The gods began by supporting Guo Jing to become emperor

Chapter 229: Guo Jing is crowned king, Genghis Khan's promise

Tuolei's smile widened, and he said eagerly, "Go in quickly, Father Khan has been talking about you many times!"

"Okay, let's drink together tonight!"

"Allow as much as you can, drink till you are full!"

After the two made an agreement, Guo Jing and Hua Zheng walked into the Golden Tent together.

There was no one else in the Golden Tent except Genghis Khan. As soon as Guo Jing walked in, he smelled a faint fragrance. An old man was sitting on a throne not far away with his eyes closed. Even though he was just sitting there quietly, he still exuded an aura of majesty that was hard to ignore.

"Greetings to the Khan!"

"Meet Father Khan!"

The couple bowed together and saluted. Genghis Khan opened his eyes, looked at them, and laughed happily, "Guo Jing, you have lived up to my expectations. You destroyed the Jin Kingdom in just a few years. It was faster than I thought."

Guo Jing handed the box to Genghis Khan and opened it, "Great Khan, I got Wanyan Honglie's head!"

Genghis Khan took a look and found that the human head in the box had been processed using special methods. After such a long time, there was no sign of decay and it even exuded a fragrance. One could vaguely see Wanyan Honglie's appearance before his death.

In the past, he might have regarded this head as a trophy, but not anymore.

During this Western Expedition, he saw too many new things and traveled across vast lands. He did not even take Wanyan Honglie seriously. Seeing this, he simply sighed and said, "Wanyan Honglie, an old rival. It's a pity that he was born at the wrong time."

While the two were talking, Hua Zheng stood quietly by the side without interrupting. After a few words, the strangeness between the two was eliminated a lot, and the air was filled with a relaxed atmosphere.

He waved at Hua Zheng, "Hua Zheng, come here, let your father take a good look at you!"

"Father Khan." Hua Zheng walked forward, hugged Genghis Khan's arm, her eyes fell on his temples and eyebrows, tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. After just a few years of not seeing him, Father Khan had aged a lot.

"Why are you crying? I'm back safe and sound." Genghis Khan's eyes were full of kindness. He reached out and wiped her tears. "You've been married to Guo Jing for so long. Has he ever bullied you?"

Hua Zheng's nose turned red, a feeling of bitterness surged into her heart, and she shook her head without saying anything.

Genghis Khan held his daughter's hand and teased, "Haha, if he dares to bully you, just tell your father Khan and I will take care of him for you." Then he let go of her hand and said, "Go see your mother. She hasn't seen you for many years."

"Yes." Hua Zheng bowed, then turned and walked out of the golden tent.

At this time, he and Guo Jing were the only ones left in the tent.

However, Guo Jing's martial arts had already reached the level of the Five Supremes at this time. He clearly realized that there was someone else in the golden tent besides him, but he pretended not to know and did not look at it more.

"Come, sit down, and tell me how you destroyed the Jin Dynasty."

Then, Guo Jing began to tell the story of his attack on Guanzhong and the subsequent wars in the south. Genghis Khan had read the battle reports and heard about these wars from Mu Huali, but hearing about the war experiences from Guo Jing now felt different.

In the battle report, the Jin Kingdom suffered repeated defeats and had no power to fight back, and Mu Huali also belittled the Jin Kingdom. On the contrary, in Guo Jing's eyes, he praised the Jin people's move southward and felt that it was a way to survive.

After listening, Genghis Khan talked about the past again, "Back then, before I started my army, I saw the Jin Kingdom bullying our Mongolian people. From then on, I vowed to destroy the Jin Kingdom and eliminate this enemy for our grassland people."

"Guo Jing, you are very good. Among all my descendants, there is almost no one who can compare with you. It's a pity that you are only my consort, not my son. Otherwise, this vast grassland would have successors." There was a hint of regret in his words.

The land he conquered was too large and the population on the grassland was too small, so it was difficult to control all of it. He could only divide it up. There was nothing he could do about it. The grassland had been like this since the Xiongnu era and had never changed because the existing grassland simply could not support so many people.

Guo Jing's heart skipped a beat and he quickly said, "Thank you for the compliment, Great Khan. I think your four legitimate sons are all talented people. Whoever becomes the successor will be able to take the overall situation into consideration."

"You are good in every way, except that you are too modest and like to hide." Genghis Khan shook his head. "You have a large territory under your command. I will make you a king when you come back this time. Mu Huali will return to the grassland to fight in the Western Regions with me. Are you willing to take over the Hebei area?"

