The gods began by supporting Guo Jing to become emperor

Chapter 154 Guo Jing wants someone, Jin wants to move the capital
The Imperial Palace of the Kingdom of Jin.

Wanyan Honglie stood in front of the palace, his eyes fell on the steps at his feet, his heart was filled with mixed feelings. After working hard for half his life, he finally ascended the throne he had always dreamed of, but he was not happy. Instead, he looked worried.

There was no other reason. He surrendered to Mongolia and offered tribute as soon as he ascended the throne. This was a humiliation to the country. It was the first time since the founding of the Jin Dynasty that such a big pot fell, which dealt a big blow to his authority.

In addition, the previous emperor died of fear, leaving behind a devastated country. Today, the Jin Dynasty is facing internal and external troubles and is in a precarious situation.

Although the war was settled, the holes left behind were shocking. Henan and Hebei were looted by the Mongols and there were starving people everywhere. What was even more terrifying was that in the Battle of Yehuling, the Jin Dynasty lost hundreds of thousands of troops, and the imperial court was in a situation where it had no soldiers available. The vast northern land did not even have enough troops to defend it.

"What a troubled time!"

He sighed deeply, feeling extremely tired. The light of the setting sun fell from the horizon, casting a dim light on the glazed tiles of the imperial palace, giving a sense of desolation and decay.

……

After withdrawing troops from Juyongguan, Guo Jing did not return to Xijing, but retreated to the grassland with Genghis Khan. Mongolia almost exhausted the entire country's strength in this expedition.

The Battle of Yehuling was no less important to the Jin Dynasty than the Battle of Satumubao in the Ming Dynasty. Genghis Khan went all in and won the battle with all his troops. After this battle, the Jin Dynasty was no longer able to defend against the Mongol invasion from the south. After all, he still had a large border defense line, and the Western Xia and the Song Dynasty needed troops to defend.

It can be said that the Jin Kingdom is now a place surrounded by wars, with holes everywhere that cannot be filled.

Fortunately, Western Xia was badly beaten by Mongolia and was unable to invade. The Song Dynasty in the south only made a brief attack and did not dare to send troops north. Otherwise, the situation would have become even more critical under the pincer attack.

Guo Jing rode on his warhorse, looking at the unburied corpses and ruined villages on both sides of the official road, feeling very heavy-hearted. The war had caused too much damage to people's livelihood. After this war, it was unknown how long it would take for this place to return to its former prosperity.

Everything he saw made him more determined to put an end to this chaotic world. This could not go on any longer. The Mongols were killing too cruelly. If they continued to do so after capturing cities in the future, it would bring a huge catastrophe to the Han people, no less than the Five Barbarians' Invasion of China.

Only war, a bigger war can end everything and bring peace back to the world.

In the army, he met his master Zhebei again. Zhebei was now Genghis Khan's trusted general and right-hand man. When he saw his disciple, a trace of satisfaction flashed in his eyes. He patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "Guo Jing, you did a good job. The Khan praised you after receiving your battle report."

In terms of age, Guo Jing could be their son, but in this battle, Guo Jing's achievements in Hedong were not much less than theirs. Although he did not participate in the major battle, he also tied down a large army of the Jin Kingdom, and his contribution was not small.

Guo Jing forced a smile and replied in a familiar voice, "Master, I am still far inferior to the Khan. If the Khan had not defeated the Jin army at Yehu Ridge, I would not have been able to take Xijing."

Zhebie pointed at him, a little helpless, "You are good in every way, but you are too modest. You are not like us grassland men at all. Your achievements are obvious to all. To be honest, it was also difficult for us to win this time. The Jin Kingdom has several times more troops than us. If their commander had not failed to command the troops properly, causing chaos in the army, we might not have achieved such a result."

Guo Jing was also afraid of this in his heart, but on the surface he showed a proud expression, "Yes, hundreds of thousands of troops were defeated in one battle. The Khan is really a genius. With him, our Mongolia will definitely destroy the Jin Dynasty and become the strongest country in the world."

At this time, a figure opened the tent and spoke in a bright and vigorous voice, "Guo Jing, are you talking about me, the Khan?"

"Greetings, Great Khan!" Guo Jing and Zhebie stood up and saluted.

"No need to be polite." Genghis Khan walked over to the blanket and sat down. He grabbed the milk wine on the table and poured himself a glass. "So many years have passed. When we first met, Guo Jing was still a silly little kid who tried his best to protect you."

