Second unification war

In 1020 the smaller houses believed they had their opportunity for freedom but they soon learned they were wrong to doubt our seers, wrong to doubt our wisdom, those that offer always seek to take, you can only pick the one who takes the least.
They conspired in their warm villas and lush forests, on their solid land and their tall walls. They resented us for the safety we gave them, we only attacked because we were told it was what was RIGHT and JUST. To protect this island from a world of takers. What is the problem if we merely take what IS OWED.
I digress, in the week of the solstice multiple houses, it started with House Chingis rising up against us and starting the war. Soon the other houses joined them in their betrayal. They controlled the squalls and the mountain passes leading to the wastes. All had beryaed us, all but the only loyal houses, the survivors from Houses Kedo and Najisama, House Andromeda and Ledron and House Aljana.  Our forces were swept past the mountains when just 120 years ago we had broken the enemy from the field. Something had changed the small houses, those wretches, were getting iron from the foreigners. That is what tipped the scales in their favor. The foreigners extracted a heavy price for this gift. They demanded fealty, taxes, and exports. They pressured those smaller kingdoms into giving them land and ceding control of their ports, forts, and castles.
But they were lucky, the greatest king of our time, of MY time King Kallik I. Matched only by his prowess in battle by the strength of his character. He was the man that we needed when we needed. He rose to the challenge of the time and put forth an incredible notion. The lesser houses, those disloyal Currs could be be bought from the enemy's side. In a age of violence and strife he found a way to change the fate of our kingdom. By offering better terms and more amendable taxes the smaller houses realized that their existence would be more prosperous if they expelled the foreigners. With the assistance of our great house and all the kingdoms of Vadroina together we soundly defeated them. The second unification completed but peace had a uneasiness to it. Enemies do not stay allies without something tying them all together. Again King Kallik I united us by creating a culture of isolation. A trade embargo and a fleet to enforce it, cementing our island's identity as Vadroinians in 1024
This peace has stood for 176 years but now I feel in my late years that the tensions are rising again. That these disloyal houses will betray our great legacy again.