Chapter 34: The Legend of Hero Guo

Of course, Li Xuanying did not care much about such things.

The legendary military exploits of Li Yinglin were a constant topic of conversation among his family. Ever since Guo Kang first arrived, he had heard them recount these tales day in and day out.

He still remembered the time he had just been brought home by his foster father, only to run into Li Huawen, Li Xuanying’s father, who was visiting the Guo household with his wife and children. As the two men drank together, his foster mother brought Guo Kang out. Li Huawen, looking surprised, asked who the boy was.

His foster mother explained that the child’s name was Guo Kang, whom they had found during the Siege of Dadu. At that time, taking advantage of the weakness of the Khanate following the "Anda War," the Ottomans had launched a massive army to besiege the city. Fortunately, everyone worked together, holding out until the arrival of the Great Uncle Timur’s army, which saved the city from the barbarian horde.

They had previously had a daughter who, lacking a formal name, was only known by the milk name "Little Flower." To commemorate this battle, they named her "Guo Ponu" (Guo Destroyer-of-Slaves).

As for the adopted boy, because the city was known as "Constantinople," they named him "Guo Kang" in the same spirit of commemoration.

Thus, the sister and brother were named.

Li Huawen, however, raised an objection. He felt the name "Ponu" carried too much bloodlust and was unsuitable for a girl. Furthermore, he argued, it was Uncle Timur who had truly broken the Ottoman barbarians; if they wanted to commemorate the event, they should honor him. Therefore, the girl should have been named "Guo Tie."

As for Guo Kang, he found that inaccurate as well. The Imperial Court had long since established the official name for the place as "Dadu," so the boy should have been named "Guo Da."

His foster father had actually pondered this for a moment, but his foster mother found the suggestion utterly unacceptable, and it was promptly rejected.

Later, however, Guo Kang discovered that the name had effectively been given to his foster father instead.

Despite his current appearance as an honest, simple man, his foster father had been quite popular with noblewomen and young ladies in his youth, and not just within the borders of Rome. It was said that the daughter of Great Khan Basil III had taken a liking to him and wanted to recruit him as a "Guergen" (son-in-law). Even during his diplomatic missions, there was rumors of an Ottoman princess who had secretly fallen for him.

Of course, these were all things mentioned later by the loose-lipped Li Huawen and others; his foster father always tried to dodge the subject whenever it came up. His foster mother adamantly denied these claims, and since Guo Kang would get a scolding every time he asked, he dared not try to verify them with the principals again.

In any case, there was no doubt that in his youth, his foster father had been a classic scion of a great house who enjoyed the life of a wandering knight.

During the defense of the city, the Ottomans had set up cannons outside the walls, intending to blast them down. His foster father had personally led several dozen "Baturu" out of the city to launch a raid, successfully destroying the giant artillery pieces.

This event was indeed legendary, and through the mouths of the Greeks, it had become increasingly exaggerated with each retelling.

The currently popular version claimed that his foster father had leaped into the enemy ranks, kicked over a cannon with one foot, and struck down Bayezid—who had come to the rescue—with a single blow, even snatching the turban right off his head. In short, he was a hero on the level of a reincarnated Heracles.

A few friends dubbed him "Hero Guo," but the Greeks found it hard to pronounce, so they called him "Guo-da-us." The name eventually caught on.

At that time, after meeting a few times, Li Huawen had indulged in his family’s tradition, telling all the children about the military exploits of his father, Li Yinglin, and asking for their thoughts.

While Li Xuanying and the others thought the stories were legendary, Guo Kang began to analyze them.

He pointed out that on the surface, it appeared to be eight thousand against one hundred thousand, but in reality, the enemy’s effective fighting force was far smaller.

Of the elite troops under the rebel general Bayan, he could only truly command about eight thousand to twelve thousand men, and they were never deployed all at once because his "control" was only relative.

Furthermore, after the death of the Grand Preceptor Yesün-Buqa, not everyone within the Northern Yamen Army wanted to rebel. The most elite New Army did not participate, and many officers and soldiers from other guards were either killed or had deserted. It was highly questionable how much fighting power the remainder could actually exert. The poor performance of the Kipchak Left Guard and the Bulgarian Left Guard, which was completely inconsistent with their usual capabilities, was likely related to this.

The Poles also had several thousand elite troops, but they clearly did not want to be the first to charge; they preferred to watch Bayan and the Purple Tent Army exhaust each other before seizing the opportunity to reap the rewards.

As for the rest, they were almost negligible. The Lithuanian mercenaries stayed to guard their base and never saw the battlefield. And those nomadic cavalrymen were only good for fighting when the wind was at their backs; expecting them to chew through the elite Southern Yamen troops was wishful thinking.

As for the Rus in the army... they probably couldn't even fight when the wind was at their backs. Neither Bayan nor the Poles had considered moving them to the front lines.

So, after organizing the story, one could calculate that during the half-hour that truly decided the outcome, the two sides were nominally eight thousand against one hundred thousand, but in reality, it was just five thousand against eight thousand. Moreover, because the terrain chosen was so advantageous, they even held an edge in effective strength.

Bayan later committed more troops, bringing the ratio to roughly twelve thousand against five thousand. But due to command issues, these reinforcements failed to exert any combat power and even proved counterproductive.

Thus, the number of troops and the number of actual combatants should not be compared so directly. It was fine for propaganda, but a commander had to know the truth. General Li must have taken advantage of this, using the terrain to limit the opponent’s strengths.

Moreover, every veteran who had fought in a war knew that cooperation was beneficial, but simply having the awareness wasn't enough to make it happen. Bayan and the Poles might have known warfare, but they did not understand statecraft; they only discovered the problems once they were on the front lines. Their defeat was well-deserved.

After he finished, Li Huawen stared at him for a moment before turning to ask his foster father if he could take the boy as his foster son, offering to trade Li Xuanying for him.

He sighed, lamenting that it was a pity his own father had passed away early; otherwise, he would surely have been interested in talking to this child and teaching him personally.

From then on, Guo Kang became the "neighbor’s son" of legend. Li Xuanying spent those years being constantly lectured by his father.

Yet, Guo Kang himself didn't gain much from it either. His foster father dragged him out for physical training every day, while his foster mother forced him to study. Even more troublesome, his "sister" seemed to hold a grudge against him.

Li Xuanying was a remarkably easygoing person and remained on good terms with him. Every time Guo Kang caused him to be scolded by his father, he didn't take it to heart. Guo Ponu, however, found trouble for Guo Kang at every turn, complaining that he was too much of a show-off.

At the time, Guo Kang hadn't thought much of it; he was simply trying to prove his worth so he wouldn't be discarded again. Faced with this situation, he didn't know what to do.

This problem clearly couldn't be discussed with people like Li Xuanying or Toghon; the best advice those two could give was for him to fight Guo Ponu and beat