Zhebie and Guo Jing looked at each other and agreed, "Yes, it has been more than ten years. When I surrendered to the Khan, I never thought that you would become the ruler of the grassland and defeat the Jin Kingdom that oppressed us."

Genghis Khan laughed loudly, wiped the wine stains from his beard, and said heroically, "Haha, the Jin Kingdom suffered a great loss this time. I will not let them go so easily next time. One day, I will destroy this country and take away all their wealth and women!"

At this moment, Guo Jing, who was standing beside him, stood up and saluted, saying, "Great Khan, when the Jin Kingdom is destroyed, I will be the vanguard!"

Genghis Khan put the wine glass on the table and patted his shoulder heavily. His majestic eyes were full of admiration. "Okay, I promise you, I will destroy the Jin Dynasty. You will be the pioneer. You must bring back Wanyan Honglie's head for me!"

Seeing Genghis Khan happy, Guo Jing struck while the iron was hot, "Great Khan, I have something to ask of you. I beg your permission!"

"Oh? What's the matter?"

Then, Guo Jing spoke out the speech he had prepared for a long time, "In this war, every time we conquer a place, our soldiers will certainly massacre and plunder the city, causing countless casualties. If we attack the Jin Kingdom again next time, the people in these cities will fight to the death, which will be very detrimental to our rule."

"If we kill everyone, who will farm for us? Who will work and herd for us? Besides, there are too few Mongols. If we can reduce the killing and subdue these people and turn them into vassal troops, we will definitely reduce the losses of Mongolian soldiers. I hope the Khan will think twice."

After these words, the tent fell silent. Zhebie carefully looked at Genghis Khan's expression, a little nervous, while Guo Jing clasped his hands, with a firm look, looking loyal.

After a long time, Genghis Khan suddenly laughed again. His hearty laughter even reached outside the tent, making the guarding soldiers extremely confused. Why was the Khan so happy?

"Good, good, good! You are worthy of being my consort. You are right. This land is too rich. It is a pity to let it fall into the hands of the Jin Kingdom. If we cannot rule this land because of some killings, it would be a loss of the greater for the less."

"Someone, go get Mu Huali!"

After a while, Mu Huali walked into the tent and saluted Genghis Khan, "Greetings, Great Khan!"

"No need to be so polite!" Genghis Khan waved his hand indifferently, motioning him to sit down, and then told him Guo Jing's suggestion. On the surface, he wanted to ask for his opinion, but in fact he wanted him to support this matter.

For Genghis Khan, he was the monarch, and the matters below should be handled by his subordinates, and he should mediate in the middle. He couldn't rely on himself to do everything. The reason why he called Mu Huali was because Jebe's weight in Mongolia was not as high as Mu Huali's. After listening, Mu Huali glanced at Jebe and Guo Jing, knowing that this matter must have been proposed by them, but he didn't object, because when he attacked Henan and Hebei, many Han people joined his subordinates, and these people made a lot of efforts in attacking the Jin Dynasty, and they were also a very considerable force.

Just as Guo Jing said, it would be great if we could expand this force and reduce the damage to the Mongolian soldiers.

Mu Huali immediately said, "Great Khan, I think this matter has great potential. If we can obtain a large number of servants and soldiers, we will be able to reduce the damage next time we attack the Jin Kingdom."

Genghis Khan suddenly said, "Okay, let's discuss this matter after we get back. If I remember correctly, you have a group of Han soldiers under your command?"

He had already reported this to Genghis Khan, so Mu Huali was not surprised. "Your Excellency, it is true. These Han heroes have good fighting power. If we can use them, it will be a great help."

Genghis Khan praised him and said, "Well done, you did a good job. When you return, the vassal armies of each tribe should be organized into separate armies. In the next war, I want to see if they are really as useful as you say."

Guo Jing on the side secretly sighed in his heart, he was worthy of being the Great Khan, he easily took away the control of the vassal army from Mu Huali. It was not that there was no vassal army in the army before, when fighting against the Jin Dynasty, Mongolia had forced Xixia to send troops to follow the army.

However, the population of Western Xia was small, and the size of its vassal army was not large. Now that Guo Jing had said this, he keenly realized the importance of the vassal army, and took this opportunity to consolidate his military power.

Of course, this is not entirely for the purpose of consolidating power. Once the size of the vassal army expands, it must be institutionalized. Otherwise, it will lead to a situation where military orders are not communicated and control is chaotic. If this force can be properly organized, it will definitely be of great help to the Mongolian army.

Afterwards, they had a simple meal in the tent and drank a lot of wine. Genghis Khan left first, followed by Zhebie and Mu Huali who were about to leave, but were stopped by Guo Jing, "Uncle Mu, please stay!"

