Chapter 7

On the battlefield, the cries of battle shook the heavens! The third assault by the Mongol Han army finally had an effect, breaking through the Song army formation where Chen Dexing was stationed, and engaging in a chaotic melee with the Song soldiers!

Chen Dexing wielded a heavy iron ringed saber, his eyes wide with determination. With a loud roar, he swung the saber at a young general of the Dong family, like a god of death descending from the heavens!

As the saber rose and the head fell, blood spurted out like a volcanic eruption, splattering Chen Dexing's face. The blood was still warm, fresh, and slightly pungent. The headless body had not yet fallen, its arms flailing wildly as if trying to grab the severed head and place it back on the neck.

'I must be a deranged killer...' Chen Dexing felt a bit strange. He, a law-abiding citizen from the 21st century, had only been in this body for a few days, yet he could now cut off a living person's head without any fear, even feeling an immense sense of satisfaction. 'It must be the result of the fusion of two sets of memories. The original Chen Dexing was a deranged killer!'

Indeed, he was deranged! Chen Dexing's mind was filled with too many images that could be associated with derangement! Of course, these were not images of tying up Japanese women, but scenes of killing various animals... first cats and dogs, when Chen Dexing was just a five or six-year-old child! Then pigs, just like he was killing people now, using a large saber to cut off their heads! At that time, Chen Dexing was only thirteen or fourteen years old! The one who turned Chen Dexing into such a deranged killer was none other than his biological father, Chen Huaiqing—a perverted old man who looked almost like Guan Yu except for his non-red complexion!

The perverted old man would justify his actions: "You are a noble warrior, born in a time of war. You will eventually have to fight on the battlefield. You must train from a young age to build your skills. When the time comes to achieve great deeds, you will understand your father's intentions..."

'What intentions!' Chen Dexing cursed the perverted old man in his mind again, then swung his large saber at another Dong family soldier. Thanks to the old man's training, Chen Dexing had indeed developed some real skills, and in a few swift moves, he killed another man.

However, not everyone in the Wu Rui Army had a deranged father—being deranged alone was not enough; one also needed to be wealthy and capable! The perverted old man had a grandfather who was a military governor, and he himself was a civil official who had passed the military examination. His family was a wealthy landlord, owning thousands of acres of land and dozens of tenant farmers on the east side of the canal in Yangzhou. This wealth allowed him to cultivate Chen Dexing into such a deranged killer!

There is an old Chinese saying: "The poor can study literature, but the rich must study martial arts." This means that the poor can study literature, even going to great lengths to do so, but studying martial arts requires wealth... of course, this is not the martial arts of wuxia novels or street performers. It involves learning battlefield tactics, horseback riding, archery, various long weapons, and military strategy. The expenses for raising horses and purchasing various equipment are not something ordinary farmers can afford.

Moreover, martial arts require a significant amount of time and effort to practice. As the saying goes, "Ten minutes on the stage, ten years of practice off the stage." Today, Chen Dexing can act as a deranged killer on the battlefield, the result of over a decade of hard training. From a young age, he focused on martial arts and reading military books, never participating in any productive labor, a typical scion of the exploiting class. The farmers, who toiled day and night and could hardly afford a full meal, found it very difficult to develop the skills needed for the battlefield. This is one of the reasons why agrarian societies find it hard to maintain strong military power. In contrast, nomadic societies, where life and production are closely tied to military activities and the use of bows and horses, can easily form powerful military forces. Once they seize the territories of agrarian societies, which can produce large amounts of weapons and food, they can quickly form a formidable fighting force.

The Mongol Empire was formed in this way!

Yelü Gan, the Grand Marshal of the Mongol Empire, was currently riding a five-foot-tall Central Asian steed, wearing armor crafted by the best armorers in Yanjing. Inside the armor, he wore luxurious silk clothing, and his feet were clad in boots made of finely sewn calf leather. At his waist, he carried a precious saber made of Wootz steel, capable of cutting through iron, with a scabbard inlaid with various gemstones.

This Grand Marshal was a typical Mongol, tall and robust, with a face like a large pancake, slightly protruding cheekbones, and small, cold, and fierce eyes, giving off a sense of gloom. He watched the battlefield with a barely noticeable sneer at the corner of his mouth. Suddenly, he spoke in Mongolian, though he had long been in Han territory and most of his subordinates were Han, he disdained to learn the Han language.

"Three assaults and no victory, the Han are truly useless!" His narrow eyes scanned the Han generals around him, who were dressed in Han clothing but wore fur hats, all expressionless as if they did not understand Mongolian. There was no hereditary commander (Wanhu) present, and Yelü Gan had poor relations with the Han military, often insulting and beating them. The hereditary commanders, unable to confront him, could only avoid him. Thus, the Great Capital sent less important household generals to lead troops to invade the Song, and the troops sent were not truly committed, each one just going through the motions.

In contrast, Kublai, the fourth brother of the Mongol Khan and the governor of the Han territories south of the desert, was much easier to get along with. The hereditary commanders were willing to support the Jinlian Chuan government (located in the Jinlian Chuan grassland, which was the summer retreat of the Jin emperors, where Kublai established his administration to govern the Han territories).

Of course, there were exceptions. Li Tan, the governor of the Yidu provincial administration, was not very willing to associate with Kublai and often ignored the orders of the Jinlian Chuan government. However, this time he was very enthusiastic about sending his adopted son Li Xiong and his daughter Li Cuixian with 6,000 troops to cross the Huai River, reportedly to avenge his father Li Quan—Li Quan was the leader of the Red Robe Army, a peasant uprising in Shandong during the late Jin dynasty. He took advantage of the chaos at the end of the Jin dynasty to control a large part of Shandong, and later submitted to the Song with two prefectures and nine counties. However, the Song imposed a system of civilian control over the military on him, leading to a series of incidents. Li Quan then allied with the Mongols and openly rebelled against the Song, ultimately dying in battle under Yangzhou. This incident is known as the Li Quan Rebellion. However, Li Quan's death was not the end but the beginning.

Li Quan's son, Li Tan, inherited his father's territory, army, and position, ruling over half of Shandong for over twenty years and proving to be a capable administrator. He now commands about 70,000 elite troops, making him the largest and strongest among the Mongol Han hereditary commanders. Recently, he married the granddaughter of Genghis Khan's youngest brother, Orchi, and formed a marital alliance with the Mongol prince Tachar, who ruled the northeast. This time, he wanted to use the Mongols to avenge his father and clear his name!

For other Han generals, Yelü Gan could show contempt and disdain, but for Li Tan, he dared not be rash—after all, Li Tan was a relative of Genghis Khan and had a brother-in-law, Prince Tachar, who was on equal terms with the Mongol Khan.

"Ansa Li Xiong, it seems the Dong family's troops are exhausted," Yelü Gan's gaze fell on Li Tan's adopted son, Li Xiong, the commander of the Loyal and Righteous Army, and he said with a smile, "