Film & TV: Public Enemy of Justice

Mongke put down his wine bowl, his slightly drowsy eyes gradually clearing: "Shalaba? I've heard this rumor too, could it really be true?"

Ma Guangzu patted his chest and said, "It is true. I have a brother who happened to be passing through the grasslands on his way to Dadu. It was around dusk that day, and he saw it with his own eyes."

"Twilight? Salab appears at dusk, not in the moonlight?" Mongke was a little discouraged, and unconsciously picked up his wine bowl again.

“Hey! Great Khan, don’t be disappointed.” Ma Guangzuo understood Mongke’s thoughts and offered a timely explanation: “If Sharaba appears in the moonlight, although it may seem auspicious, in my opinion, it is extremely unlucky.”

With the wine bowl hovering near his lips, Mongke asked nonchalantly, "Oh? I'd like to hear more from the warrior."

Ma Guangzu grinned widely, then leaned back, intending to rest against the chair. However, there were no chairs or stools inside the yurt; everyone sat on the floor with leather cushions. He almost leaned against nothing.

Fortunately, Ma Guangzuo was also trained, and he quickly reached out and braced himself on the ground, thus avoiding making a fool of himself in front of Mengge.

Mongke did not blame him; instead, he was amused by Ma Guangzuo's comical appearance.

“That’s what I think.” Ma Guangzuo looked at Mengge and smiled. “Shalaba is the Moonlit Wolf God. If he really appears in the moonlight, it means that he is at the most powerful stage of the Wolf God.”

Mongke nodded repeatedly.

“Correspondingly, our Mongol army has reached its zenith.” Ma Guangzuo suddenly paused, then asked in a low voice, “Great Khan, am I right?”

Möngke raised his voice, displaying the imposing presence only an imperial overlord could possess: "That's right, my Mongol army is now at the height of its power, sweeping across the land and dominating all directions. No one in the world can withstand our might."

Unexpectedly, Ma Guangzuo repeatedly shook his head and denied Möngke's bold words: "No, no, Your Majesty is mistaken."

If anyone else had dared to speak to Möngke like that, they would have been killed shortly afterward.

But when these words came from the straightforward Ma Guangzuo, they only made Möngke frown slightly.

Ma Guangzuo paused slightly before speaking.

"The Mongol army has not yet conquered Xiangyang of the Song Dynasty in the south, nor has it crossed the sea to attack Japan in the east. It is only slaughtering those soft-skinned barbarians in the west. How can this be called its peak?"

"Oh!" Mongke suddenly realized, and burst into laughter: "That's right, that's right, the warrior is right. According to you, our great Mongol Empire has indeed not yet reached its strongest period."

After a pause, Ma Guangzuo said, "So, it's a great omen that Salabah doesn't appear at night."

"Yes!" Möngke understood that Ma Guangzuo didn't need to say more: "If Sharaba appears on a moonlit night, it implies that our Mongol army may not be able to achieve anything. But now that it appears at sunset, I wonder if it is a sign that the Japanese and Southern Song, which represent the sun, are about to fall, and the bright moon belonging to our Great Mongol is about to rise?"

Ma Guangzu slapped his thigh repeatedly: "Anyway, that's what I think."

“That’s right!” Mongke slammed his wine bowl on the table and exclaimed excitedly, “That’s right, the bright moon of our great Mongolia is about to rise. The sun is about to set, and our night is about to fall.”

Ma Guangzu chuckled foolishly, his eyes casually glancing towards the outside of the yurt.

He heard Möngke, fueled by alcohol, excitedly declare: "Our Great Mongol Empire will surely break through Xiangyang City! When that happens, I will slaughter everyone in the entire city! Guo Jing, Huang Rong, all Han Chinese will die! That's right, I will kill every single Han Chinese, every single one of them!"

Möngke's repeated defeats on the Xiangyang battlefield were the most humiliating thing for him since he became the Great Khan, so he was somewhat unable to control himself.

After hearing the second half of Möngke's words, Ma Guangzuo's eyes showed a hint of pity, but it vanished in an instant, and he burst into laughter.

Late at night, Ma Guangzuo appeared, panting heavily, on a hill outside Dadu.

"Greetings, Salab!" Ma Guangzu bowed deeply to the dark night sky, his expression much more respectful than when he met Möngke.

After a long cry from a great eagle, a man in white slowly descended from the sky. After landing, he looked at Ma Guangzuo and said, "You should still call me Lin Yaoxie. I don't really like the name Shalaba."

"Yes, Lord Wu Wang." Ma Guangzu changed his title.

