The gods began by supporting Guo Jing to become emperor

Chapter 139: The Mongol War, Guo Jing's First Prominence
"Enemy attack!"

The Jin cavalry general was a sturdy, strong and powerful man. The cavalry charge was coming in the blink of an eye. They sensed the enemy's arrival, quickly formed a defensive formation, and launched a charge to meet the enemy cavalry.

Cavalry can only exert its greatest lethality when it is on the move. This is the most basic common sense for cavalry generals.

An encounter broke out unexpectedly on this plain. There were bursts of thunder in the sky, as if beating drums to cheer them on. Fine raindrops fell on their bodies, soaking their clothes. The rain was cold, but their bodies were boiling with blood.

The messenger cavalry moved around and issued orders, and the formation slowly changed accordingly as it moved. However, when they charged, the rain suddenly stopped, and the red setting sun shone on the grassland like blood.

The rumbling sound of horse hooves continued, as if the grassland was shaking under their feet.

Guo Jing rushed to the front, but saw their enemies slowly forming up on the grass hill in front of them.

The little red horse was breathing heavily and shaking its mane. The thousand or so cavalrymen behind Guo Jing were galloping faster and faster. The iron hooves were rolling like thunder, and the grass was rolled up between the tumbling hooves. They made a rumbling sound and rushed towards the Jin people.

"shoot!"

A round of arrows rained down, and cavalrymen from both sides were shot and fell off their horses. Then, the cavalrymen from both sides collided with each other. Guo Jing thrust out the spear in his hand fiercely, and the red tassel trembled and turned into an afterimage, gently piercing the enemy's throat, and then retracted it. The enemy cavalry rushed forward dozens of steps, staggered and fell off their horses, and were trampled into a pile of mud by passing war horses.

Drawing the gun and putting it away, these simple movements could kill a Jin soldier every time. No matter how thick the armor he was wearing, he could always kill him with one blow, cleanly and neatly, without any delay.

Guo Jing took the lead, and the personal soldiers behind him also stayed closely beside him to resist the arrows and spears from the side. These people were like sharp spears, and they pierced through the formation of the Jin cavalry in a short time.

"Damn it!"

When the Jin generals saw Guo Jing harvesting their own soldiers like cutting melons and vegetables, they were furious and urged their horses to launch a counterattack.

"Come and die!"

The Jin army general widened his eyes, roared, and rushed towards Guo Jing. He swung the long sword in his hand and slashed at the opponent. At this moment, the two cavalrymen roared and collided head-on.

When Guo Jing saw the enemy, he slammed his spear downwards. The red tassel danced in the air like a ball of flame. The spear collided with the long sword with powerful force. With a "bang", sparks jumped up.

The spear barrel smashed down, the Jin soldier's knuckles were numbed, the long sword was buzzing, and the force continued to vibrate and pass to his arms. He could no longer hold on, and it slipped out of his hand.

However, Guo Jing's spear was still powerful, and the heavy spear hit his chest hard. He flew backwards from the horse's back, and blood spilled in the air.

On the battlefield, life and death are often decided in a split second. The Jin soldier general hit the ground headfirst, no longer in human form, with broken bones and scattered flesh. Sticky blood kept gushing out of his mouth and nose, flowing over his neck. Before he could react, Guo Jing turned his horse's head. The little red horse snorted and kicked out with its hooves. The man only felt that his head was hit by a sledgehammer, and he fell silent.

"Xilulu!"

The little red horse neighed excitedly and carried Guo Jing back and forth on the battlefield. This team of Jin cavalry was no match for the Mongolian cavalry. In addition, their general was dead and there was no commander. In the blink of an eye, the defensive formation collapsed.

In the blood-red light of the setting sun, human figures were flying, war horses were falling, and on the boundless grassland, a one-sided massacre began.

……

After the battle, the Mongolian soldiers cleaned up the battlefield, collected arrows, stripped the enemies of their armor and clothes, etc. However, Guo Jing did not stay after the battle, but found a place to set up camp.

In the tent, Guo Jing was checking the map. Tuolei opened the tent and rushed in, shouting excitedly, "Anda, you are so awesome! I think you are even more awesome than Borchu and the others!"

He looked at Tolui calmly and asked, "How is the battle going?"

The smile on Tuolei's face faded, but the excitement in his eyes could not be suppressed. "We have counted 1,231 heads of the enemy, and we only suffered more than 70 casualties. This is the first time I have had such a good fight."

Guo Jing's face was not very happy. Even though he had killed so many enemies, he did not show much emotion. He just nodded slightly and said, "I will write the battle report later. You should send someone to the Khan immediately to ask him to make a decision. This is the enemy's advance troops. We may have almost reached the base camp of the Jin soldiers."

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to go right away."

