The next morning, it began to rain. The autumn rain, with its biting chill, enveloped the majestic and tall Tongguan and the Han Dynasty officials and soldiers who guarded it.
In the past, in this kind of weather, the soldiers guarding Tongguan would have been drowsy or simply skipped work and slept soundly at home.
However, at this time of tense war, the imperial court had suffered several setbacks in fighting against the Youyan army in Henan. Tongguan was the only barrier between the enemy and the capital Luoyang.
In order to consolidate this last line of defense, the current emperor Zheng Yao, who had not yet warmed up to the throne, after successively dismissing two chief commanders, specially sent Bai Wenbo, the most experienced veteran in the official army, to serve as the commander of the front line and be in charge of all military affairs.
Although the old general Bai Wenbo was old, he was also responsible. As soon as he received the imperial edict, he set up the central army camp on Tongguan and organized the defense of Tongguan from a high position. At the same time, he ordered all the imperial troops inside and outside the pass to gather on the east side of Tongguan, hoping to use this impregnable pass to block Youyan King Zheng Rong outside Tongguan.
Because of these relationships, the soldiers who were originally responsible for guarding Tongguan had to force themselves to cheer up and perform their duties conscientiously and carefully, for fear of violating military orders and becoming human sacrifices for General Bai's expedition.
Even an old soldier like Ruan Wenlong, who had been working in Tongguan for a long time, did not dare to be negligent in the slightest. He led more than 20 soldiers early in the morning, climbed up the stairs to the city wall, and guarded the winch mechanism that was needed to open and close the city gate.
The gate of Tongguan is extremely heavy. Even if a hundred or so people work together, they can only push it a little bit. It must rely on the machinery built on the city wall to open and close it.
This was originally a very important place, and the old general Bai Wenbo wanted to send his own soldiers to guard it carefully. However, the machinery here had been in disrepair for a long time and often broke down. Once a breakdown occurred, the only ones who could deal with it immediately were the old guards of Tongguan who had been dealing with these machines for a long time.
In desperation, Bai Wenbo could only reuse the original soldiers and send his trusted guards to assist.
Ruan Wenlong was clear about this. He knew that these personal soldiers were nominally there to assist him, but in reality they were the emperor who was monitoring his work.
Therefore, Ruan Wenlong pretended to knock on the winch a few times as a routine inspection, and then he walked to the front of Bai Wenbo's personal guards with great respect, and said with a bow: "Captain Liu, I have tested it. The winch looks OK now, but I am afraid that the weather has been humid in recent days, and the wooden pulley has been softened, and it will not last long."
The centurion surnamed Liu was over seven feet tall and looked very imposing. He was obviously a strong and elite soldier. He listened to Ruan Wenlong's report and nodded: "General Ruan Qian has reported this several times, and General Bai has also told the court many times. However, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works have not yet determined who should be in charge of this matter. It may take some time before the repairs are completed. We have the responsibility to defend it, so we can only do our best and repair it from time to time."
As he spoke, he turned his head and looked carefully at the soldiers brought by Ruan Wenlong, and asked, "These brothers look very unfamiliar to me. It seems that I have never seen them before."
The so-called unfamiliar faces refer to the twenty or so people including Qiu Yizi who changed into government army uniforms and followed Ruan Wenlong to Tongguan.
Ruan Wenlong had long been taught the excuses to shirk responsibility, and said without hesitation: "Oh, these are the new soldiers recruited by Tongguan. The original soldiers were not only lazy, but also arrogant all day long. I have long wanted to fire them. It happened that General Bai was reorganizing the military affairs, so I recruited some good young men from nearby villages..."
Captain Liu saw that among the more than 20 "new soldiers", except for five or six with kind faces, the rest looked ferocious and ferocious. They really didn't look like good people, so he said, "Recruiting new soldiers is a big deal. This matter cannot be decided on your own. You need to report it to General Bai and let him make the final decision."
"General Bai is old and busy with military affairs. There is no need to trouble him with such a small matter. In the past, when I recruited new soldiers in Tongguan, the superiors never asked about it. I only needed to report it at the end of the month. It was considered a routine." Ruan Wenlong said.
Captain Liu said, "The situation is different now. Guarding Tongguan is the most important task for the court. We must not neglect this matter. If the captain is busy right now, I can ask for instructions from General Bai on his behalf."
Ruan Wenlong was shocked when he heard this. He thought that if this matter was exposed, he would be convicted of treason, and there might not even be a need for the three courts to make a final decision. He would be beheaded on the wall of Tongguan according to military law and displayed to the public.
Thinking of this, Ruan Wenlong couldn't help sweating on his back. He quickly thought of a way out and said, "I dare not trouble Captain Liu. These people have not been officially recruited as the official army yet. I need to investigate them again before making a decision. Maybe all of them will stay, or maybe none of them will stay. After I make a decision, it won't be too late to report to the old general."
Captain Liu was still unyielding: "Then we need to report it to our superiors. These people have not yet joined our Han army, and there may be one or two spies. If anything goes wrong, this general and General Ruan Qian will not be able to bear the blame!"
Liu Baihu said it unintentionally, but Ruan Wenlong took it seriously. In his ears, it seemed as if every word had a meaning. His whole body was soaked with cold sweat. He was racking his brains to explain, but he heard a lookout sergeant in front of the pass shouting loudly: "Look! Who is that person over there?"
After hearing this, Captain Liu was alerted and stopped fighting with Ruan Wenlong. He quickly jumped to the battlement of Tongguan and looked through the battlement. He saw a group of about a hundred cavalrymen running at full speed towards Tongguan. Looking at their uniforms, although they were all shabby, he could easily tell that they were imperial guards.
