Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 614 - 499: I’m Rich Again (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1

Chapter 614: Chapter 499: I’m Rich Again (Seeking Monthly Tickets)_1

"Duogansi Khan?" Li Xuan looked outside the temple, his eyes cold, "Is he also involved with the Mongols?"

"He is, some years ago when the Great Shiwei General Alachien led tens of thousands of Iron Cavalry to raid Qinghai, they swept across Duogan. Duogansi Khan sought peace, offering gold, silver and jewellery. As a result, he was rewarded with the title of Chancellor by the Mongol Khan."

The so-called ’Chancellor’ was equivalent to ’Imperial Secretary’ or ’Censor’ during the Tang Dynasty, meaning prime minister.

After the former Yuan retreated into the steppe, they continued to maintain part of the Yuan Dynasty’s bureaucratic system and used this ’Chancellor’ position to win over Mongol and Tibetan tribal leaders.

Like Alachien, who is also referred to as Chancellor Ala, Altanmoor Chancellor, Chancellor of Ala.

"Actually, what the Jinping Dharma King said wasn’t entirely unreasonable. Duogansi Khan does have the intention of annexing Folun Temple. The policy our Great Jin Dynasty initially put in place was to separate and control various Dharma kings of Tibetan Buddhism, various Khans of Tibetan secular tribes, and the Tu Division.

The territories occupied by the Hujiao Dharma King, consisted of the most fertile land with the densest population around Yushu, as well as the support of hundreds of thousands of believers. Therefore, after Duogansi Khan’s power grew in recent years, he often clashed with Folun Temple. They even funded several Master Lamas to confront Folun Temple."

Yu Hongchang curiously asked, "Jinping Dharma King said this ’Duogansi Khan’ are allies with ’lord of Anburo’ whose territory is south of Lhasa. Can these two ambitious characters come together?"

"It’s likely that there are Mongols mediating behind the scenes."

Wang Meng shook his head, "I’m not too sure about the details, I can only guess that both sides must have reached some kind of agreement. Even though ’lord of Anburo’ and ’Duogansi Khan’ are both provincial chiefs granted by the court and both hold the title of ’General Commander’, there is still a difference in their power.

Without large-scale mobilization of people, Anburo Khan can assemble 70,000 troops, while Duogansi Khan, even with the full mobilization of his tribe, can only gather 50,000 troops. Therefore, as long as ’lord of Anburo’ can guarantee the territory and people of ’Duogansi Khan’ in Yushu and Changdu, there is a basis for cooperation between the two sides. Isn’t this the case with the tribes on the grassland?"

Hearing this, Hongchang began to understand and whispered, "So that’s it, they share the same ambition now, both intending to take a bite out of the local Lama temples, right? It sounds similar to Destroying Buddha during the Southern and Northern Dynasties."

"The situation is roughly like this." Wang Meng nodded slightly, "In addition, there’s the matter of the great defeat at Tumu Fort over a decade ago. The top figures in Qinghai-Tibet have lost their awe for the court. Even the twelve Dharma kings, who should depend most on the court, have undergone a significant shift in attitude towards the court.

These Dharma kings are divided into three factions: one faction has been submitted by ’lord of Anburo’; one faction wants to rely on the power of the Mongols to check and balance the local chiefs, they believe that Mongols too don’t want to see ’lord of Anburo’s’ power expanding;

One faction is like ’Jinping Dharma King’, they want to maintain the situation on their own strength, they also don’t want external forces to intervene in Qinghai-Tibet. In reality, there’s not a single chief or Khan that truly favors the Jin."

At this point, Hongchang couldn’t help but exchange a glance with Luo Yan and Jiang Hanyun.

Before entering Tibet, they hadn’t expected the situation in Tibet to be so bad.

Luo Yan then asked in bewilderment, "Why didn’t you declare it earlier?"

Wang Meng just laughed bitterly and kept silent.

Did he dare to say it earlier? At this point, most of the chiefs and Dharma kings still show outward reverence to the court.

Given his situation and standpoint, maintaining this illusion with the court was not a bad thing.

Wang Meng feared that the court’s hasty involvement would worsen the situation; because of his own reasons, with the deteriorating situation in Qinghai-Tibet, he also feared that the court might attribute the deteriorating situation to his incompetence.

But now, the fierce tactic of the Marquis of Guanjun, and the divine power of ’Yangtang Divine Saber’, provided him with a touch of hope.

After a slight hesitation, he spoke again, "Speaking out of turn, the recent victory of the Jin over the Mongols in the north, although greatly heartening, yet in the eyes of Dharma Kings and chiefs in Qinghai-Tibet, the Mongols are the attackers and we the defenders.

Thus, despite their defeat, the Mongols are still the stronger side. While they can still raid Qinghai and invade the Tibetan area, we have lost this ability. Apart from that, there’s also the Timur Empire."

When Li Xuan heard Wang Meng’s previous words, he didn’t react. But when he heard the words ’Timur Empire’, his expression changed slightly and he focused his gaze on Wang Meng.

In his world, there was also a ’Timur Empire’ at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. The empire was founded by the lame Temur who claimed himself the descendant of the Chagatai Khanate, a descendant of Genghis Khan, and married the princess of the Chagatai Khanate as his wife.

Although he was a cripple, his troops were invincible. They not only unified the whole of Central Asia and Northern India, occupying the Persian Plateau, but even invaded the region of Asia Minor, defeating the peak Ottoman Empire and killing its emperor.

