After hearing this, Ruan Wenlong quickly agreed, turned his head to avoid Bai Wenbo's intimidating gaze, turned around and asked everyone to push the winch in the opposite direction to close the door.
This capstan had been in disrepair for a long time, and Ruan Wenlong also followed Qiu Yizi's plan and tampered with it when no one was paying attention. Now, no matter how hard the soldiers guarding the pass tried, they could not move it at all.
Bai Wenbo stood aside and saw that the guards had been fiddling with the gate of Tongguan for a long time, but it was still open. He hurried forward and shouted in a loud voice, "What are you doing here? Hurry up and close the gate for me!"
Ruan Wenlong was really afraid of this frank and irritable old general, and stammered, "General Bai, this mechanical winch seems..."
"Seems like what?" Bai Wenbo shouted.
"It seems... it seems broken." Ruan Wenlong answered tremblingly.
After hearing this, Bai Wenbo pushed Ruan Wenlong away. He saw that the fifteen or sixteen soldiers guarding the pass behind him were sweating profusely from pushing the capstan, but there was no sign of the capstan turning.
Bai Wenbo immediately became furious upon seeing this, he stretched out his right hand, grabbed Ruan Wenlong's chicken-like ladder, and cursed: "I have always thought that you are a dishonest boy, and today you have really caused me a big disaster! I will tear you apart now!" His eyes were wide open, as if they were about to spit fire.
Ruan Wenlong was frightened by Bai Wenbo and almost blurted out the plan of Qiu Yizi and others.
At this time, the captain named Liu beside Bai Wenbo said loudly: "Old General, please wait, there is a group of Youyan cavalry chasing us from a distance, we should not underestimate them. Please tell me how to deal with it!"
Bai Wenbo's anger subsided after hearing this. He threw Ruan Wenlong aside and said, "Don't go anywhere, kid. Just stay here on the wall. I'll come back and settle the score with you after I'm done with this!"
After saying that, Bai Wenbo took a few steps forward, put his hands on the awning and looked forward, and said: "The Yan bandits are coming with great force, and should not be underestimated. Come on! Pass my order, beat the war drums, all soldiers take their positions, take out the logs and rolling stones, and do not underestimate the enemy!" He added, "Go and tell the other guards to repair the winch as soon as possible and close the gate again!"
In this way, the veteran general Bai Wenbo's concise and orderly military deployments were conveyed one by one through the messengers, and the humid air covering the entire Tongguan became tense.
Qiu Yizi hid behind Ruan Wenlong and listened to Bai Wenbo's deployment. Sweat broke out on his forehead.
According to his original idea, he would just open the gate of Tongguan, break the mechanical winch, let the Youyan army in, and then break through Tongguan with the help of the internal and external forces. But he didn't expect that the old general Bai Wenbo would be so pragmatic and actually come to the front line to stop the defense affairs. If he had known this earlier, Qiu Yizhi would have asked Yuchi Lianghong to take action and risk killing Liu Baihu who went to report the news on the spot, and avoid this trouble.
But it's too late to regret now. Qiu Yizi saw that this veteran was of extraordinary bearing and rich experience, and was definitely not someone who could be easily dealt with. For now, he could only do his best.
So Qiu Yizhi secretly walked to Ruan Wenlong and asked in his ear: "How long will it take to repair the Tongguan Gate?"
Ruan Wenlong had just been overwhelmed by Bai Wenbo's aura. When he heard Qiu Yizi's question, he seemed stunned: "Oh, I just loosened the pulley belt. An amateur can't fix it in ten days or half a month. An experienced person can just fix it with his hands."
Qiu Yizi heard this and frowned, "That won't do! It would be better if we could do something so that this thing can't be repaired for ten days or half a month."
"The only way is to cut the belt," Ruan Wenlong replied. "This belt is made of the tendons of several strong bulls. It is difficult to repair it in a short time. Even if it is transported from somewhere else as a spare, it will take three to five days to assemble it."
"Why don't you do it?" Qiu Yizi urged.
Ruan Wenlong was scolded by Bai Wenbo before, and now he was urged by Qiu Yizhi. Under the heavy pressure, his face had lost color. He replied in a low voice: "Your Highness, you don't know that this cow tendon leather belt is very strong. If you want to break it, you have to use a saw. Where can I get a saw in such a hurry?"
Qiu Yizhi was also extremely anxious at the moment. Without thinking, he secretly pulled out the Western Regions sword that could cut iron like mud from the scabbard of the official sword, handed it to Ruan Wenlong, and said to him: "Try this sword!"
Ruan Wenlong carefully took the sword, raised his eyes to look at Qiu Yizi with a serious face, and saw Yuchi Lianghong and Zhao Chengxiao standing behind him. Only then did he realize the truth that "it is easy to get on a pirate ship, but difficult to get off."
He gritted his teeth and moved towards the capstan step by step. In just a few seconds, the scenes of his mediocre and opportunistic first half of life emerged in his mind; followed closely by the scenes of the second half of his life of wealth and debauchery that appeared vividly before him.
Before he knew it, Ruan Wenlong was standing less than a step away from the winch, raising his sword and ready to thrust it straight into the gap in the machine.
Bai Wenbo, who had just been commanding the army to prepare for defense, noticed Ruan Wenlong's unusual behavior and shouted, "Ruan Wenlong, what do you want to do?"
Ruan Wenlong was awakened from his dream by the loud shout. He stood there in a daze, with his right hand holding the black sword raised high, but seemed to have forgotten to move it down, so it floated in the air, forming a very funny posture.
