Playing with fantasy beasts in the martial arts world

Chapter 121 The Schemes of the Golden Wheel Monk and Cha Nan
"Liang Xiao is missing?" Upon hearing Su He's report, the Golden Wheel Monk's sunken forehead seemed about to explode.

“Tell me the whole process from beginning to end!” The Golden Wheel Dharma King took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and think positively, but the more he tried, the more difficult it became for him to calm down. His decades of cultivation seemed to have been useless at this moment.

Liang Xiao is no nobody. Putting aside his lineage from the Golden Family of another world and all the symbolic meanings it represents, he is a grandmaster-level expert. Do you really think he's just some common cabbage?
Moreover, he is a master in his twenties. With his talent, it is absolutely certain that he will become a grandmaster in the future. In fact, the Mongol Empire in this world does not even have a grandmaster.

According to feedback from other worlds, the biggest difference between a Grandmaster and a Master is that they have broken free from certain constraints.

What is bondage?

For example, to deal with a grandmaster, you only need to confine him to a certain area and then deploy hundreds or thousands of armored troops to wear him down in the encirclement. No matter how unparalleled your martial arts are, you cannot withstand wave after wave of arrows and blades.

A grandmaster, using such conventional methods of attrition, could not possibly wear him down... at least not under normal circumstances.

This means that a Grandmaster can be an army in themselves, possessing the same deterrent power as an elite force.

If ordinary martial arts practitioners are not taken seriously and are even considered low-class by the powerful, then Grandmasters are undoubtedly pillars of the nation.

This is precisely why, among the Mongol-Yuan alliances that were roughly established a few years ago, those with Grandmasters in charge were never willing to send Grandmasters to provide support.

Because of various taboos, Möngke Khan knew that Kublai Khan was a potential threat, but he only placed him under house arrest instead of killing him.

Expecting the Mongol Tartars to uphold any sense of propriety, righteousness, integrity, or shame is a joke, but killing Kublai Khan would cause the Mongol-Yuan alliance to collapse.

After all, in many worlds, the true founding emperor of the Yuan Dynasty was Kublai Khan.

After listening to Su He's entire plan, the Golden Wheel Monk felt like his head was about to explode.

They went to great lengths to capture Guo Jing's youngest daughter, only to use her to threaten Cha Nan into leaving the city to settle their score with him.
What was Liang Xiao thinking?

The Golden Wheel Monk regretted not interfering more in Liang Xiao's affairs.

After all, Liang Xiao was a grandmaster and had the trust of the Great Khan. The Golden Wheel Monk, not wanting to offend him, adopted an attitude of not interfering in many of Liang Xiao's affairs.

In retrospect, that decision was a huge mistake.

If Guo Xiang is captured, she should be tied up and brought to the front lines of the two armies, and then Guo Jing should be forced to open the city gates and surrender. If Guo Jing opens the city gates, then naturally everyone will be happy. But if he doesn't open them, wouldn't humiliating and killing Guo Jing's daughter in front of the enemy lines greatly damage the morale of the Xiangyang troops?
Compared to such a crucial matter of success or failure, Liang Xiao's obsession with personal grudges was, in the eyes of the Golden Wheel Monk, far too immature!
Of course, this is also why the Golden Wheel Monk could not empathize with Liang Xiao's loss of his chicken.

Although the Vajra Sect, from which the Golden Wheel Dharma King originated, belongs to the Tantric sect and does not abstain from sexual activity, he still had to make some necessary sacrifices to achieve such mastery of the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill, even with his extraordinary talent.

Now that he is over eighty years old, even if he had the will, he is no longer able to, let alone have any feelings about it.

"Don't report this matter to higher authorities for now. I'll take responsibility for it. As for Liang Xiao... just say he's gone into seclusion!" After thinking it over, the Golden Wheel Monk finally made his decision.

With the decisive battle of Xiangyang about to break out, it is not advisable to report any more bad news to the Khan at this time, lest it enrage him.

After the great battle, if we capture Xiangyang in one fell swoop and sweep across the entire Song Kingdom, this matter will naturally become less important.

But if they fail, the Mongol Empire may undergo tremendous changes, and what will happen then is another matter.

