svetikya Chapter 29 Guo Jing's Guilt and Self-Reproach
Chapter 29 Guo Jing's Guilt and Self-Reproach
Several days later, with the help of his light-footed skills, Li Ke, who had been traveling day and night, finally arrived in Zhangjiakou.
However, upon arriving in Zhangjiakou, Li Ke found himself in a predicament.
This was simply because Zhangjiakou in this era, as one of the most important cities in the north, was much larger than he had imagined.
The city covers a large area, has a very complex environment, and is densely populated, with even more beggars on the streets.
Finding Huang Rong dressed as a beggar in the vast sea of people is extremely difficult.
However, just as Li Ke was having a headache, he saw a strong young man wearing a bearskin cloak.
The young man looked around with surprise, examining everything carefully.
It felt like entering the city for the first time, much like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden.
"Guo Jing".
Upon hearing Li Ke's voice, Guo Jing's eyes lit up, and he immediately went to Li Ke's side, excitedly saying:
Do you know me?
"I am naturally aware that I am Li Zhiguang, a third-generation disciple of the Quanzhen School, and a student of Hao Datong, one of the Seven Masters of Quanzhen."
Upon hearing Li Ke's self-introduction, Guo Jing smiled with delight and was quite pleased.
"You just came from Mongolia?"
Li Ke asked about Guo Jing.
"Yes, the seven masters went to investigate the conspiracy at White Camel Mountain. They told me to go south to Jiaxing and wait for them."
As expected of Guo Jing, who is known for his "great wisdom appearing as foolishness," he stated his purpose directly as soon as he opened his mouth.
They didn't consider the possibility that the person in front of them might not be one of their own, but rather an enemy.
"I see."
After thinking for a moment, Li Ke smiled and said:
"How about we grab a bite to eat first? It's on me."
Since we can't find Huang Rong for the time being, following Guo Jing is definitely the right thing to do; we'll surely find Huang Rong if we follow him.
"That would be great."
Guo Jing revealed a happy smile, openly displaying his emotions without any guile.
Unlike the original story, he didn't experience many things and eventually become mature and stable.
So the two of them went to a restaurant, where Li Ke ordered the food and drinks.
"Master Ma Yu passed on the Quanzhen Martial Arts to you two years ago. I wonder how many meridians you have opened up by now?"
In response to Li Ke's question, Guo Jing readily replied:
"Eight meridians have been opened."
Goodness, it took him 10 years of practicing the Quanzhen Martial Arts to open up two meridians.
Later, relying on the synchronized Demon Slayer Riku, he used a crazy self-harming method to open up four meridians in a few months, and eventually opened up a total of six meridians.
As it turns out, Guo Jing opened up eight meridians in just two years. It just goes to show how unfair it is to compare yourself to others.
"Is that fast?"
Noticing Li Ke's unusual expression, Guo Jing asked him about it, puzzled.
"Soon, even after ten years of arduous cultivation of the Quanzhen Martial Arts, an ordinary disciple can only open two or three meridians."
Upon hearing this, Guo Jing scratched his head sheepishly.
"Come on, let's drink first."
After Li Ke finished speaking, the two started drinking and chatting. It can only be said that when men have wine and food, they have endless things to talk about.
Guo Jing began by discussing a series of events he experienced in Mongolia during his childhood.
For example, how he met Zhebie and the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan, and how he was stupid when the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan taught him martial arts.
How he rose to power after meeting Ma Yu, how he protected Temujin, and how he assisted Temujin in unifying Mongolia, among other things.
Li Ke then talked about his past experiences, the history of the Song, Liao, Mongol, and Jin dynasties, and finally the story of the Five Barbarian Invasions.
When Guo Jing heard about the chaos and cannibalism during the Five Barbarian Invasions, the devastation of the Central Plains, and the exodus of the elite to the south, he was immediately shocked and indignant.
"Guo Jing, you grew up on the grasslands, so you must have seen and learned about the customs of grassland civilization, and you must have heard of the tradition of harvesting hay."
The reason why grassland civilizations needed to hunt for grain was that, apart from producing their own cattle, sheep, and horses, they could not produce almost anything else for their daily needs and had to buy it.
Border merchants from both countries exploited this weakness, naturally buying low and selling high to reap huge profits.
This also meant that grassland civilizations could not solve their basic needs for food and clothing, let alone become wealthy, by relying solely on selling cattle, sheep, and horses.
Ultimately, they could only solve their own and their families' food and clothing problems, and even become rich, by robbing, burning, killing and looting.
As for the robbed, burned, killed, and looted people, how they screamed and cried out in agony, and how their families were torn apart.
Those are other people's problems, other people's pain, not your own.
If the grassland civilization's targets for raiding were those wealthy and unscrupulous landlords and merchants, then I would wholeheartedly support it.
The problem is that the mansions of those landlords, powerful merchants, and wealthy landowners were often located in grand mansions with high walls and guards.
Breaking through it is not so easy; it will require certain casualties and losses, making it a losing proposition.
Therefore, people naturally pick the softest persimmons to squeeze, and ordinary people without high walls to protect them are naturally the best targets for burning, killing, and looting.
Therefore, every time the nomadic civilizations migrated south to raid for supplies, it was a complete catastrophe for the common people in the border regions.
Upon hearing Li Ke's words, Guo Jing fell silent, overwhelmed with extreme guilt and self-reproach.
Because he grew up in Mongolia, he had naturally heard of the practice of raiding for grain and had witnessed many cavalrymen returning with their spoils.
Throughout all this, Guo Jing never considered where the wealth obtained from raiding came from, or whether the people raiding the raided areas were willing to accept it.
What made Guo Jing feel even more guilty and on the verge of collapse was that, with his help, Temujin survived countless assassination attempts and successfully unified the grasslands.
The Mongols, who will unify the grasslands next, will surely follow the example of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Rouran, Turks, and Khitan in history, and invade southward to burn, kill, and plunder.
The number of innocent casualties at that time would have been many times greater than before the unification of the grasslands, a truly shocking figure.
This was because before the grasslands were unified, the various tribes were hostile to each other and engaged in internal strife.
The strength of a single tribe was far from enough to defeat the border army, and they then penetrated deep into the Central Plains, burning, killing, and looting on a large scale.
Now Mongolia has unified the grasslands, integrated the strength of the grasslands, and is led by the wise and powerful Temujin.
Guo Jing had already foreseen how the Mongol army would march south and wreak havoc by burning, killing, and looting.
Thinking about all this, he was so anxious that he couldn't even eat. He just wanted to hurry back and persuade Temujin not to go south.
Although he knew that Temujin might not listen to him at all, he was fearless even knowing that he would die!
Thinking of this, Guo Jing immediately stood up, cupped his hands in farewell, and said:
"Brother Li, I must go back and persuade the Khan not to march south. I'm sorry, I can't drink with you anymore."