Although he seemed straightforward, he wasn't stupid. When the Golden Wheel Monk stormed the Alliance Leader's Conference a while ago, Ma Guangzuo went along, though he didn't show his face.

Ma Guangzuo still vividly remembered Lin Yaoxie's effortless killing of Alba and Jinlun. Faced with such a powerful figure, Ma Guangzuo dared not address him by name.

This man in white is Lin Yaoxie. After leaving Xiangyang, he rode a giant eagle and flew north.

When he passed through the grassland, the herdsmen happened to see him riding an eagle across the sunset, which led to the miracle of Shalaba.

Lin Yaoxie had a sudden thought and decided that going along with the plan was a good idea.

His original plan was to enter Dadu (Beijing) to meet Möngke, then demonstrate his strength to persuade Möngke to send troops south again to besiege Xiangyang.

But now his thoughts have changed; he wants to play a bigger game to achieve his goals.

So after arriving in Dadu, the first person he went to was not Möngke, but Ma Guangzuo, the number one warrior of Xinjiang.

Lin Yaoxie had read the original Condor Heroes novel in the real world. Among the characters, besides the Old Urchin, the one who interested him the most was the reckless Ma Guangzuo.

The original novel doesn't delve much into Ma Guangzu's inner thoughts. According to Lin Yaoxie's understanding, Ma Guangzu must be someone who idolizes the strong. Otherwise, why would he have joined the Mongol army?

As it turned out, Lin Yaoxie's guess was absolutely correct.

Before he could even display his abilities, Ma Guangzuo recognized him immediately upon meeting him.

The rest was much easier. Lin Yaoxie had Ma Guangzu spread the story of the Salabah miracle throughout Dadu. He also gave him some rhetoric, the purpose of which was to dispel Möngke's discouragement, quickly regroup his forces, and launch another attack on Xiangyang.

Ma Guangzuo completed the task very well. He rushed over late at night to report to Lin Yaoxie.

Chapter 91: The Lucky One

“Reporting to the Alliance Leader, based on my understanding of Mongke, he has already decided to send troops to Xiangyang,” Ma Guangzuo said. “His only concern now is you.”

Lin Yaoxie nodded: "That's natural. Jinlun fought me twice, once seriously injured and once dead. As the Great Khan of the Mongols, he must have noticed me. But that's not a problem. You can spread the word that Guo Jing and I have fallen out and I no longer care about Xiangyang."

Ma Guangzu hummed in response. He was still quite reserved in front of Lin Yaoxie and didn't know what to say for a moment.

Lin Yaoxie looked down at the Yuan capital under construction in the night: "I'm asking you, what do you think of Mongke?"

"Huh?" Ma Guangzuo didn't understand: "What's wrong, Alliance Leader? I don't quite understand."

“What I mean is,” Lin Yaoxie turned sharply and stared at Ma Guangzuo, “how easy is it for him to control?”

How could the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, the most powerful empire in the world, be easily controlled?

Ma Guangzuo thought to himself, but of course he didn't dare to say it aloud. He hesitated for a long time before slowly saying, "Mongke has great ambitions. He has almost conquered the whole world. I don't think he will be controlled by anyone."

Seeing Lin Yaoxie's eyes twitch, Ma Guangzuo quickly corrected him: "Of course, if it's you, Alliance Leader, then it's a different story."

Lin Yaoxie chuckled coldly and turned his head away: "Meng Ge is nothing to me. Of course I can control him. However,"

Lin Yaoxie's tone suddenly turned cold and sharp: "However, he has lost his value to me."

While Möngke and Ma Guangzuo were drinking and talking inside the yurt, Lin Yaoxie was nearby outside the tent, and he overheard their conversation. He even secretly transmitted a few words that Ma Guangzuo said.

Lin Yaoxie didn't care about Möngke's desire to conquer Xiangyang, nor did he care about Möngke's cruelty in slaughtering every city he conquered. Human lives were nothing but ants to a great villain.

It was perfectly reasonable for Möngke to say he would kill Guo Jing; even if he didn't kill Lin Yaoxie, he would have done so anyway. But when Möngke said he would also kill Huang Rong, it was tantamount to sentencing himself to death.

Mongke was actually quite wronged. How did he know that Huang Rong had already become Lin Yaoxie's woman?

But who cares if you're innocent or not? If you dare touch my woman, you're asking for death.

That's Lin Yaoxie for you. Killing everyone in the world and becoming the emperor of millions—what does that have to do with me? But if you dare touch anything that belongs to me, especially women, hmph, you'll see!