······
Almost at the same time, Cha Nan met Huo Du again in Xiangyang City.

Prince Huodu, who had been sent back to Mongolia by Chanan, was summoned back by Chanan this time specifically to report his recent situation to Chanan.

"At the latest, in three days, Mongke will personally lead a large army to launch a general offensive against Xiangyang!" Huo Du said to Cha Nan with absolute certainty. Cha Nan asked, "How did you make that judgment?"

Huo Du clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Thanks to the fact that our master burned the Nanyang granary, the Mongol army is now short of food. Although we have sent out troops to plunder, the spoils are not much and cannot meet the daily needs of the army."

"Moreover, the raiding party also seems to have been attacked by an unknown group, suffering heavy losses as well!"

Cha Nan knew that it was Xiao Feng's Eighteen Riders of Yanyun who had dealt with those plundering groups.

"For the past two days, Möngke has not only not reduced the rations, but has also ordered the slaughter of almost all the cattle and sheep that he brought with him, so that almost all the soldiers have been able to eat meat, including the slave soldiers."

Once Huo finished speaking, Cha Nan understood everything.

Opening the granaries and distributing grain to ensure the soldiers were well-fed was a classic sign of a do-or-die situation.

It seems that Mongolia is under immense pressure. It appears to be eager to invade the entire south and plunder vast amounts of wealth, resources, and land to satisfy the insatiable greed of the Mongol Empire.

From a later perspective and based on years of experience analyzing politics online, the Mongol Empire was both weak and powerful.

In the era of cold weapons, it was hard to imagine that a behemoth could span the Eurasian continent and control almost all of the land and resources.

But to maintain such a vast empire, a continuous stream of profits is needed, so that everyone can stand under the banner of the Golden Family and satisfy their greed.

However, the larger they become, the less satisfied they are, and the more they neglect their own needs, resulting in an increasingly loose structure.

Why was Möngke the last commander of the Mongol Empire?

Since his defeat and death, the division of the Mongol Empire was inevitable. Kublai Khan only occupied the territory that originally belonged to the Han people and became the emperor of the Mongols, Han people and some other ethnic groups. He did not gain the recognition of all Mongols and took over the vast territory of the Mongolian grasslands and even further west.

There's even a claim circulating online that Kublai Khan was the true vanguard in the fight against the Mongols, because he led the Han Chinese back to the Mongols' stronghold. He knew exactly where the Mongols were hiding, and then led the Han Chinese in a crushing defeat, leaving the Mongols crying out in despair and forced to flee further west.

Therefore, in the eyes of many Mongols, Kublai Khan was a traitor!
Because the fundamental things have changed.

The Mongol Empire funded its rule by conquering other countries and peoples, leaving behind desolate ruins wherever it went. The Yuan Dynasty, established by Kublai Khan, was closer to the dynastic model established in ancient China, except that it granted aristocratic privileges to a portion of the Mongols. Essentially, it was not significantly different from the Jin Dynasty or later the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

"Can you confirm the exact time?" Cha Nan asked Huo Du, clearing her mind of her confusion.

"This... is very difficult!" Huo Du could not refuse Cha Nan, but he was indeed powerless to do so. After all, his status in Mongolia was far inferior to Liang Xiaodu's. The message Cha Nan gave him only made the Golden Wheel Monk stop killing him, but he was still kicked out of the sect and was no longer the Golden Wheel Monk's disciple.

Without this identity, his status in Mongolia plummeted.

"Then could you poison the food of the Mongol soldiers on a large scale?" Cha Nan asked again.

He doesn't have high moral standards and doesn't insist on resolving everything on the battlefield. If there's a simpler way to achieve the goal, why not?
"This... is impossible!"

"The vast majority of Mongol soldiers still eat pre-prepared dry rations. Even when they cook, it's in groups of thirty. This poison... Master! I can't handle it!" Huo Du was very aggrieved. It wasn't that he didn't want to help, but that he really had limited abilities.

Cha Nan was not disappointed upon hearing this, after all, if poisoning were that easy, the Mongol army would have been wiped out long ago.

(End of this chapter)