The Villain's Counterattack

No one had ever thought that the Great Yan Kingdom did not attack the weak Southern Song Dynasty, but instead swallowed up the Western Xia, and then the army marched straight to Tubo.

Tubo was located on a plateau, and the troops on the flat ground could not exert their full strength without a certain amount of time to adapt. However, the Liao army, which had been well prepared, was different. They invaded from the back from a high position and smoothly took over a large area of ​​territory. The army invading from the Central Plains also joined in after adapting to Xixia for a period of time, and for a time, the Tubo army was defeated.

The Liao army circled to the west, the Central Plains army started from Xixia and invaded from the north with Tubo, and the Sichuan army in the east relied on fortresses to make frequent moves. Tubo was attacked from three sides and fell into an extremely passive situation.

The Tubo King mobilized a large army to defend on three sides, and at the same time summoned domestic masters to discuss countermeasures. The Great Wheel King Jiumozhi was the first to be questioned. Jiumozhi was young and strong, proficient in Buddhism and martial arts, but unfortunately, the Sweeping Monk sent a group of 100 people headed by the Buddhist disciple Xuzhu to challenge Tubo Buddhism.

In terms of Dharma and martial arts, Xu Zhu in the group of a hundred people has received three years of training from the Sweeping Monk and is now a completely different person. He is also accompanied by the recovered Xiao Yuanshan and the newly-promoted top master, Old Monk Xuan Ci. Because it is the first expedition of the Buddhist Academy, Master Shenshan, Master Guanxin, Master Rongzhi and half of the former Shaolin monks with the surname Xuan are accompanying them. Their strength has shocked the entire Tibetan Buddhist community.

No, it wasn't just the Tibetan Buddhist sect that was shocked. Even the Southern Song Buddhist and Taoist sects, and even the Central Plains Taoist sect, were quite shocked. The Central Plains Taoist sect was relatively safe, as they had the Grandmaster Wuyazi at their helm. Tong Piaoyun was also a Taoist master at the level of a half-step Grandmaster. Not to mention these two, even Li Qiushui was slightly better than these three top Buddhist masters, if not more so.

However, the Buddhist and Taoist families of the Southern Song Dynasty were terrified, fearing that after this group of people showed off their power in Tubo, they would be dealt with by the Buddhist and Taoist families of the Southern Song Dynasty. However, they did not have so many masters.

Ninety percent of the Tibetan masters are Buddhists. Although Jiumozhi is the best among them, he is not the only one. Buddhism originated in India. Compared with the Central Plains, Tibet is closer to India, and the Buddhism spread here is more authentic. The Buddhism in the Central Plains has too many traces of sinicization and lacks the original flavor of Tibet.

However, it is really hard to say which one is better. The improved ones are not necessarily inferior to the original ones, especially in terms of martial arts. It seems that our martial arts in the Central Plains are more famous, especially the 72 Shaolin Kung Fu. Although the name contains many Buddhist terms, the founder is still a Central Plains martial artist, and there are many shadows of the Central Plains martial arts in it.

Tibet is located on a plateau with harsh conditions and a relatively small population, but this has also created the tenacious character of the masters here. The fact that Jiumozhi was able to surpass the Shaolin monks of the Xuan generation three years ago was closely related to his innate and acquired conditions. Of course, the essence of the Shaolin skills that Murong Bo gave him was also crucial.

This time, the Buddhist Academy of the Great Yan Kingdom set out to attack Tubo, and gave notice a month in advance. Then the army opened the way and sent them to the Great Snow Mountain, where they fought against a hundred Tubo monks on the snow mountain. The battle lasted for seven days and seven nights, and finally the Buddhist Academy of the Great Yan Kingdom won a great victory.

The young monk Xuzhu still used the set of 108 Arhat Fists, supplemented by Shaolin Qinggong, Nine-Layer Dragon Elephant Prajna Kung Fu, and Minor Accomplishment of Vajra Indestructible Magic Kung Fu. With the internal power of Yi Jin Jing, he defeated three top Tibetan masters in succession, shocking countless people.

