Chapter 312: Yelu Dashi

'His Majesty is full of literary and military strategies, both benevolent and wise, and is good in every way,

it's just that his naming habits are truly hard to describe.

Why give such a good machine gun such a strange name as Ma, Ma Keqin?

Names like Thunder, Thunderbolt, or Heaven's Wrath would also be very good!'

At the same time, Brother Chao Gai Gai secretly complained in his heart.

It was just that the current Zhang Jie did not yet have telepathy or mind-reading, otherwise he would have complained:

"Who among the netizens in the 21st century who knows a little about the history of world weapon development doesn't know the famous name 'Great Compassionate Gatling, Savior Ma Keqin'?"

Whether Ma Keqin is a savior, Zhang Jie is not very clear,

but the original intention of Dr. Gatling, the inventor of the Gatling machine gun, was truly filled with compassion.

Yes, what is quite black humor is that the first machine gun in human history with practical value,

the inventor of the Gatling machine gun, Gatling, was a doctor whose main job was to save lives and heal the wounded.

The inventor of the Gatling machine gun, Richard Jordan Gatling, was originally a doctor.

In 1861, during the only large-scale war that broke out on the mainland of the Eagle Nation,

the war between the Unionists and the Industrialists, referred to as the Civil War,

he witnessed a large number of soldiers dying from gunshot wounds, and out of a doctor's benevolence, he conceived the idea of inventing an efficient weapon.

He believed that if one soldier could exert the power of a platoon,

fewer troops could complete combat, thereby reducing overall casualties,

which is the origin of the saying "Life-saving Gatling."

Dr. Gatling was indeed a top student who graduated in medicine; after several years of contemplation and research,

he finally completed the first generation of the Gatling machine gun in 1861,

using 14.7mm caliber rifle ammunition, with a firing rate of 200 rounds per minute.

A monument in the history of weapons was actually Dr. Gatling, who should have

had nothing to do with murderous weapons,

so sometimes, the one who kills you is not necessarily a peer, but very likely someone from another field.

Regarding such black-humored historical facts, the vast number of silly netizens in the 21st century also carried out a lot of secondary creation,

the most famous of which belongs to the Gatling Bodhisattva:

Namo Gatling Bodhisattva, six senses pure depleted uranium shells,

three thousand six hundred rotations in one breath, great compassion to save the world.

Amituofu, well done, well done~

"Eh, who is this person?"

Inspecting one of the prisoner-of-war camps, a young Liao general who, even though covered in filth, blood, and disheveled hair,

and even the armor on his body was broken, still had an extraordinary temperament and stood out from the crowd,

standing out like a crane in a flock of chickens among the Liao army captives, attracted Zhang Jie's gaze.

Such a person is like an awl in a bag; its sharpness reveals itself.

Brother Chao Gai Gai looked carefully along Zhang Jie's line of sight, and after confirming the person's identity, reported with a smile:

"Your Majesty, that person is the vanguard general of the Liao army, it seems his name is Yelu Dashi.

We originally thought that the Liao vanguard must have all died under the muskets of our Great Gan,

but unexpectedly, when we were cleaning the battlefield and clearing the corpses,

we found him firmly protected under the bodies of several Liao soldiers, not only did he not die, but he didn't even suffer any injuries."

Saying this, he also jokingly shared with Zhang Jie:

"Your Majesty, I heard that this Yelu Dashi is also skilled in both literature and martial arts..."

Before he could finish, Zhang Jie, who was lost in thought, interrupted:

"Is he also the only Khitan scholar in the hundred years of the Liao Dynasty,

honored by other Khitans as Dashi Linya?"

Brother Chao Gai Gai could not help but open his mouth wide upon hearing this, very surprised:

"Your Majesty, how do you know these things?"

Although Yelu Dashi had some fame in the Great Liao, after all, he was the first Khitan in a hundred years,

and also the only Great Liao scholar, so he naturally had some fame,

but the name of a mere Great Liao Han Lin should not be something Zhang Jie would keep in his heart.

