Ming Dynasty: pacifying the rebellion and defending the border, dominating the world

Chapter 1: Jiayuguan of the Ming Dynasty, where can I find the Jianghu?

Ming Dynasty, Jiayuguan.

The west wind is blowing, and the yellow sand covers the sun.

A hundred feet high strict pass marks the western border of the sky, and soldiers from thousands of miles away stop their horses.

A handsome young man was leading a pure white snow-white horse along the border between the Ming Dynasty, the Mongols, and the Liao Dynasty. Merchants from the four countries came and went in an endless stream. In the city, teams of soldiers in crimson armor were responsible for guarding and patrolling the city.

"Is this Jiayu Pass, known as the most magnificent pass in the world?"

He led his white horse through the war-torn pass, and what he saw was not the smoke of war, but unimaginable prosperity. Before he came to Jiayuguan as a young man, he had imagined what it would be like here.

There were countless wounded soldiers and the people were suffering terribly, with pale faces, thin bodies, and insufficient food.

But I never expected it to be such a prosperous scene.

Countless vendors were shouting and hawking their wares on both sides of the street. The people in the city had smiles on their faces, showing no signs of worry about being at the border, and they were wearing clean and tidy linen clothes.

People were shoulder to shoulder on the streets, talking and laughing. From time to time, children were playing with wooden swords and spears, and were then grabbed by their parents and taken home to be punished.

Everything seems to be in order and prosperous.

The young man had the illusion that he was not in the dire border area, but in the prosperous south of the Yangtze River.

"Isn't this what the world's splendor is like?" the young man thought to himself.

A handsome young man led his horse to an inn in the city. He wanted to wash off the dust on his body first, but he was suddenly attracted by the conversation in front of a bookstall next to the inn.

In front of the bookstall, a young man dressed in pure silk, sword sleeves, a corset, and knee-length clothes, with a sword on his back, who looked like a young man just starting out, was bowing and scratching his head from time to time out of embarrassment.

"Grandpa, I want to ask for directions!"

"Excuse me, how do I get around in Lanzhou? I've been away from home for over a month and have searched many places, but I can't find it!"

The old man at the bookstall, who was about to put down his pen, was stunned for a long time after hearing the young man's words. He slowly turned around and looked at the young man, sighing deeply: "Jianghu? I haven't heard these two words for a long time."

A young man leading a horse passing by was immediately attracted by curiosity.

He started from the Sui Dynasty and passed through the Song Dynasty. He met many heroes and heroes, but also witnessed countless dark things.

In his opinion, the martial arts world should be everywhere, but why does it seem so far away from this old man, so far away that he needs to think and savor it?

"Grandpa, is the Jianghu very far away?"

A young man with clear eyes and heroic spirit asked curiously.

The old man at the bookstall was slightly startled, then shook his head and laughed, "Not far, actually. Even that guy said, where there are people, there are grudges, and where there are grudges, there is the world of martial arts."

"The Jianghu is the place where you stand, and the tea and wine I drink."

Even so, the old man at the bookstall suddenly gave a wry laugh. "But within Lanzhou, that's a long way off! The one sect, two schools, three families, four factions, five gangs, and eight bandit camps of the past are now all gone, buried in desolate graves. Where is the Jianghu?"

Before the meeting, the two young men were curious, and the old man pulled over a bamboo chair and leisurely talked about the past of Lanzhou.

Let’s talk about how arrogant the Western Demon Cult was a few years ago. No one dared to disobey it when it threatened the northern desert, and the countries in the Western Regions also had to follow its orders.

Even among the Western Xia, Liao, Yuan Dynasty and even the Ming Dynasty, who doesn't fear the Western evil cult?
The Black Tiger Hall and the Divine Sword Hall boasted tens of thousands of disciples and countless skilled practitioners, earning respect from both the underworld and the corrupt. The Shen, Zhang, and Li families of Lanzhou operated across a wide range of industries, including textiles, mining, porcelain, grain, tea, salt, war horses, and military equipment. They commerced with the Mongols, the Liao, the Western Xia, and the Song, often forcing even border troops to rely on them. Their power was truly formidable.

The remaining eight bandits in Qilian Mountain often robbed the people and passing merchants, harmed the people and brought disaster to the area.

But all of this was gone when Prince Su inherited the throne!
Three thousand soldiers from the Suzhou Palace set out on a rampage, with the Western Demon Cult bearing the brunt of the attack. Just when everyone thought that the new Su Prince was overestimating his abilities, the entire Western Demon Cult was wiped out in just one night. The leader of the Western Demon Cult, Bai Bi, who was said to have achieved great success, was shot dead in the Demon Cult's base camp.