Seeing that Tolui had calmed down, Guo Jing slowed down his tone and said, "Tolui, the Jin army is much stronger than the Mongols. The one we just killed is insignificant to them. We have to be careful next time."

"I see."

In the next two months, Guo Jing fought against the Jin cavalry several times. Every time he led the charge. Occasionally, when the troops were outnumbered and in danger, he was able to rely on his powerful personal strength to break out of the siege and turn the tide of the battle. The Jin soldiers were frightened and turned pale when they heard about him. The cavalry would retreat unconsciously when they saw his flag from afar.

Later, following Genghis Khan's order, he entered the Jin territory from the southwest road wall and attacked Jingzhou, Fengzhou, Yunnei, Dongsheng (now Tokto), Wuzhou, Shuozhou and other cities. He returned with a lot of loot, and obtained gold, silver, treasures, food, and countless people.

This move made Genghis Khan look at him with admiration. He thought he had gained another powerful general under his command, so he rewarded Guo Jing generously and assigned him another 2,000 cavalrymen. At this time, the cavalrymen under his command had swelled to 10,000, a small number of whom were Han people.

He selected the elite Han cavalry trained by Hua Zheng and the people he brought from the south and incorporated them into the army. The battlefield was the best test. The war was about to begin and no one knew when it would stop. Only the army he controlled could bring him more victories.

For some reason, Guo Jing always had a sense of urgency in his heart and always wanted to expand his own military forces. The Han people under his command were either Han slaves found on the grassland or anti-Jin heroes from the south. The rest were Han people looted from the Jin land.

These people had no roots in the grassland and could only cling closely to him and be controlled by him. Although this was not his original intention, this was the outcome. Among the top Mongolian dignitaries, he was the only Han Chinese, and he was the only one willing to use and promote them. Why wouldn't they serve Guo Jing and die for him?

Guo Jing sent all the Jin people to the tribe, leaving the Han people behind. He recruited the strong men into the army as auxiliary soldiers for training, and arranged land for the old and weak to cultivate to support the army. After several months, the power of his men began to emerge.

Genghis Khan also knew that Guo Jing was building up the power of his subordinates, but he did not take it seriously at all. He even wanted it, because there were only a few million Mongols, which was too few.

It is extremely difficult for a mere few million people to occupy a territory of tens of thousands of miles. He and other Mongolians are busy gathering nomadic tribes on the border of the Jin people and have no energy to reorganize the Han people. If Guo Jing is willing to do it, then naturally let him do it.

Using Han people to fight can also reduce the damage to Mongolian cavalry. Accepting Han people for one's own use is equivalent to strengthening Mongolia's strength. As long as they can go to the battlefield, they are one of ours. Why should we make such clear distinctions? As long as they can strengthen Mongolia's power, he will accept everyone.

……

Jin Dynasty, Prince Zhao’s Palace in Zhongdu.

Wanyan Honglie was very upset when he read the battle reports from the border. In just a few months, his originally black hair had turned a lot of white. The heavy responsibility of fighting against Song fell entirely on him, making him look much older.

At the same time, he also devoted his attention to the war in the north. As early as a long time ago, the Jin Dynasty realized that Mongolian unification was a serious threat to the Jin Dynasty, so they appointed officials on the grassland and instigated them to kill each other openly or secretly.

For more than ten years, the grassland tribes killed and annexed each other, just like raising a Gu, and eventually raised a Gu King. The Jin Dynasty was also attacked back. Genghis Khan, who unified the grassland, brought great trouble to the Jin Dynasty.

Although Mongolia has a small population, its combat effectiveness is comparable to that of the Jin people in the early years of its founding. The Jin cavalry, with the same number but better equipment, was no match for the Mongolian cavalry. The northern grasslands were the home ground of the cavalry. Without cavalry, what could they use to fight?

In fact, the Jin Dynasty's military strength was several times that of Mongolia, but its combat effectiveness was hard to describe. A hundred years ago, the Jin Dynasty successively destroyed the Liao Dynasty and the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Southern Song Dynasty and Western Xia successively became vassals of the Jin Dynasty.

However, after entering the glamorous world of the Central Plains, they quickly became assimilated into the Han culture just like the previous nomadic regimes.

The number of Jurchen troops was originally small, and after a long period of sinicization, their combat effectiveness had been greatly reduced. The Meng'an Mouke system collapsed, and coupled with the power struggle within the Jin Dynasty, experienced veterans were purged, and the army's combat effectiveness dropped sharply.

In the later period of the Jin Dynasty, the main forces of their army were Khitan and Han people. In addition to the large territory to defend and the collapse of the warhorse breeding system, the Jin army changed from an all-cavalry army to an infantry army.

Even now, in order to form its own cavalry unit, the Jin Kingdom had to lower itself to purchase war horses from the Western Xia Kingdom.

