The Heroes of Xiangyang
Part 10:
Three days later, Guo Jing's bedroom
For the past few weeks, Guo Jing had little time to rest, as he is preparing, along with Marshall Lü Wenhuan, the defences of Xiangyang for the upcoming Mongol invasion. Guo Jing has gone as far as not sleeping for four whole days in order to inspect fortifications and draw war plans. Huang Rong, wife of Guo Jing, knows that so much overwork will affect her husband's health, and so, after many hours of talking to him and with the support of Marshall Lü, she has managed to persuade him to rest a bit. Now, she is massaging his back on their bedroom. Huang Rong, although not young anymore, remains very beautiful. She has skin whiter than snow and charm unrivaled by any.
"You massage" Guo says "makes me relax a bit. You were right. I really need some rest, in order to be able to work better for the defence of Xiangyang."
"Do not think of the defence again, Jing-gege" Huang replies. "For just a day, you need to forget everything and rest. Otherwise, your health shall deteriorate and you will not be able to contribute in the defence of the city."
"Now that you say about this, do you remember when I was injured by Yang Kang and we had to stay together for-"
Before Guo Jing can continue, he hears someone knocking the door. Huang opens the door and a servant comes inside.
"Sir! You disciple, Wang, has returned!" the man shouts.
"I will go to meet him!" Guo Jing says while dressing.
"No!" Huang replies. "You need some rest!"
"I had my rest! I must now go and greet Wang!"
Guo Jing's guests room
Meanwhile, Yang Guo greets Wang. Yang and Wang are very good friends, and so Yang gives Wang a warm welcome. He embraces him and says "Wang, you returned!" with tears in his eyes and laughing.
"Brother Guo, I am so glad to meet you again."
"How was your journey?"
"Very good, except for a troublesome idiot that I had to fight twice."
As the two men talk, Guo Jing rushes into the room. Once he sees his teacher, Wang bows before him in respect.
"Teacher, I have returned."
"Wang, I am so delighted to see you."
As the three men discuss, a servant rushes into the room.
"What is it?" Guo Jing asks.
"Your daughter has returned along with Revered Yideng and an other man." the servant answers.
"Good!" Yang says, delighted that he will see Xiang. "Call them in."
Yang Guo had protected Xiang along with Li Mochou when she was a baby and the two of them have long been friends. So Yang is very happy to see her. Wang also wants to see Xiang, as he is interested romantically in her. But when Xiang comes in the guests room, except for her and Revered Yideng, he sees Chan. Seeing Chan, Wang becomes mad. Chan also becomes mad when he sees the 'asshole', as Chan calls Wang.
"You!" both Chan and Wang shout while pointing at each other. And so, they begin to duel. Wang uses the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms and Chan jumps on the air, dodging the red dragon coming out of Wang's palms. As the two of them begin to kick and hit each other, Xiang comes between them and shouts "Stop fighting!", in an effort to dissuade them from fighting.
"He was the one who tries to kill me twice!" both Wang and Chan shout together at Xiang.
"Both of you stop!" Xiang replies. "We are all here so we can defend Xiangyang from the Mongols. We must not fight each other. If we fight each other, then the mission of the Mongols shall be accomplished."
"I understand." Wang says. "Brother Chan. Please forgive me for fighting with you."
"No, no. There is not need to be sorry." Chan replies."I was the one who was rush. I should be the one to ask for forgiveness."
But those words, although polite, are not from their heart. Instead, they both ask for forgiveness in order to show themselves as magnanimous before Xiang. In reality, Chan and Wang hate each other even more now. Wang is jealous to see Xiang along with Chan, while Chan believes that Xiang is favoring Wang, despite that he, at least according to Chan, is wrong.
"So, who is this man?" Guo Jing asks, confused over the situation. Guo Jing has never been very bright and so he is quite confused about Chan.
"Dad!" Xiang answers. "He is a pugilist who helped me fight some thugs that tried to harass me and Revered Yideng, and he also wants to help you defend Xiangyang from the Mongols."
"Good! Good! It is great to meet such an excellent young man."
