May I add that the idea of a little mountain kingdom is nice and all, but may I point out the examples of the Rebel South and Tibet? If creating a government/nation is this guy's goal he's going to need the infrastructure to maintain a modern economy or else it'll be North vs South all over again. And lets face it nobody cares about the kill ratio difference between them, Lincoln sure didn't.
Also Tibet, an actual mountain kingdom and a logistical nightmare, still china with it's backwards ass military still rolled in there and took it over. They didn't even have any natural resources worth while...