Bai Wenbo was originally an amateur, so at this moment Ruan Wenlong could just make excuses by saying something like: "There seems to be something stuck in the winch mechanism. I can fix it with a knife."
Ruan Wenlong was not a very smart person to begin with, and he had never experienced such a life-and-death situation. He was stumped by Bai Wenbo's simple question. He stammered, "I... I... I..." and could not say any more.
Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi was afraid that her plan would be exposed, and regardless of her own status, she shouted behind Ruan Wenlong: "General Ruan, what are you still standing there for? Promotion and wealth are just a matter of a few strokes!"
Ruan Wenlong's nerves were once again numbed by the word "general", and a smile appeared on his face. He really inserted the sword into the gap between the capstans, turned it a few times, and picked it up with force.
Qiu Yizhi's Western Regions sword was so sharp that it could even cut through pig iron, let alone the bull tendons that were tough but not hard enough. With a faint sound of collision coming from below, the capstan finally lost the restraint of the transmission belt and tilted to one side like a dead head.
Seeing him act like this, Bai Wenbo rushed to Ruan Wenlong without saying a word, grabbed his collar, and shouted angrily, "I'm asking you, what were you doing just now?"
Ruan Wenlong did not answer. Instead, an unfathomable expression appeared on his face. He stared at Bai Wenbo blankly, as if he was still half asleep and half awake.
Bai Wenbo became even more angry when he saw this. He was about to raise his voice to ask again, but he heard his personal soldier Liu Baihu whisper in his ear: "The guards who can repair the gate have arrived!"
Bai Wenbo nodded and threw Ruan Wenlong, who was being held in the air by him, to the ground. He ordered, "Why don't you fix the door right now? If you can fix it right now, I'll reward you handsomely!" Then he glanced at Ruan Wenlong, who was lying on the ground rubbing his butt, and said, "Keep an eye on this kid. I have something to ask him."
These soldiers guarding the gate had just finished get off work and went home to sleep when they were dragged out of their beds. They walked up to the gate cautiously with full of doubts, but saw that Ruan Wenlong, who they were very familiar with, was scolded by Bai Wenbo for some reason. No one dared to ask, so they had to obey the orders, walked to the gate mechanism, and checked it carefully.
They carefully checked several times, discussed quietly, and then nominated a brave captain to come forward and reply: "General, according to our inspection, it is the tendon belt connecting the capstan and the gate that is broken. I am afraid it cannot be repaired in the short term?"
"When you say short term, how long do you mean?" Bai Wenbo looked at the captain with burning eyes.
The captain was a little timid by the old general with white hair and beard. He thought carefully before saying, "If we have spare belts, we can work overnight. It will take at least one day and one night. But there are no spare belts in the warehouse now. If we want to transport them from Dasan Pass, it will probably take ten days..."
"What? Ten days!" Bai Wenbo was an expert on military affairs. He knew that if the gate of Tongguan was open for ten days, the Youyan army would have taken advantage of the situation and invaded. By then, it would be unclear who would win or lose.
Thinking of this, Bai Wenbo suddenly felt a surge of anger in his chest. He drew out the sword in his hand with a clang, and suddenly raised his hand to chop diagonally at the shoulder of Ruan Wenlong who was sitting on the ground.
Bai Wenbo's ups and downs were without warning, and the momentum was so fast and fierce that even the martial arts master Yuchi Lianghong noticed it too late. When he jumped forward, picked up the Western Regions sword thrown on the ground by Ruan Wenlong, and tried to stop him, the sword in Bai Wenbo's hand had already chopped off one of Ruan Wenlong's arms.
In an instant, steaming blood gushed out from the wound on Ruan Wenlong's broken arm, flowing all over the ground and mixing with the autumn rain that kept falling from the sky. Ruan Wenlong, the owner of this blood, fell lifeless in a pool of blood like a flag falling from the top of a flagpole.
Bai Wenbo paid no attention to Ruan Wenlong, who he had killed, but was attracted by Yuchi Lianghong's skill. He put away his sword and asked, "Who are you? With such martial arts skills and serving in the government army, how could I not have seen you before?"
Yuchi Lianghong had a lot of experience in the martial arts world and reacted quickly. He quickly turned around to protect Qiu Yizhi and said, "I am just a nobody. General Ruan Qian was very kind to me, so I took the liberty to help him, but failed. What martial arts skills do I have to show off in front of the old general?"
Bai Wenbo had lived for more than sixty years and had seen countless people. Seeing that Yuchi Lianghong was tall and strong, with a heroic appearance, and spoke politely, his attitude was neither humble nor arrogant. He was obviously not the so-called "nobody" in his words, so he said, "Do you think I am a fool? Who are you? Tell me the truth!"
Yuchi Lianghong didn't know how to answer, so he turned his head and looked at Qiu Yizi.
Qiu Yizi exchanged glances with him and thought: If I still refuse without reason now, I am afraid that this hot-tempered old general will kill me right here and now; the only way is to tell the truth about my identity, maybe Bai Wenbo will not embarrass me immediately, and then I can wait for my father Zheng Rong to capture Tongguan, and then everything will be fine.
Qiu Yi had made up his mind, so he stepped forward and said, "The old general is still as skilled as ever, and I have learned a lot from him! I am none other than the Prince of Youyan, who sent me to Tongguan to do my job..."
Qiu Yi was halfway through her words when Bai Wenbo looked up to the sky and laughed, "How dare you, a young boy, say such nonsense? What kind of person is Prince Youyan? He has many brave generals and counselors under his command. How could he send a boy like you whose pubic hair hasn't even grown yet to handle such an important matter?" (To be continued)