Lin Yaoxie pointed at Dadu City: "If Möngke is gone, who can control the ferocious Mongol army?"

Ma Guangzuo was stunned, or rather, dumbfounded; he had never imagined such a possibility.

In his mind, Lin Yaoxie was indeed very powerful. The scene of flying swords filling the sky with a wave of his hand was still shocking to him.

Even the most powerful person, who can charge into the chaos of battle and kill the commander, can he really kill the overlord of the empire?

Seeing that Ma Guangzu didn't know how to answer for a moment, Lin Yaoxie was not in a hurry.

For a modern person from the future who knows the history of the Yuan Dynasty, he certainly knows who can replace Möngke.

"Or," Lin Yaoxie rephrased, "besides Kublai Khan, who else in the entire Mongol Empire could succeed Möngke?"

“In that case,” Ma Guangzuo dared not ask any more questions, but only told what he knew: “Only the two younger brothers of the Great Khan Möngke are capable of doing the job. One is Kublai Khan, whom you mentioned, and the other is Möngke and Kublai Khan’s youngest brother, named Ariq Böke.”

"Ali Buge, Ali Buge." Lin Yaoxie repeated it twice and memorized it.

He is a modern person, and in modern film and television works, apart from dramas set in the Han and Tang dynasties, most are Qing dynasty dramas. Occasionally, dramas set in the Song and Ming dynasties will be interspersed.

Perhaps due to a strong sense of Han Chinese identity or the relatively short duration of the Yuan Dynasty's rule, there are not many depictions of the Yuan Dynasty. This is especially true of films and television dramas about Genghis Khan's life after his death.

Kublai Khan, of course, knew about the demonic spirit, but this was the first time he had ever heard of Ariq Böke, who never became emperor.

"Where is this Ali Buge you mentioned now?" Lin Yaoxie had an idea in his mind.

Ma Guangzuo scratched his head: "In Kharblin, the former capital of Mongolia."

Lin Yaoxie nodded and whistled. The giant divine eagle appeared out of nowhere, hovering over the mountaintop like a moving dark cloud.

This was the first time Ma Guangzuo had seen such a large eagle up close. Even though he was the number one warrior in Xinjiang, his heart couldn't help but race.

Lin Yaoxie lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his body flew into the air, landing on the back of the giant eagle.

"Ma Guangzuo!"

"Yes!" Ma Guangzuo, stunned by the shock, replied.

"I have a task for you." Lin Yaoxie stroked the eagle's head with his hand: "You must get Mongke to go hunting outside Dadu in the next few days. The specific time and place are up to you, but the scale must be large. Try to invite all the high-ranking officials in Dadu. At the same time, and most importantly, you must be present, and you must stay by Mongke's side at all times during the hunt."

"Oh, okay." Ma Guangzuo agreed before realizing what was going on: "Alliance Leader, you're not planning to attack Great Khan Möngke, are you?"

With a long cry, the eagle flew several hundred meters away with two flaps of its wings, but Lin Yaoxie's voice still reached Ma Guangzuo's ears.

"Of course I will kill him, but don't worry, it's not the right time yet. You also need to be prepared. After the hunt, you will not only be a warrior of Xinjiang, but also a warrior of all Mongolia, an envoy sent to the human world by the wolf god Sharaba."

Lin Yaoxie and the Divine Condor headed north. After that, only Ma Guangzuo stood blankly on the mountain peak called Jingshan.

"What does that mean?" After a long pause, he muttered, "An envoy sent to the human world by the wolf god Salab? What does that mean?"

The more he muttered, the more excited he became, and he gradually understood what Lin Yaoxie meant: "Ah! Could it be that the Alliance Leader is planning to launch a god-making movement? And I am the lucky one?"

Ma Guangzuo was overjoyed and ran happily down the mountain.

Just kidding. Since the leader of the Wu King Alliance thinks so highly of him, even if we have to talk until we're hoarse, we'll still manage to trick Möngke out of the capital!

Chapter 92: Hunting Wolves

Lin Yaoxie flew north all the way, sitting on the divine eagle and asking the system.

"Where is the nearest wolf pack? Can you give me their exact location?"

The system immediately replied: "No problem, how big of a wolf pack do you need to find?"

"The bigger the better."

"In the mountains thirty miles to the east, there is a super wolf pack. The pack has nearly five hundred wolves. Is that enough?" The system's voice remained devoid of warmth and emotion.

Lin Yaoxie's eyes lit up with excitement: "Five hundred heads, that's a huge pile! That's enough, let's go now."

The eagle flapped its wings rapidly a few times, changed direction to the east, and doubled its speed.