Chan bows before Guo Jing in order to see his respect and admiration for him.
"Hero Guo, please accept my greetings."
"No need for such formalities! Come and sit with me for some wine."
"I dare not bother you with me."
"No, of course not. You do not bother me. Please do me this favor."
"Since you insist, I will accept your invitation."
And so, Guo Jing and Chan sit on a table and start drinking wine, while discussing for several matters. Twenty minutes later, a man rushes inside the room.
"Sir," he says. "Director-General Liu Yao wants you in Marshall Lü's office."
Guo Jing apologizes to Chan and leaves the room in a hurry. A few minutes later, he arrives at the office of Marshall Lü, which is guarded by six soldiers. When he enters the room, he sees Lü examining some maps and he is greeted by Liu.
"Welcome my lord!"
"Are there any news?" Guo Jing asks, worried over the situation of the city.
"I have already explained to Marshall Lü and so I will explain to you now. As you know, our main natural defensive barrier is the Han river. The Han river is crucial to the defense of Xiangyang, not only because it acts as a natural defensive barrier which can slow down the Mongol forces, but also because Xiangyang can be supplied by the Song court through the Han river. That's one of the reasons why the last Mongol campaign failed. Möngke Khan failed to create a strong enough navy to blockade the Han river, thus allowing the Song court to send supplies and reinforcements thought the Han river to Xiangyang. However, Kublai has been able to create a 5,000 ships strong navy, which is far larger than our 1,000 ships strong navy, and has also trained 70,000 marines. That means that if we try to engage the Mongols in an open naval battle, we will lose for sure and our navy will be destroyed. If our navy is destroyed, the Mongols will gain complete control of the Han river and will be able to blockade it, thus causing us to lose our supply line and ending the possibility of the Song court sending any supplies or reinforcements to the city."
"Then what shall we do?!" Guo Jing, panicked and agonized, asks.
"My lord, please allow me to explain the situation."
"All right."
"As you know, I have already send spies to learn of the situation of the Mongol navy. I have learned that the Mongol navy, because of strong wings, constant rain and the flooding of the Han river in it's eastern point, has been forced to station at the small coastal city of Hanjin, on the northern side of the river. This is our chance to destroy the Mongol navy. We need to send men to go as fast as they can to the city and try to set on fire the Mongol fleet. Although a large numbers of ships will surely survive, the destruction of 1,000 or even 800 ships will surely helps us balance the odds and will also lower and demoralize the Mongol soldiers."
"That's great news. Marshall Lü, how many men will you send in this mission?"
"I will not send any men." Lü replies. "The Mongols have 70,000 marines in the city, as well as 20,000 infantry. The port is guarded very well. Also, how can I hide an entire army in order to make the attack as success? Not to say that it will take two weeks to move an entire army to Hanjin. So, it is impossible for an army to launch a surprise attack on Hanjin and burn the Mongol ships."
"Then what shall we do?"
"I have an idea." Liu answers to Guo Jing's question. "You should send a small team of very able pugilists to infiltrate inside the city. Since you are the leader of the pugilist world, this should be no problem to you, right? A small team shall be able to enter the city without the Mongol army noticing it and should be able to set the Mongols ships on fire."
"But how can a few men, not matter how able they are, to burn 1,000 ships or more?"
"Of course, if they set fire on one ship after the other, the Mongols will be able to locate them before they manage to burn 1,000 ships and will also put down the fire with ease. However, instead of setting fire on each ship, they will set thundercrash bombs in each ship and then set fire on one of the ships. The explosion of the bomb shall spread the fire on nearby ships, which will lead to the explosion of the bombs on those ships and this would go on until a huge number of Mongol ships is set on fire. It will be a chained reaction which shall doom the Mongol navy."
"But will those thundercrash bombs work?"
"Of course. The bombs are made from cast iron and are filled with gunpowder. They have a 50 kilometer explosion range and since even armor made out of iron can be penetrated by pieces of the bomb after the explosion, the bombs should have no problem destroying the wooden Mongol ships."
"Good! Good!" Guo Jing shouts with a smile in his face.