Hearing this, Guo Jing's heart began to beat fast. It would be a lie to say that he was not tempted. Hebei and Youyan were both strategically located areas. If he could control them, the Central Plains would be safe.

But, can I agree to it?

For a moment, he fell into long thought.

Genghis Khan saw his expression and smiled again. He stood up from the throne, walked to the table, and shouted outside, "Someone, open the map!"

The next moment, a servant came in and pulled open the map hanging in the air. Guo Jing couldn't help but look over and was shocked. It turned out that the world was so big!

This map was obviously drawn by Genghis Khan during his western expedition. It marked various terrains and countries of varying sizes, and his ancient Central Plains homeland was just a corner of it.

Seeing Guo Jing's expression, Genghis Khan was very satisfied. "This is the territory I conquered. How does it compare to the old land in the Central Plains?"

Guo Jing looked at the marked places and couldn't help asking, "Is the world really that big? There are many places I have never heard of."

"Of course there is!" Genghis Khan pointed to a place in the Western Regions. "This is where the Western Liao Dynasty was located. It was a country established by the remnants of the Liao Dynasty that was destroyed by the Jin Dynasty. Later, we destroyed it."

"And here, Khwarazm killed my envoys, and I conquered its capital, and all the nobles in the city became slaves. And here, the old Persian land, we defeated the Russian princes here."

Then, Genghis Khan asked people to bring various books for Guo Jing to read. Seeing the different texts and pictures on them, Guo Jing fell silent. He originally thought that Genghis Khan's westward expedition was just to attack the countries in the Western Regions and those countries that were once on the Silk Road, but he did not expect that he would fight so far and conquer so much land.

"If it weren't for the Khan's words, I probably wouldn't have known that there are so many lands and countries." At this moment, he was deeply aware of the shallowness of his knowledge.

Genghis Khan smiled and invited him, "In a few years, I plan to fight again. Do you want to come with me?"

"The Khan is going to march west again?" Guo Jing was extremely surprised. It would be a difficult journey of tens of thousands of miles.

Genghis Khan laughed again, "Haha, I'm not old yet and can still fight. How can I stop and enjoy a comfortable life?" He walked up to Guo Jing and patted him on the shoulder, "Guo Jing, the most wonderful thing in the world is to conquer a piece of land and rob others of their wives, daughters and property. One day, I will fight until the sun sets, conquer a vast territory, and let my name be remembered forever by people!"

Guo Jing was shocked by the strong self-confidence and powerful will, and even felt that this was what a real man should be like.

Seeing that Guo Jing didn't say anything, he didn't get angry. He then told him about the wars that the Mongolian army experienced on the way to the West. Guo Jing was also very curious about this. The two chatted for more than an hour. Seeing that Genghis Khan looked tired, he said goodbye.

It was dusk when he came out of the golden tent. In the distant sky, the setting sun was as red as blood. The autumn wind was blowing, and the sky was high and the air was refreshing. Guo Jing looked at the sun that was about to set in the sky, and his surging emotions gradually calmed down.

……

At night, the camp was bustling with activity, and Tolui took Guo Jing to drink and eat mutton.

"Come on, drink!"

"drink!"

As soon as they sat down, they drank several bowls in a row before stopping. Tuolei smacked his lips and let out a long breath, "Guo Jing, you don't know, I was crazy about this sip of milk wine in the Western Regions. The crudely brewed milk wine in the army was simply unpalatable, but there was nothing I could do, I could only drink it with my nose pinched."

"And there's some wine from the west, it tastes sour and astringent, I'm not used to it."

When the Mongols marched westward, they naturally did not rely on the grasslands for supplies. Basically, they ate wherever they could find food.

Guo Jing smiled and joked, "Haha, next time you go to war, you must bring a few more winemakers, otherwise you won't be able to drink."

Tuolei touched his chin, as if considering it. "That's not impossible. We have brought so many people with us, so we can make a few more winemakers."

"The snow in the north is really heavy. Once winter comes, it can bury people. But fighting is also fun. The soldiers over there are just like scattered soldiers, even worse than Xixia. We fought big and small battles, and the enemy was several times our size every time."

Guo Jing also laughed, "Haha, you fought with the Khan, it would be great if you could learn 50% of his skills. Grassland men should fight on horseback. I heard from them that you are as good as Borshu and his men."