Zhebie knew that the two of them had something to say, so he turned and left.

Mu Huali turned around, a little confused, but saw Guo Jing approaching him and said embarrassedly, "Uncle Mu, Guo Jing has something to ask of me, please help me."

Seeing his expression, Mu Huali reached out and punched his chest, complaining, "You kid, just say what you want to say. A grown man is still so fussy, it's not straightforward at all!"

Guo Jing's expression relaxed, and he got straight to the point. "Uncle Mu, the Khan ordered me to attack Hedong, but I don't have many soldiers and horses, and I have no one to use. I heard that Uncle Mu has recruited many Han people in Hebei. I wonder if Uncle Mu can give them to me, and I will exchange a thousand-man team for you!"

Exchange for the troops of the powerful Han people?

Mu Huali thought for a moment and smiled faintly, "Hey, is your uncle Mu an unreasonable person? Just a few thousand soldiers and horses, I'm giving them to you. You saved my life back then, so is my life, Mu Huali, not as valuable as these few soldiers and horses? I'm giving all those Han troops to you, you don't have to exchange them with a thousand-man team. You don't have many cavalrymen under your command, what can you use to fight the Jin soldiers if you exchange them with me?"

"The Khan also ordered me to attack Liaodong and Liaoxi. Your Hedong is not easy to attack. The Jin Kingdom has left many soldiers there. You have a heavy burden on your shoulders. Don't let us down."

Guo Jing's worries were finally put to rest. What he lacked most now was talent. Unfortunately, there were not many capable generals among the Han tyrants who had surrendered to him in Hedong. They were not even as good as Lu Guanying, who had changed his career path.

In fact, it is also because Hedong has not experienced a major war for a long time and its military has been in disrepair. Unlike Henan and Hebei, these places have always been places of war and are full of martial virtues. Since the Tang Dynasty, the people here have been brave and tough. Coupled with the influence of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, military strategists have emerged in endlessly.

Therefore, with no one else available, Guo Jing set his sights on Mu Huali. Mu Huali was the Khan's most trusted subordinate and one of the top five most powerful people in Mongolia. These Han troops were a great help to others, but for him, they were of little use in the short term.

But it was different for Guo Jing. He had already sent people to inquire about the performance of these Han heroes on the battlefield. Although the results were not great, they could be said to be brave and daring in fighting.

What's even more rare is that these people are all from powerful families in Henan and Hebei. If we can bring them under our command, it will definitely be of great benefit to conquering these territories in the future.

However, Guo Jing did not know that among the vassal troops he was going to bring, there were several who were famous Han hereditary nobles in history and had outstanding military achievements.

……

Xiangyang, wine shop.

Su Ming was playing with his wine glass, listening to the diners talking about the war in the north, with a hint of indifference in his eyes. Sure enough, the trend of history remained unchanged, and just as history said, Mongolia defeated the Jin Dynasty with a crushing blow and galloped freely in the north.

He even sent troops to besiege the Jin capital Zhongdu. If it had happened in the later Ming Dynasty, it would have been a Battle of Tumu, in which hundreds of thousands of troops were wiped out. Although the emperor was not captured, he died in the palace. Wanyan Honglie succeeded to the throne in front of his coffin, which was also within his expectations.

The pressure from Mongolia to the Jin Dynasty was too great. The position of the emperor was like a hot potato that could not be suppressed without sufficient ability. But even so, Wanyan Honglie was blamed as soon as he ascended the throne.

Next, the Jin Dynasty’s court will be in chaos for a while, and may even have to move the capital.

There was no way. The current Jin Kingdom was far inferior to the later Ming Dynasty. It had lost hundreds of thousands of troops and was under siege. They did not have the strategic depth of the Ming Dynasty, which could not easily dispatch troops from all over the country to defend Zhongdu.

If the capital is not moved, the northern defense line will be like a sieve. Genghis Khan will send troops to besiege the city every once in a while. Are you afraid?

Perhaps he could not capture Zhongdu and cause little damage, but he was too passive politically. The capital of a country was besieged by the enemy every once in a while, which was a serious blow to the morale of the army and the people. No matter who came over, the only option was to move the capital.

No matter how talented Wanyan Honglie was, he was powerless to turn the tide. He could not win on the battlefield and did not have enough troops, so he could only flee.

Next, let’s see how much benefit Guo Jing can get from this war. The Kingdom of Jin is a big fat sheep. As long as he takes a big bite, he can avoid many detours.

(End of this chapter)