> Ceding large swaths of a country to random strong men doesn't seem like a sustainable solution. Why? At least some of those local strong men are going to be

> Ceding large swaths of a country to random strong men doesn't seem like a sustainable solution. Why? At least some of those local strong men are going to be amenable to your ideals. Support them with knock off equipment and let them conquer their enemies. If they become hostile after they've conquered their enemies, you can kill them then and iterate the process with someone else - though ideally you're using the spreading of their influence to spread your culture and dependencies on your support at the same time.