If you were Kublai Khan, how would you deal with the post-mortem of Gwok Jing?

[Ken Cheng]

Hypothetical time again.

You are Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire. You have just received fabulous news from one of your generals: after a long siege that has gone on for decades, Seung Yeung Fortress has finally fallen to Mongol troops! Gwok Jing, defender of the city for over thirty years, and his allies are dead. Gwok's body lies in a military camp outside the now captured city, waiting to be disposed of according to your orders.

As Kublai Khan, how will you treat the matter of Gwok Jing's corpse? Things to consider:

1. In his youth, Gwok Jing had been an important ally of the Mongol Empire...a dear friend (the anda brother, in fact) of your father Tolui, almost husband of your aunt Hua Jeng, and valued commander of your grandfather Genghis Khan's troops.

2. Although his defense of Seung Yeung frustrated you time and again, Gwok Jing fought courageously and honorably...traits that are widely admired by the Mongols. Your troops greatly respect him (some of your senior generals once served under him as soldiers), and you must admit that you admire him as well.

3. He was the hero of the defeated Han people in Seung Yeung. They're beaten and demoralized, but how will they react if they learn that their hero's body has been desecrated? Will it enrage them and revive their fighting spirit, causing an uprising that you will have to deal with?

4. What is the cost of *NOT* showing the people the wrath of the Mongol Empire? Do you feel that it is necessary to make an example of Gwok Jing, even after his death, to show Han resisters what will happen to them if they do not submit themselves to the power of the Mongol Empire?

What do you do, oh mighty Kublai?

[yittz]

Honour. But not too grand.

[dewyloony123]

With all the pomp and circumstance you have on hand. Also use it as an occasion to show your power--"this Guo Jing was a powerful general, but we beat him"--as well as emphasize your noble spirit--"I'm such a wonderful person that I will bury my enemy honorably."

[Ken Cheng]

With all the pomp and circumstance you have on hand. Also use it as an occasion to show your power--"this Guo Jing was a powerful general, but we beat him"--as well as emphasize your noble spirit--"I'm such a wonderful person that I will bury my enemy honorably."

This is true. It would be great propaganda for the Mongols, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what Kublai did. Perhaps a mausoleum was even raised by the Yuan government for Gwok Jing in the city of Seung Yeung.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Per Mongol policy, for holding out for as long as it did, Xiang Yang should've been razed. No place to put a mausoleum.

[Ken Cheng]

Per Mongol policy, for holding out for as long as it did, Xiang Yang should've been razed. No place to put a mausoleum.

Under Genghis, that would likely have been the case, but Kublai was a very different kind of leader from his grandfather. Kublai was, for the lack of a better word, more "civilized." In fact, Seung Yeung was not razed to the ground even after the Mongols achieved victory, and Kublai was savvy enough a politician, I believe, to see the value in winning the hearts of his new subjects by letting them honor their fallen hero.

[pannonian]

IIRC the Chinese were allowed to erect a memorial to the last Song emperor, so Khubilai wouldn't have tried to deface the memory of Guo Jing. Also, it was generally against Mongol practice to maltreat corpses after they were dead - Mongols killed liberally, but they did not mutilate as civilised peoples did. My guess would be that Guo Jing was either carted back to Mongolia to be buried alongside Tolui, or he was buried in Mongolian fashion somewhere near Xiangyang, while the Chinese would be allowed to remember him as they wished, as long as they did not use him as a rallying point. Khubilai respected Guo Jing's ties with his father, while seeking to eliminate him as an opponent.

[Son of Light]

What they do to the GJ's body will not be the reason weather the people rabel or not.
What they will be doing to the people after that, on the other hand, will.

[Radken]

What do you do, oh mighty Kublai?

First I've people stuff his corpse. Back straight, knees bent, mouth open, head moved slightly sideways, with palms forward like he's about to execute his dragon stance or go to the bathroom depending on how you look at it. Then we'll stuff his eagle and attach it on his shoulder with an arrow piercing through it's neck cause it's only appropriate. Eagle Shooting Hero, get it? Then we'll mount him on top of a wooden plank with wheels at the bottom and a rope tied around to a horse. For the first eighteen months, from dawn to sunset a group of solders will parade throughout Seung Yeung with his body. During certain times of the day, it will be use as a prop for mock battles and to tell funny stories of how dumb Gwok Jing was when he was alive. After that, the statue will be placed permanently at the center of the city for all to see.

[shenlong]

Doesn't sound mongolian to show weakness, I would bury the body but make a show out of how we slaughtered xian yang.

[dewyloony123]

First I've people stuff his corpse. Back straight, knees bent, mouth open, head moved slightly sideways, with palms forward like he's about to execute his dragon stance or go to the bathroom depending on how you look at it. Then we'll stuff his eagle and attach it on his shoulder with an arrow piercing through it's neck cause it's only appropriate. Eagle Shooting Hero, get it? Then we'll mount him on top of a wooden plank with wheels at the bottom and a rope tied around to a horse. For the first eighteen months, from dawn to sunset a group of solders will parade throughout Seung Yeung with his body. During certain times of the day, it will be use as a prop for mock battles and to tell funny stories of how dumb Gwok Jing was when he was alive. After that, the statue will be placed permanently at the center of the city for all to see.

O.O... I don't know whether to laugh or cringe in horror.

[Radken]

Go ahead you can laugh. It's a joke. It's funny.

[dewyloony123]

Go ahead you can laugh. It's a joke. It's funny.

:P I know... It was more that seeing it in my mind's eye was both funny and painful.

[Son of Light]

If I was them , I would tell the Plp of Xiang Yang : "We come in peace!" and then treat everyone well.
And do the same with other city.
Then everyone one will like the rule.

[K2Grey]

If I was them, I would raze their city to the ground and salt the fields. I would kill the old, enslave the young, rape their maidens, and listen to the lamentation of their women.
And do the same with the other city.
Then everyone will fear the rule.

[Ren Wo Xing]

Freaking Conan-wannabe

[dewyloony123]

This is true. It would be great propaganda for the Mongols, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what Kublai did. Perhaps a mausoleum was even raised by the Yuan government for Gwok Jing in the city of Seung Yeung.

wait a sec... that almost sounds like you are assuming Kwok Jing actually existed...?

[Ken Cheng]

wait a sec... that almost sounds like you are assuming Kwok Jing actually existed...?

He definitely existed in the Jin Yong universe.

As for Earth-Real, you might be surprised to learn of a historical figure whose life paralleled that of Gwok Jing's in some aspects.

[Single Whip]

How about drinking his blood?
in LOCH, GJ drank the snake blood and his strength increased. The owner of the snake wanted to drink his blood to get the benefit. So apparently the beneficial properties of the snake's blood are transferrable. With the addition of his internal energy cultivation over the years, who knows what other gains the Khan will get by drinking GJ's blood.