Bai Tianyu, the divine sword master who was said to be the fifth best in astronomy and the best in swordsmanship in the Ming Dynasty and could stand shoulder to shoulder with Song Que, the divine sword master in the Sui Dynasty, was finally killed by a single sword in the Divine Sword Hall, and the Divine Sword Hall was destroyed.

"I heard that the Great Sorrowful Ode to the Battle of Yin and Yang between Heaven and Earth is a collection of seven of the most terrifying and evil martial arts in the world. Legend has it that when this book was completed, blood rained from the sky, ghosts cried at night, and the person who wrote it vomited blood and died when he wrote the last word."

"After the Western Demon Cult leader Bai Bi mastered this technique, his power reached the level of nature. Even a combined force of celestial masters could not match him. Who could possibly kill him?"

When the young man holding the horse heard this, his face was filled with indescribable shock.

The martial arts in this world have been established since the Qin and Han Dynasties. The martial artists in the world are divided into nine grades: warriors, Vajra, Zhixuan, Tianxiang, land immortals, and celestial immortals. A Tianxiang Grandmaster is rare in a century and is already the pinnacle of the martial arts world.

How could he not be shocked that such a person was nailed to death in his own base?

Let's talk about Bai Tianyu. He is as famous as Song Que, the Heavenly Sword, not just self-proclaimed. Instead, this man once brought the Blood Sword, which had been passed down from generation to generation in the Divine Sword Hall, into the Sui Dynasty and fought with Song Que for the title of the best sword in the world. As a result, Song Que's Water Fairy Sword was almost cut off at that time. The two fought to the death, but it was still difficult to tell who was the better.

But in the end, Bai Tianyu walked out of Lingnan of the Sui Dynasty alive. Although the outcome of the two is unclear, no matter who wins or loses, he is a real master of swordsmanship.

Such a person actually died? ?

"Who in this world doesn't die?!"

The old man gave a rare, wry, mocking smile, a smile that was hard to tell whether it was self-mockery or something else entirely. He shook his head and said, "No matter how powerful Bai Tianyu's swordsmanship was, he was still just a mere swordsman. Even though it was said that before his death he had mastered an even more powerful Absolute Divine Slash, claiming that heaven, earth, and everyone were within his grasp with a single strike, and that nothing could escape his slaying, and that his swordsmanship had reached a pinnacle, even so, he still couldn't escape defeat in the end."

A trace of sadness flashed across the old man's pupils. Even the earth-shattering Absolute Divine Slash was just a grain of light in his eyes. In the face of such supreme sword art, the so-called killing of everyone in the world was just the nonsense of unwillingness.

Isn’t the Great Compassion Ode of the Interaction of Yin and Yang between Heaven and Earth known as the peerless martial art?
In the eyes of that man and the three thousand soldiers from Prince Su's Palace, they were nothing more than that.

"Oh! Bai Tianyu, what's that?"

The old man chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Five years ago, the Mongols attacked the border, and the Liao invaded. The two countries joined forces and mobilized 800,000 elite troops, intending to break through Jiayu Pass, reclaim the Qilian Mountains, and head south to graze their horses. By then, the Mongol Grand Master, Phagpa, had been nearing the celestial realm after a century, with immortality in sight. Yelü Wudi, the Liao's Grand Pillar, was also within striking distance of celestiality. How arrogant were they?"

"But what is the result?"

"Prince Su led a hundred thousand elite cavalry in black armor and slew hundreds of thousands of Liao troops, trampling their camps. He first killed the Liao Emperor, Yelü Zongzhen, and then the Mongol Emperor, Kublai Khan. The Mongol Grand Master, Phagpa, and the Mongol Emperor's uncle, Si Hanfei and Yelü Wudi, three mainland immortals, joined forces to kill Prince Su."

"In that battle, Prince Su defeated Phagpa, known as the Third Living Buddha, with just two strikes of his sword. Si Hanfei, the Mongol Emperor's uncle, had his arm severed. Yelu Wudi, with his palm carrying the wind and thunder of heaven and earth, vowed to kill Prince Su, but was instead pinned to the Liao camp by a single blow from Prince Su, his life hanging by a thread."

"Finally, both nations begged for peace from Prince Su and sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty, offering letters of surrender. The Mongols abandoned their cities and retreated 580 miles to the grasslands, while the Liao abandoned their cities and retreated 350 miles. They dared not fight again for five whole years."

"Compared to the three of them, Bai Tianyu is just a grain of rice, what's the point of mentioning it?"

Even after so many years, when the old man thought of that man, that day, and that sword, his pupils and heart were filled with indescribable shock, and he was deeply impressed by the young prince.

That man's attainments in swordsmanship are truly beyond compare!
Throughout the ages, no one has ever been able to stand shoulder to shoulder with that man in the way of the sword.

Even the undefeated sword demon Dugu Qiubai and the sword god Xie Xiaofeng, whose sword could chill fourteen states, were far inferior to him.

(End of this chapter)