Wanyan Honglie knew the strengths and weaknesses of the Jin Dynasty very well, so he risked his life to go to Mongolia to stop Genghis Khan. Unfortunately, he still failed. Realizing the crisis that the unification of Mongolia brought to the Jin Dynasty, he pushed the Jin Dynasty to send troops south in the court.

There was no way, they really couldn't win. If the Jin army could defeat the Mongolian cavalry, Wanyan Honglie would not choose to fight on two fronts at this juncture. Sure enough, the army had just set out to the south when bad news came from the north.

……

Outside Xiangyang City, in a valley.

Su Ming was wearing a thin Taoist robe and holding a sheathed sword on his knees. He was sitting cross-legged under the waterfall outside the valley, meditating and regulating his breathing. He had already learned the sword moves of the Dugu Nine Swords, but he was still far from mastering them and being able to apply them flexibly, and he couldn't even use them against the enemy.

Dugu Nine Swords is a very high threshold sword technique, with a variety of moves to defeat the enemy, these moves are aimed at the enemy's flaws, such as the palm-breaking style, the sword-breaking style...

If you take out the sword moves individually, each one can be listed as a separate inheritance of a school.

It’s a pity that this set of sword skills requires too high a level of comprehension. In The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, only Linghu Chong can learn it. No one from the entire Five Mountains Sword Sect can catch Feng Qingyang’s eye. Are the predecessors from the Five Mountains Sword Sect not as good as Linghu Chong?

Not really. Let’s talk about Yue Buqun for example. Before he practiced the Dugu Nine Swords, his swordsmanship was definitely better than Linghu Chong’s. But so what? Feng Qingyang just wouldn’t pass it on to him because he wouldn’t be able to learn it even if he taught him. Even if he reluctantly learned the moves, he only got the form but not the meaning, just like Su Ming.

Let’s not talk about Linghu Chong for now, let’s just talk about Yang Guo. This guy inherited Dugu Qiubai’s skills earlier than Feng Qingyang, but after he came out of the mountain, he only used the Black Iron Heavy Sword’s swordsmanship. Is it possible that the Black Iron Heavy Sword’s swordsmanship is stronger than the Dugu Nine Swords?
Don't forget that Yang Guo only has one arm left, and the heavy black iron sword weighs 64 pounds. How much strength does it take for a disabled person to swing it? But he chose to leave the Dugu Nine Swords unused and use the heavy black iron sword to fight the enemy. Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?

Yang Guo is not stupid. The only explanation is that he is unable to fully master the Dugu Nine Swords.

Su Ming is now trying to understand the Dugu Nine Swords in his own way. The Dugu Nine Swords is like a universal formula. Once a sword user has learned it, he can always find sword moves that can target the opponent's weaknesses.

The attention is to target the flaws, not to restrain them.

Compared to weapons, the human body is extremely fragile. Unless one develops an indestructible body or develops an innate qi that surrounds the body and makes it immune to attacks of a certain intensity, the human body is full of weaknesses, and there are even key weaknesses such as major acupoints and vital points.

The power of Dugu Nine Swords lies in the fact that one can combine them at will to create moves that target the opponent's weaknesses in order to defeat the enemy, but Su Ming learned the sword moves only with difficulty, and was unable to combine them at will to achieve the state of doing what he wants and letting the sword follow his heart.

Therefore, he temporarily put aside the Dugu Nine Swords and turned to practice Quanzhen swordsmanship. He learned this set of swordsmanship when he was in the Quanzhen Sect. As the head of the Quanzhen Sect, Ma Yu was naturally qualified to teach him. The Seven Quanzhen disciples were also very friendly to Su Ming and did not stick to their own sectarian views.

Although the Quanzhen swordsmanship had a mediocre performance in The Legend of the Condor Heroes and was restrained by the Jade Girl Swordsmanship, the combined efforts of the Seven Quanzhen Swordsmen could only barely tie with King Jinlun and his men. It seemed not as good as top martial arts such as the Nine Yin Scriptures and the Eighteen Palms of the Dragon Subduing.

But don’t forget that the founder of Quanzhen Sect is the invincible Wang Chongyang. Wang Chongyang was able to win the number one position in the world by relying on his innate skills, but what he truly left behind was the Quanzhen Dao Song and Quanzhen swordsmanship, which are the foundation of Quanzhen Sect.

After Su Ming learned the Quanzhen sword technique, he only regarded it as a means to fight against the enemy and did not take it seriously. But now in the Dugu Sword Tomb, he began to study the Quanzhen sword technique again, deeply studying the sword theory and the connotation of each move.

Up to this point, he had just begun to develop his swordsmanship. With the eagle as his sparring partner, his swordsmanship was improving steadily. After all, the eagle had lived with Dugu Qiubai for so many years, and had been influenced by him. The eagle flapped its wings at will, which seemed crude, but in fact could be regarded as sword moves. Su Ming suffered many losses before he understood it.

(End of this chapter)