Tuolei looked nonchalant, "Hey, listen to their nonsense. How can I compare with Uncle Borshu and his people? But then again, the language and writing of those people in the west are very different from ours. They brought back a lot of strange things. I'll take you to see them one day."

The atmosphere of their conversation was very relaxed. After several years, their feelings had not changed at all. After drinking for a whole night, they fell asleep one after another.

……

A few days later, Genghis Khan convened a kurultai at the source of the Onon River to gather Mongolian nobles.

The noble leaders of various tribes on the grassland brought their people to attend the meeting. Everyone knew that the Khan had won a great victory in the west and conquered a large piece of land. They were waiting to be divided up.

With so much territory to conquer, we can't just leave it there for nothing.

Likewise, Guo Jing also realized the subtleties of the current Mongolian internal politics. Even if Genghis Khan was still ambitious, it could not cover up the fact that he was old. He had four legitimate sons, all of whom had grown up and each led a group of troops and could stand on their own.

The successor to the Khan's throne will also be chosen from among the four of them. Therefore, each of the four has a group of supporters. Needless to say, Guo Jing is the supporter. He and Tolui are good friends and grew up together, so he naturally supports Tolui.

Sure enough, after the conference, Genghis Khan enfeoffed many tribes and divided the land.

He designated fiefdoms for his sons and brothers.

His brothers were given fiefs in the eastern part of Mongolia and were called the "Eastern Kings". His sons Jochi, Chagatai and Ogedei were all given fiefs in the west of the Altai Mountains and were called the "Western Kings".

Tolui, the "youngest son guarding the stove", inherited the Mongolian mainland, the center of Temujin's four great uludo states. The fiefs of the princes were nomadic areas, and the conquered settled areas were the common property of the entire Golden Family and governed by the Khanate.

Guo Jing thought deeply about Genghis Khan's enfeoffment and found that the enfeoffment of sons and daughters was equivalent to the enfeoffment system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The people obtained by each clan prince were their respective property, and the thousand households in charge of these people also became their retainers. The clan princes who had their own people and fiefs established their own "Ulus", which were "vassal states" within the Great Mongol Empire.

The vassal kings (Khans) regarded the Great Khan as their suzerain, and the succession of subsequent kings needed the Great Khan's approval. At the same time, they also had the right to jointly elect the Great Khan, participate in the decision-making of major affairs of the Great Ulus, and enjoy common property.

In other words, Mongolia changed from its previous alliance system to a vassal system, with greatly enhanced cohesion and even stronger expansion power.

It is difficult to say whether Genghis Khan established this system with reference to the feudal system. Although the feudal system is prone to cause the decline of the central government, its expansiveness is unquestionable.

If the Zhou royal family had not divided the kingdoms among themselves, the Central Plains might not have been as large as it is today.

The vassal system was very different from the centralized system of the Central Plains. The grasslands were vast and sparsely populated, especially the vast Western Regions. The Mongols were outsiders, conquerors, and a minority. They could only implement the vassal system and coexist with the local nobles.

If divided by strength, Tolui, who inherited the Mongolian native land, became the strongest among the Mongolian kings, and his ability was also enough to control such a large force.

After many years of Western Expeditions, his achievements were obvious to all. None of his four sons could surpass him in the art of war, not even the eldest son, Jochi.

Of course, in addition to the Western Regions and Mobei conquered by Mongolia, the areas of Youyan and Liaodong were also taken away and divided among the many generals under Genghis Khan.

On the high platform, a fire was burning fiercely.

Tens of thousands of people were watching this moment. Genghis Khan, wearing gorgeous clothes, handed the engraved seal to Guo Jing. "Guo Jing, you have made great contributions to the destruction of the Jin Dynasty. You have eliminated our Mongolian enemy. You are Han Chinese, so the Central Plains is now yours. I will make you the King of Zhou. You can establish a country on your own, participate in the Khanate's affairs, and elect the Khan!"

Regarding the issue of title, Guo Jing had discussed it with Genghis Khan in advance. He suggested using the name of the previous dynasty in the Central Plains. As for what the Song Kingdom in the south would think, no one cared.

While Genghis Khan was dividing the fiefdoms, he also required the Central Plains to pay tribute every year and to trade with each other. The fiefdoms were not allowed to rashly go to war with each other, and any problems were left to the Khanate to deal with.

But there is no doubt that after Guo Jing, who has been granted the title, returns to the Central Plains, his power will expand again. After Mu Huali leaves, the Mongolian tribes and population will migrate back to the grassland, and he will finally be able to establish a country.

(End of this chapter)