Ever since Bai Wenbo ordered all government troops stranded in Henan to retreat to Tongguan, Tongguan had taken in countless imperial troops who had hurriedly come to seek refuge, and it had become a common occurrence.
As the captain on duty today, Ruan Wenlong took this opportunity to get rid of the argument with Captain Liu, so he shouted, "Men, get up and work! Open the city gate for me!"
Most of the guards on the Tongguan Pass wall were old acquaintances of Ruan Wenlong, and Ruan Wenlong would share his bribes with them. So when they heard his call, they all agreed in unison, "Okay!" and were about to push the capstan to close the gate.
Captain Liu hurriedly stopped him and said, "Wait a minute, Captain Qian, something seems to be wrong here."
Ruan Wenlong sneered and said, "Master Liu, the order to take in the Henan government troops was personally given by General Bai. I am just following orders!"
The captain surnamed Liu was a straightforward person. He could not hear the sarcasm in Ruan Wenlong's words. He just said, "That is not what I meant. Captain Qian, please look, there seems to be pursuers behind this group of people!"
Qiu Yizi, who was disguised as a soldier guarding the pass, heard the words and quietly mixed in with the crowd. He leaned on the wall of the pass and looked into the distance. Sure enough, he saw a group of horses and horses that seemed to be there and not there on the horizon, chasing behind the hundred or so cavalrymen, but the distance was too far and he couldn't count how many soldiers there were among them.
Ruan Wenlong heard Qiu Yizhi's instructions last night: if he encounters the government troops fleeing back from Henan, he must immediately open the gate and let them into Tongguan. He probably said to the centurion surnamed Liu angrily: "It is because there are pursuers behind us that we must open the gate immediately. Otherwise, these brothers will be blocked outside the pass, right?"
Upon hearing this, Captain Liu stepped forward and stood in front of Ruan Wenlong, saying, "I will go and report to General Bai right away. It won't take long. Please be patient, Lord Ruan..."
Ruan Wenlong glanced at Qiu Yizi and saw that he had an unquestionable look on his face. He immediately felt reassured and cursed, "Fuck! You are just a centurion. I am being polite to you for Bai Wenbo's sake. Otherwise, who would take you seriously? Don't you see that these officers and soldiers in front of the pass are all pitiful? Just go and report. I'm going to open the door first. If anything happens, let Bai Wenbo come to me!"
After saying that, Ruan Wenlong gave an order and directed the soldiers guarding the gate to open it.
These soldiers were originally a group of "old guards who lived off the guards" and had been dissatisfied with them since the imperial guards moved in. They just needed a leader to protest. But today, the captain, Ruan Wenlong, was the first to get angry, and the resentment that had been suppressed finally broke out. Without saying a word, they took their positions and slowly pushed the capstan.
Following a very low banging sound, the gate of Tongguan slowly opened. The Guanzhong Plain, which was protected as solidly as a rock by mountains and rivers, finally gradually revealed a not-so-obvious flaw.
The cavalry that fled hastily from Henan shot through the town before Tongguan like a sharp arrow, and through this gap, shot into the core area of the imperial court.
They were obviously extremely exhausted. As soon as they passed the checkpoint, they fell off their horses one after another and lay on the ground, gasping for breath, attracting countless soldiers from inside the checkpoint to watch.
Although Ruan Wenyuan was not very smart, he knew that the troops were not real government troops, but Youyan troops in disguise. But he could not guess the next plan after all. He only felt relieved when he saw the confident expression on Qiu Yizi's face, and nodded to Qiu Yizi with a smile.
At this moment, a very majestic voice was heard: "Who took it upon himself to open the door without authorization? Aren't you afraid of the ruthless military law?"
Everyone looked up in the direction of the sound, and saw an old general over eight feet tall and with a strong build, striding here from the Arrow Tower of Tongguan, surrounded by many of his personal soldiers. This man was the old general Bai Wenbo who was sent to lead the defense of Tongguan.
Seeing that no one answered his question, the nearly 70-year-old general continued to ask in his old and loud voice: "Did no one hear what I said? Who was the scoundrel who opened the door without permission?"
Qiu Yizi took a peek and saw that Bai Wenbo was wearing a shining helmet and armor, his eyes were gleaming, and his steel-needle-like beard had lost its jet-black color and instead flashed with silver light - just by looking at this extraordinary appearance, one could tell that Bai Wenbo must have been a brave general who was feared by both the north and the south when he was young.
Ruan Wenlong was originally a little afraid of Bai Wenbo. Not to mention contradicting him in person, even looking up at him made him feel a little nervous.
However, he thought that he had already surrendered to Youyan King Zheng Rong, so he tried to muster up his courage, stepped forward and said: "Isn't this the old general's military order? All the government troops stranded in Henan must be allowed to enter Tongguan. I am also following your orders!"
"Bullshit!" Bai Wenbo cursed, "I gave so many orders and you didn't listen, but you only listened to this one? Your last name is Ruan, right? I think you look like a piece of shit! Didn't you see that every time the government troops came to surrender, they had to be carefully screened before being allowed into Tongguan?"
In just a few words, Bai Wenbo scolded Ruan Wenlong. Ruan Wenlong's courage had long since vanished, his legs kept shaking, and his tongue seemed to be tied up and he couldn't utter a single word.
Seeing his miserable state, Bai Wenbo shouted again: "Put away your idiotic image and quickly close the door. I will settle the score with you later!" (To be continued)