Pokémon Conquest is not purely about the battles. While the battles help you take the various nations in the Ransei region, there's much more to do. The game has various timeframes for you to work in, and this allows you to go to all adjacent and captured areas and help build up your army and strengthen the Pokémon.

Choosing an area

When you begin the game, you only have access to one area with a neighbouring area for you to explore. You have the ability to enter the area and explore the nation. You can view the different bits of information about the enemy areas and communicate with the leaders.

Once each of the warriors under your control have acted, the turn & day ends and the opponents can move, causing you to have to react to their decisions including the possibility of them invading your nation

Increasing the Army

Once you are in control of a nation, you have the ability to explore within it. Throughout the areas, there are a number of caves, fields and other areas for you to explore. In these areas, you will occassionally find Pokémon and trainers which you can then challenge and add them to your army. This is done through a process called Scouting.

Inside the Nations

When inside the nations, in addition to the various areas, there are a few characters who will aid you in your army.
First, you will find people who will sell and trade you various items which you can give to your warriors to use on your Pokémon
Secondly, you will find a character who will sell you "Ponigiri" which will increase the Pokémon's strength.
Inside each of the areas, you will find a variety of wild areas and places. These places are all capable of being levelled up by purchasing boosts at the Bank. They all are a gradual boost which require a lot of gold. Once they reach Level 2, a new area will unlock in the nation. The wild Pokémon in the area increase in strength as you level up. Some nations even have unique areas which can aid in your journey such as allowing you to pay for a new ability on your Pokémon or boosting the stats of the Warlords

Giving Items

Another option given before you enter the nation is attaching items to the Pokémon. These items vary from giving the Pokémon a boost to their stats, to having an item to use during the battle and even evolution. The items can only be held one at a time and can be switched at will. They are obtained within battles through treasure chests in addition to purchasing in the stores

Taking a Nation

If there are any nations denoted by a red flag, they are able to be attacked by your army. Doing this would allow you to take the nation and explore all the contents of it. However, each nation will have its own leader you need to defeat and this can be extremely challenging.
If however, you have multiple nations under your control, you will be able to call upon the leaders of those nations to join you in trying to take it. You can send no more than six Pokémon into a nation at any one time