Later, Temur cast his sights on the Ming, mobilized an army of a million to conquer the Ming Dynasty, but died suddenly of illness on the way. Before Temur’s death, his army was only twenty-seven miles away from the westernmost fortress of the Ming, the Hami Guard."

In this world, there is also a ’Timur Empire’, a major enemy of Jin to the west. The Chagatai Khanate located in Turpan, submitted to Temur decades ago, pointing their troops directly at Jiayu Pass."

Currently, of the four heavenly level generals the Court has, two are stationed in the west. Yet, they can only hold tight to Jiayu Pass, dare not advance their troops westward.

It was rumored that the Demon Tribe from that region was also urged by the ’Timur Empire’, thus the pressure on the Baihu Hall of the Liudao Division was tremendous.

"—— That Timur Empire in the west, its national power remains in full swing. Even though Timur is dead, his grandson ’Shahrukh Timur’ is also vastly accomplished in martial arts, his territorial boundaries surpassing that of the emperor of Jin Dynasty.

However, the Timur Empire seems to have no immediate interest in Qinghai-Tibet, the Jinping Dharma King of Qinghai-Tibet only secretly liaises with the Timur Empire, thus their influence on the situation here isn’t significant. Yet regardless of whether it’s Shiwei or Timur, they are all offshoots of the Mongwu and support each other. This also heightens the reputation of the Mongwu people."

Li Xuan couldn’t help but sigh in secret, thinking that although Jin Dynasty managed to defeat the Mongwu at the start of the year, the overall situation of Great Jin didn’t improve much.

This era is the last glimmer of the Mongolian Iron Cavalry, which also puts Jin Dynasty in confrontation with a strong enemy in several directions.

Li Xuan then put his thoughts aside and said to Wang Meng: "You don’t have to deal with people from Duogansi Khan, just focus on finding those two people. If this Duogansi Khan dares to make a move, Marquis of Guanjun will handle it."

Wang Meng thought that ’Duogansi Khan’ would definitely make a move. With the death of the seventh ’Nangebatsangbu’, how could he let go of this chance?

This great Tu Division head would in no way let Akezongze inherit the title of ’Nangebatsangbu’ and control the Folun Temple.

However, he has no significant concerns in Li Xuan now. Although he was still worried, he did not say anything.

In the next day, Li Xuan and the others all waited on the high platform.

Li Xuan knew his limitations. He was a stranger in the Tibetan area so Wang Meng was more appropriate to find people.

All he could do now was to let out Azure Phoenix Niulang and Lei, the Six-tailed Spirit Fox to see if they could sniff out any clues.

What troubled him was that since they had become intimate, Luo Yan’s attitude towards him had changed again, making her both more affectionate and coquettish.

Yu Hongchang discerned the truth from their actions and words, after which, whenever she looked at Li Xuan, her eyes blazed with anger.

She thought about the recent upheaval in the Court due to the ’Xia Guangwei Redress Case.’ Luo Yan could make impulsive decisions, which, in turn, made it entirely possible for the lecherous Li Xuan to take advantage of her.

Li Xuan felt a chill in his heart and could only try his best to act as if he was seated in meditation, pretending not to notice Yu Hongchang’s gaze.

One day later, Jinping Dharma King and Akezongze finally made their joint appearance.

At this moment, Akezongze, was full of noble and solemn Buddha Power. A golden ’Akashagarbha Bodhisattva’ image was faintly visible behind him.

But when this man comes out, he was still awfully respectful to Li Xuan. "After today, I will be the eight successor of ’Nangebatsangbu’. Marquis of Guanjun, I will not forget the kindness you have shown to my temple and for making this possible."

Li Xuan was satisfied as he slightly nodded his head "Hujiao Dharma King doesn’t have to act this way. As long as the Dharma King can always show respect to the Court, helping your temple’s lineage is the duty of Marquis."

After saying that, he made an oblique reference saying "By the way, previously there was a fire at your treasury. Although it has been put out, some of Lama from your temple said the amount of wealth in the treasury is not correct. You may visit there and make an investigation."

Akezongze immediately understood the meaning of Li Xuan. He showed a bitter smile on his face "I shall go and see the actual condition. Concering the treasury of our temple, I have something to discuss with Marquis of Guanjun. In order to show the gratitude for Marquis’ kindness and to atone for the previous misfortune, I am willing to offer eighty percent of the wealth in our temple, as well as all the wealth of Suolangqiangba to Marquis."

"How can this be?" Li Xuan tried to conceal his happiness, thinking that this has given him acquirement of more than three hundred Sword Qi for his Liuhe Zhuxian Sword Diagram.

This thing is a gold-devouring beast; the more Sword Qi it consumed, the stronger it becomes.

He witnessed the treasures of the Folun Temple’s treasury yesterday; the wealth there worth at least two million teal.

Although he could have directly plundered the wealth, it would not have been as righteous as it was now.

At this moment, Jinping Dharma King gave a cold humph. "It seems that everyone is celebrating too early? Although Akezongze has inherited the ’Nangebatsangbu’s’ Law Body and holy artifacts, he is by no means a match to ’Duogansi Khan’.

While we are here, Duogansi Khan may not dare to act, but what if we leave? Duogansi Khan will definitely invade into Folun Temple’s land and seize Folun Temple’s followers."

"That makes sense." Li Xuan slightly nods, acknowledging Jinping Dharma King’s perspective. So, he then asked, "So, my idea is, while Jinping Dharma King is here, should we together eliminate this Duogansi Khan?"