Chapter 101

After Xue Keren joined them, Zhang Weihao and his group quickly arrived in Yanjiao. The current capital city was completely different from the later one. The area of ​​the real capital city was only about 60 square kilometers, which was roughly the size of the second ring road in the later one.

From a modern perspective, it is definitely very small. By 2030, it will have already reached the Sixth Ring Road. By the time Zhang Weihai’s previous life was coming to an end, it had already become a megacity, even including the original Tianjin and Baoding, which became satellite cities.

After all, transportation was really convenient back then. Although it wasn’t as futuristic as the teleportation arrays in some science fiction games, the journey from Tianjin to Beijing via electromagnetic levitation trains and capsule tunnels could take only a few minutes, which was very convenient.

So at that time, there were fewer cities, mainly several major urban agglomerations and economic zones. Among them, the largest urban economic zone in the north was Beijing, which was comparable in size to a province today.

In terms of the martial arts world alone, the capital city of the Ming Dynasty is by no means small. It is even among the top three megacities in the world, comparable only to Nanjing in the south and Vijayanagara in the west, which is now an ancient city in southern India.

Because Vijayanagara served as a bridgehead and transit point during the Mongol westward expansion, it is now considered the second largest city in China, after Beijing and larger than Nanjing.

The dominant foreign power in this world was still the Mongols, known as the Mongol Empire.

Initially, the Yuan Dynasty and four Khanates were established. Kublai Khan, the Yuan Emperor, was merely the emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, whose territory included Mongolia, most of China, and Goryeo. Later, the Ming Dynasty was established, and it reclaimed the Central Plains. Goryeo also took the opportunity to declare independence, and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty was driven back to the Mongolian steppe, which led to a split. In normal history, this should have been the time of the Tatars.

Zhu Houzhao, the Ming Wuzong Emperor, had the greatest political achievement of personally leading an expedition to defeat the Tatars. His grandfather, the Ming war god Zhu Qizhen, was defeated by the Oirat Mongols, one of the three major Mongol tribes, and was captured by Esen, the Oirat Khan at the time.

After Esen’s defeat and death, the Tatars, who belonged to the same three tribes, became the overlords of the steppe. But overall, these were all Mongol forces, and the Great Khans all claimed to be descendants of the Golden Family and the sons of Genghis Khan.

The four khanates of today have long since vanished, but one has persisted to this day: the Golden Horde, also known as the Kipchak Khanate, which was established by Batu Khan on the foundation of his father’s fiefdom after his westward conquest.

At its greatest extent, the Golden Horde stretched from the Irtysh River basin in the east to the lower Danube River in the west, from the Caucasus Mountains in the south to northeastern Russia in the north.

In the mid-13th century, the Golden Horde broke away from the Mongol Empire, converted to Islam, and never truly exercised effective direct rule within its territory, mainly content with forcing conquered princes to submit and pay tribute.

The Golden Horde existed from 1242 to 1502, a total of 260 years, making it the longest-lasting of the four khanates.

In normal history, although the Tatars and the Golden Horde were adjacent, they had little interaction. However, this is clearly not normal history. Therefore, the remnants of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, led by the Tatars, merged with the Golden Horde to form a super empire spanning the entire Mongolian steppe and western regions, calling themselves the Mongol Yuan Empire.

Such an empire was obviously very aggressive, and given the deep-seated hatred between the Mongol Yuan and the Ming Dynasty, the two sides were mortal enemies and constantly fought each other.

If it weren’t for the Ming Cult’s presence in the Western Regions, constantly opposing the Yuan dynasty and defending its interests there, the Ming dynasty would not only have to defend against the grasslands, but also guard against the enemy directly entering Sichuan and Shaanxi from the Western Regions, which are now Tibet and Xinjiang. That would have meant being attacked from both sides.

However, the Ming Cult itself was not honest; it was a notorious professional rebel, and given Zhu Yuanzhang’s ruthless betrayal, it was naturally not on the same side as the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to the guidance of the imperial court and the conflicts of interest between martial arts sects, especially the appearance of Xie Xun and the Dragon-Slaying Saber, it became a typical chaotic third-party camp with very poor relations with both the Ming and Mongol Yuan dynasties.

Once the Mongol Yuan dynasty had dealt with the Ming Cult and successfully occupied the Western Regions, bordering Sichuan and Shaanxi, it was clear to him that Li Xunhuan was reminding him to be careful and not to cause too much trouble for the martial arts world of the Ming dynasty, lest the martial arts world outside the Great Wall take advantage of the situation and invade.

“Isn’t there the Ming Cult? Aren’t the Kunlun Sect, Snow Mountain Sect, and Kongtong Sect, among the Eight Great Sects, also located on the border? Some are even outside the pass, and they are local overlords in those areas.” Xue Keren, who was having dinner with them and discussing the state of the world, directly pointed out the distribution of martial arts forces outside the pass. She had specifically been to the pass and found Li Xunhuan there, where she witnessed his flying knives and knew that he was not someone to be trifled with, even more terrifying than Li Manqing.

Xue Keren was present when Xue Biqing lost to Li Manqing and witnessed Li Manqing’s throwing knives.

Li Huai was also present at the time, and they had fought on the border (he was looking for his son, who was an illegitimate child). Therefore, Xue Keren was the most qualified to speak about Li Xunhuan and Li Manqing’s flying knives.

In terms of skill, realm, and physical fitness, Li Manqing is definitely much stronger than Li Xunhuan, that old drunkard with tuberculosis.

Li Xunhuan’s health was not very good to begin with. He was weak and sickly from childhood, and later developed a bad habit of drinking heavily. His health was among the worst of the innate masters. He would cough or even vomit blood at the drop of a hat. However, he was still able to live. With proper care, he could live for another twenty or thirty years without much problem.

However, in terms of the power of the throwing knife, Li Manqing might not even be a match for Li Xunhuan’s single strike. If Li Xunhuan finds an opportunity to throw the knife, Li Manqing will surely die.