Master Shenshan was one of the first to join the Buddhist Academy, and now he is also a senior top-notch master. Although he is not at the top level, his eyesight is not bad at all. The person he is most dissatisfied with is Abbot Xuanci. Why can this monk Huahua, who broke the precepts, break through to the top level, while he is still only at the top level?

However, he was quite impressed by Xu Zhu. This young monk looked ugly, but he had a great mind and a broad mind. Not to mention his martial arts skills, he had also been able to read the Yi Jin Jing due to his contributions, but he had never been able to practice it. However, this young monk had actually mastered it without knowing it. In addition, this young monk's attainments in Buddhist scriptures were also astonishing. In the early days, he lacked confidence, and although he had knowledge but could not express it, he followed the holy monk Murong for three years, often listening to people discuss scriptures and Dharma, and gradually learned to speak eloquently.

Only the Sweeping Monk knew that Shaolin had always had no shortage of supreme masters. Monk Xuanci's own qualifications were sufficient for him to become the Shaolin abbot, and he had many Shaolin secrets to comprehend, having accumulated enough knowledge over decades. It was only because Ye Erniang and her son were concerned that he couldn't break through. Since recognizing Ye Erniang and Xu Zhu, and secretly reconciling with Ye Erniang and spending every day and night with her, this obstacle disappeared, and the supreme master achieved a breakthrough naturally within six months.

Abbot Xuanci's strength improved dramatically after his breakthrough, and he was now no less powerful than Xiao Yuanshan. Xiao Yuanshan had spent the past three years correcting his previous mistakes and repairing his physical injuries. He also worked alongside the Sweeping Monk to strengthen his Buddhist studies and improve his martial arts. With the Xiaoyao Sect's renowned physician by his side, three years was more than enough time for Xiao Yuanshan to fully recover, even to a better state, while his martial arts skills improved.

Any one of these three top masters is no less capable than Jiumozhi. Jiumozhi, who was under great psychological pressure, had forced himself to practice many other martial arts in the past three years, causing damage to his body. His martial arts skills did not improve but deteriorated. With this cycle of progress and regression, Jiumozhi suffered a great defeat and almost went astray.

Fortunately, Xu Zhu was kind-hearted and used the Yi Jin Jing internal energy to help him suppress it temporarily. This move was unanimously praised by all the Tibetan monks. They also promised to withdraw from the dispute between the Great Yan Kingdom and the Tibetan Kingdom, and considered joining the Buddhist Academy to explore Buddhism together.

The monks of the Buddhist Academy, however, followed the Sweeping Monk's instructions and remained humble, not arrogant. They also sought many Tibetan scriptures, which made the Tibetan monks even more friendly to them. Abbot Xuanci also revealed a little bit of the Yan Kingdom's Buddhist Academy's ambition: to establish universal orthodoxy!

What is the orthodoxy of the world?

That is to suppress all disobedience, first Tubo, then Dali, and then follow the trend to enter the south of the Yangtze River. After the Great Yan Kingdom is unified, it will spread the Dharma to Goryeo and Fuso, and finally lead the momentum to India to fight for the authentic Buddhism!

The Tibetan monks were shocked when they heard this. You know, India is the birthplace of Buddhism, but they, the Buddhist monks, have never thought of giving back their Buddhist ideas to India. Now, how could they not be shocked by Abbot Xuanci's words, and they felt a little itchy in their hearts.

What if it happens?

If it really succeeds, it will definitely leave its name in the history of Buddhism. However, at this time, it requires strong national support and collective efforts to accomplish it. Tubo's national strength is still a little weak, and it may not be willing to allow Buddhism to continue to expand its influence.

Therefore, with the tacit consent and even secret help of the Tibetan monks, the three armies of the Great Yan Kingdom advanced in unison and conquered the entire Tibetan Kingdom in just half a year. Cao Yi was appointed as the Grand Commander of the Western Regions and the King of the East Court, becoming the third king of a different surname in the Great Yan Kingdom!

