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Chapter 202: The Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2)
🕑 Added 2025-02-03 16:19:28 +0000 UTCAt this moment, it had only been a little more than half a year since both sides had established interdimensional trade. In Josh's world, it was the end of 1947, while in the Universe of 'The Mummy', the timeline had reached the second half of 1927.
In Josh's estimation, during that period of time, Cai Lin, being a woman, would not be able to accomplish her goals so quickly, even with his assistance in providing various military supplies.
But things went more smoothly than he expected.
Perhaps because she was the eldest sister in her family, Cai Lin showed a level of maturity far beyond what Josh had imagined.
Her father's former subordinates had been struggling due to political pressure from other warlords and authorities. Their situation was far from ideal.
So when Cai Lin rallied them in her younger brother's name, luring them with military supplies, she easily managed to gather a loyal force.
She then used the profits from selling canned dinosaur meat to purchase large amounts of grain, which allowed her to recruit more soldiers. In no time, her army grew to over 50,000 men, thanks largely to the abundance of dinosaur meat for which Josh had no other market. With his help, the meat could feed not only 50,000 soldiers, but 500,000 for several months.
In addition, she used Josh's three Super Soldier Serums to strengthen herself and two trusted family members. Through a combination of incentives and intimidation, she quickly gained full control of the military once basic training was complete.
Seizing an opportunity created by tensions between the Nanjing and Jiangcheng governments, she pledged allegiance to Jiangcheng. While the Sichuan warlords Yang Sen and Liu Xiang were preoccupied with military campaigns, she launched an invasion and quickly took over Sichuan before they could react, thanks to the overwhelming power of super soldiers and World War II-era American weaponry. (TL/N: Nanjing, Jiangcheng, etc. are names of places in China, so their names will remain in Chinese.)
Next, she allied herself with Zhang of the Fengtian clique. Before Feng in the northwest could respond, she launched a two-pronged attack and seized control of the Three Qin region.
In less than a year, she rose from nothing to become the feared Northwest King of the Cai Lin clique, shocking every faction in the Han Empire. (TL/N: To understand what a clique is, you can read this thread, as it's too much to explain in this chapter: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/zo8da/what_on_earth_was_a_clique_during_the_chinese/)
The governments of Nanjing and Jiangcheng, still basking in the partial victory of the Northern Expedition and already embroiled in political infighting, were completely stunned.
The combined strength of the Cai Lin clique, which controlled Yunnan, Sichuan, and Shaanxi, and the Zhang clique, which dominated Zhili and Fengtian, was far greater than theirs.
Even British and French military observers were alarmed by Cai Lin's firepower, not to mention the outdated warlords of the Han Empire who still relied on bolt-action rifles.
However, contrary to expectations, the Cai Lin clique didn't expand after consolidating their power. Instead, they shifted to a defensive position, focusing on developing infrastructure in the regions they controlled while searching for the Tomb of the Dragon Emperor's and the Eye of Shangri-La.
"Yes, half a month ago, my people stole the Eye of Shangri-La from the old Shanghai Museum. Now we're just waiting to open the tomb," Cai Lin nodded.
This 'Shanghai Museum' wasn't the modern one, but the old version from 1934.
In the Mummy movie, the Eye of Shangri-La was said to have been smuggled out of the Han Empire in 1940, but in reality, it had been stolen by the British military during their retreat from the Shanghai International Settlement.
Before that, it had been hidden in the old Shanghai Museum.
When Cai Lin discovered its whereabouts, she sent a super soldier to steal it.
"How's the excavation of the tomb going?" Josh asked.
"My people just found the main burial chamber. I was about to go down there, but I thought at such a crucial moment, you should be involved too, Mr. kahn!" Cai Lin explained.
The Dimensional Trading System was only visible to its user, which meant that no one else could hear Josh's conversations.
That was why Josh always chose to communicate in private—to avoid looking like a madman talking to thin air.
Others couldn't see his trading partners, but they could hear what he was saying.
However, as long as he remained silent, they wouldn't notice anything.
This allowed Cai Lin to livestream events for Josh without anyone knowing.
Hearing her words, Josh was intrigued. He wanted to see if the Dragon Emperor really resembled the martial arts legend from his past life.
The Dragon Emperor's resurrection was also crucial to his chances of obtaining the Pool of Eternal Life.
Some might think that finding Shangri-La and taking the Pool of Eternal Life was as simple as raiding it.
But they overlooked one key character—Zi Yuan.
In the movie, Zi Yuan's presence wasn't very noticeable, overshadowed by the O'Connell family.
But upon closer observation, it was clear that she was the real mastermind.
She single-handedly cursed the Dragon Emperor and his army of millions, burying an entire imperial city in the process. Her magical abilities probably surpassed even Imhotep's.
After the Dragon Emperor was resurrected, she raised a million undead warriors from beneath the Great Wall to fight his Terracotta Army.
With such a powerful guardian protecting Shangri-La, Cai Lin—despite Josh's support—stood no chance. Even if Josh personally led all the forces of his world, he might not survive the battle.
Only the supernatural could fight the supernatural... which made the resurrection of the Dragon Emperor essential.
As long as he didn't destroy the entire Pool of Eternal Life like in the movie, everything would be fine.
Besides, resurrecting the Dragon Emperor was crucial for Cai Lin.
