I think there is a big misunderstanding here. For one, why would Garios accept the peace treaty? They were in the midst of ASSAULTING Lycaron, as in their men were on the walls when the treaty occurred, while another army was sieging Sedastim castle. More importantly, THEY are the ones paying tribute instead of us. Peace treaty tributes dont take into effect current campaign situations, only numbers of casualties it seems. The Western Empire's decision has no logic behind it.It seems like that should be when peace offers happen. Making peace when your enemy is poised to do serious damage to you is reasonable. It is certainly better than than old "come at me, bro" kingdom peace decisions which sometimes had middling kingdoms fighting the two strongest factions until they got smashed to dust.