After a battle between Western Xia and Tubo, the territory of Great Yan expanded by thousands of miles, and its potential national strength was greatly enhanced again. Subsequently, the monks of the Buddhist Academy entered Dali, and the Emperor Baoding of Dali and the monks of Tianlong Temple came out to welcome them. After three days of discussing the Dharma with the Tianlong Temple, Dali announced its incorporation into Great Yan and changed the country into a prefecture. It was still temporarily governed by the Duan family, but it was no longer Duan Zhengming but Duan Yu.

During these three years, Duan Yu truly learned a lot and gained a deep understanding of the governance of the Great Yan Kingdom. He also led some second-generation people of the Dali Kingdom to make progress together. Duan Yu was directly crowned king because of the surrender of the Dali Kingdom. Many people knew the life stories of Wang Yuyan, Azhu, A Zi, and Zhong Ling, so they naturally would not object.

However, no other royal family member of the Duan clan of Dali was granted a title. Not only that, Zhong Wanchou of Wanjie Valley was granted the title of baron because of his medical skills and influence among the people. Although he was only a low-level county baron, he was highly respected by the people of Dali because it was a title of the Great Yan Kingdom.

Zhong Wanchou was not dissatisfied with this at all, but was very proud of it. He could confidently declare that he did not obtain the title by selling his daughter, but by relying on his own strength, and it could also be passed on to future generations.

Well, that's if you have an offspring.

Zhong Wanchou: It hurts, baby, can I go to bed tonight?

The surrender of the Dali Kingdom brought too much pressure to the small Southern Song Dynasty court. Everywhere they looked, they saw the shadow of the Great Yan Kingdom. What should they do?

The former Song official, who had traveled for three years accompanied by Empress Cao, had now earned the title of Earl through his meritorious service. However, it was uncertain whether his descendants would retain the title of Earl; his hereditary title was only Viscount. During these three years, he first served as a traveling inspector, witnessing countless human tragedies. His repeated efforts to uphold justice, weigh the pros and cons, and engage in verbal battles revealed to him the true nature of the Song Dynasty and the differences between the present Great Yan Kingdom and the present.

After truly understanding the gap and letting go of the psychological burden, he lived a comfortable life, using chicken feathers as a token of authority to do many things that made him happy. Later, he suddenly found these things a little boring and began to indulge in the mountains and rivers. The Zhao family is talented. When he began to study literature, he also caused quite a stir along the way. At the same time, he also discovered that there are differences between scholars. Hard work makes the country prosperous, while empty talk ruins the country. As the emperor of the Song Dynasty, he took it for granted.

Those who enjoyed literary flourishes and rhetoric were generally unsuitable for local officialdom, and being promoted directly to higher-ups in the capital without local official experience was likely to be a bad thing, in every sense of the word. So, while he was having fun, he reported the local officials who enjoyed playing with him to the court one by one. Another wave of meritorious service followed, and three years later, he was actually promoted to the second rank, in charge of education and culture.

He walked, looked, and thought all the way. When the Great Yan Kingdom conquered Xixia and Tubo and accepted the surrender of the Dali Kingdom, he asked his youngest son who stayed with him to take a letter to his eldest son, asking him to give up confronting the Great Yan Kingdom head-on and devote all his efforts to developing people's livelihood. He also told him that the Great Yan Kingdom would not go south easily and they were waiting.

What are you waiting for?

Wait for the cancer in the north to move south, wait for these people to bring disaster to the people in the south and cause the country to collapse automatically. When rebels rise up everywhere and the country is on the verge of collapse, it will be the time for the army of the Great Yan to move south to unify the world. If the country in the south is peaceful and the people are safe, the Great Yan will most likely not move.

The Murong family, who came from the Xianbei tribe, seemed to understand etiquette and morality better than them, be more sympathetic to the people's livelihood, and be more reasonable. This was their reasoning, but they themselves might not like it, and the aristocratic families were even less likely to like it.

What they wanted was to be superior, not fair and just, but the Great Yan Kingdom did not need such incompetent superiors, so when they could not overthrow the Great Yan Kingdom, they could only rush to the Southern Song Dynasty and continue their parasitic lives.