right now, there is a truce, a ceasefire between the two tribes. But most of the area of Oglan and the clans and tribe in Oglan influence has sided with the Aoshi tribe.
These two tribes have ceasefire simply because they feared that the war between the west and the Brolgadhr tribe would affect them
Aoshi tribe had uses this moment for war to send scouts.
They wanted to know for themselves how powerful is this army of the Khan.
For people of Aoshi tribe, while they did hear the songs and stories of the Khan of the Lower South, they never seen him and they never see his army.
All they could rely on is the stories.
Not to mention that Brolgadhr tribe is far away from Aoshi tribe, making them cut off.
Even when Brolgadhr tribe was attacking the tribe around them and slowly conquering the tribes around them and creating a foundation there that alarm all the tribes on the west and the east, Aoshi tribe on that area of the north did not receive the news
Of course, at that time, they were not yet called the Aoshi tribe but these two tribes did not receive any news about Brolgadhr rise and thy did not know that such a man rises on the lower south
It wasnโt until Aeryon force has become so big that it could no longer be hidden that these two tribes finally receive the news.
And the other reason is that the Aoshi tribe, never look toward such faraway place .
It is not like that they would go there
But now, that tribe from the lower south of the Southern Great Steppe is now riding west and bring with them....a storm.
The west is the Khan intention, but the west is not the only region that is affected
The Khan army stretches out in a thin line , like a ruler, sweeping horizontally bit by bit. From the south to the north, the horses of the Khan trample the grounds
Aoshi tribe wanted to see these famed soldiers of the Khan.
And they saw it.
The scouts of Aoshi tribe saw the fierce warriors of the Khan and when he returned, he said to the chief of the Aoshi tribe, "I have never seen such fierce army in all of my life"
The scout did not know how to describe the army of the Khan even after seeing it
The soldiers of the Kan, when they are riding their horses there is formation, beautiful when look from afar, but deadly in close contact.
A shout, a loud blare, a wave of the flags and the horseman would know what to do. Uniform and disciplined. Unlike anything this scout had seen before.
They could appear from out of nowhere and then vanishing among the dust clouds, with speed and mobility that the Aoshi tribe has never seen before.
And they have many arrows and bows. Some of the elites have armours on their bodies, some have thick leather armour, while some have metal and steel armour. Even some of the horses is covered in armour.
But for even most of the common warriors...no...it is not appropriate to call these people warriors. They are soldiers. Soldiers of the Khan
They move with one order and their discipline was so high that they would not retreat unless one gives them the order to
They could scatter like sands but they could gather and form the strongest wall, they could attack and disregards death
This is not only the strength of warriors but the strength of tribe to provide the warriors all of these armours, all of these weapons.
It shows the strength of the Khan to be able to forge such an army
Sometimes, even if you have many people, you could not arm them all. And you could not give everyone an arrow.
Even if you have you would not have as many supplies as the Khan army did.
Not to mention, the Khan need to supply not thousands of archers, but tens of thousands of them.
And each one would use many arrows in each battle and in each pursuit.
This is a massive expenditure
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