Someone who could be kept in Zhang Jie's heart and thought about carefully should be the Great Liao Emperor, Tianzuo Emperor Yelu Yanxi,

or it should be the Chancellor Xiao Wuna, who was under one person and over ten thousand in the Great Liao,

He should also be under one person in Great Liao, but above ten thousand.

Even if Zhang Jie was extremely cautious and knew the *Sun Zi's Art of War* about knowing oneself and the enemy to win every battle,

just knowing Chancellor Xiao Wuna was not enough; it should be the Tianzuo Emperor's favorite minister,

the Prince of Lanling, Xiao Fengxian, who could limitedly influence the Great Liao's national policy.

A mere Yelu Dashi, with only a scholar's title,

how could he deserve the favor of Zhang Jie, the Great Gan Emperor?

"There are many things I know."

Zhang Jie did not care about the surprised Brother Chao Gai Gai; as a monarch,

he had no need and no possibility to explain his source of information to a subject,

but instead stood with his hands behind his back, watching the disheveled Yelu Dashi with deep eyes.

If this Dashi Linya followed the normal development of history, he was truly a ruthless person who was not simple.

After the Great Liao was destroyed by Jin, and even the Tianzuo Emperor, the last emperor of the Great Liao, was captured by the Jin people,

this Dashi Linya relied on his own strength to make the Great Liao continue its national fortune for several decades.

In 1130, he took the last assets of the Liao Dynasty, which were also his own:

200 loyal followers, 400 horses, and 20 camels, and went straight from the Mongolian plateau to Central Asia,

and he was invincible all the way: on the way, he subdued 18 nomadic tribes, built a new capital in Emin, Xinjiang,

and finally actually hammered the 100,000-strong coalition of the Seljuk Empire, which was known as the "World Conqueror" at the time, into slag at Qatwan!

This Battle of Qatwan made Europe tremble at the time,

and even Persian historical books respectfully called him the "Napoleon of the East"!

Although Zhang Jie also didn't know why they had to use Napoleon from the 18th to 19th centuries to evaluate an old predecessor from the 11th to 12th centuries,

but considering Napoleon Bonaparte's terrifying combat record and prestige in Europe,

using Napoleon to describe Yelu Dashi was enough to show Persia's awe of him.

The prototype of the "Prester John" legend that spread in Europe in later generations might be him:

After the great victory at Qatwan in 1141, Persian merchants compiled the battle report into an epic to sing,

and hearing the epic, Venetian merchants, for whom nothing was not a commodity and nothing could not be sold, discovered the business opportunity,

and immediately sold it to the Pope, who was facing immense pressure from the East,

and from then on, the "Prester John" legend spread in Europe:

In the region of the East filled with Muslims and pagans,

there existed a mysterious kingdom ruled by a Christian priest and emperor.

It was claimed that Prester John was a descendant of the Three Wise Men of the East, a generous and upright monarch,

ruling a land full of treasures, rare birds and animals, where Saint Thomas once lived.

The country had famous places like the "Gates of Alexander" and the "Fountain of Youth," and the border was surrounded by paradise.

The treasures he possessed included a mirror that could see every inch of the country.

His kingdom was unimaginably wealthy. It was said he was the defender of Christianity in Central Asia,

once defeated the Persian army, and then the army went straight to Jerusalem,

but stopped because the Tigris River was frozen and could not be crossed.

There were also legends that Jesus Christ promised the apostle John that he would see his second coming while alive,

so Prester John was the apostle John himself, who possessed immortality...

Well, from this it can be seen how much pressure the Pope at the time, or the Crusades, which were unfavorable, were facing,

that they even came up with such legends that had too many mythical factors and were not realistic at all.

Dante even described him holding a cross to defeat the Saracens in the *Divine Comedy*.

Until finally, Marco Polo, who traveled to the Great Yuan and wrote *The Travels of Marco Polo*, punctured their fantasy:

"The Prester John you speak of is actually the Khitan Emperor." ===== CHAPTER 313 =====

"The King John you speak of is actually the Khitan Emperor."