Was the Jin Empire finished by the end of LOCH?
 

It seemed to me that at the end of LEGEND OF THE CONDOR HEROES, the Juchen Jin Empire, while definitely on its last legs, was not quite finished yet . . . and would not be until about halfway through the 13-year interim between LOCH and ROCH. Towards the end of LOCH, we follow Gwok Jing as he assisted Genghis Khan and the Mongols in their war against the Khwarazm Sultanate. Prince Yeun Nan Hung Lit of the Jin Empire and Sultan Muhammad II of the Khwarazm Sultanate were allies, and Yeun Nan Hung Lit was at the Khwarazm stronghold of Samarkand when he was finally captured by Genghis Khan's forces, but we never really see Mongol forces attacking Yenjing or other Jin cities in *China* during LOCH. Moreover, Genghis Khan died in the year 1227 . . . and his death occurred at the time LOCH ended. The Jin Empire would continue to exist for another seven years, however, until 1234. As of the last chapter of LOCH, it would seem the Mongols were still busy pursuing the remaining Jin forces (as well as consolidating the empire among the four sons of Genghis after the Khan's death), which explains why Gwok Jing and Wong Yung were able to enjoy thirteen years of peace between the end of LOCH and the beginning of ROCH.

It is smart of JY to take this period into account. He probably already planned to write ROCH before finish writing LOCH. ;)

He still makes a lot of confusion because of age problem though.
For example, Yang Kang, Guo Jing and Tului is more or less the same age.
How can Hu Bi Li, Tului's fourth son, is already a mature prince when meeting teenage Yang Guo?

which explains the presence of GF right?? :D

also maybe hu bi lei was conceived when tulei was 18 or 19?? so he would be at least a few years older than YG...

First son Jochi(?) didn't get to be sucessor because of suspicion of whether he was Genghis' real son or not(but that's another story :D ).

So Ogatai became sucessor.Then in 1233 or 1234,when Jochi died
in a war against the Jin,Ogatai was more than determined to avenge him,so the campaign was rather speeded up by Ogatai to end quickly by 1234.

Kublai Khan was in his early twenties when he first appeared in ROCH...just a few years older than Yeung Gor. Logically, then, there *was* a baby Kublai "off-camera" somewhere in Mongolia during LOCH. In fact, he was probably born at about the same time that Gwok Jing returned to China with the Gong Nam 6 Freaks.

GJ went to Mainland before he reach 18. Taking assumption that Tului is at the same age, then he (Tului) was married pretty young, since the prince is the second son of Tului. A few years difference between YG and the prince means a lot in this context. Could it be that Tului was already married at the age of 10?

It might not have been unusual in the context of Mongol customs at the time. Mongolian cultural experts?

SolidSnake, what you're saying basically implies that Tolui could make a baby at the age of 10 :D

Tolui in the novel was about 3 years older than Guo Jing, so by the time GJ left Mongolia, Tolui was alread 21. No surprise that he already had a few year old son.

so he could have been a father a a tender age of 17-18 years old :D