Because the war had just ended, the imperial army was still guarding the road very strictly. Seeing such a large group of people rushing on the road, the guards inevitably came forward to stop them and question them.
Qiu Yizi didn't have time to fight with them. He would shake off those who he could shake off with his fast horse speed. As for those who he couldn't shake off, he asked Zhao Chengxiao to use his appointed identity as the General of the Central Army and said that he was ordered by the emperor and had an important confidential mission to handle, and then he would send them away.
In this way, Qiu Yi and his entourage rushed all the way to Tongguan. Only two days had passed since they landed on the north bank of the Yangtze River, so their action was very fast.
However, Qiu Yizi still did not dare to delay.
He had been in and out of Tongguan countless times, so he naturally knew the rules here. Seeing that his soldiers were exhausted from the long journey, he let them rest on the spot, and he went to the front of the pass with Lin Shuhan and Zhao Chengxiao.
But after walking a few steps, they saw a group of soldiers jogging over, led by a centurion, who shouted at Qiu Yizi, "Where are you from? What do you want to do by running to the foot of Tongguan in such a high-profile manner?"
Qiu Yizhi was about to speak when Zhao Chengxiao flashed in front of him, pushed the centurion away, and said, "Don't you see my official uniform? I am Zhao Chengxiao, the General of the Central Army appointed by the emperor. I'm ordered to go to the capital Luoyang for work." As he spoke, he took out his business card and waved it in front of the centurion's eyes.
The captain saw that Zhao Chengxiao was very handsome and wore the authentic robe of a general. Although he could not see the name card in his hand clearly, it did not look fake, so he quickly bowed and said, "I am blind and do not recognize the great man. I hope the general will forgive me."
Zhao Chengxiao was too lazy to talk to him, so he said, "You are the officer at the checkpoint, right? Since you know who we are, why don't you lead us through the checkpoint?"
The centurion showed a flattering expression on his face and said, "No problem, no problem. General, it just happened that yesterday, the higher-ups issued an order to close Tongguan Pass. Anyone who wants to pass through the pass must have the emperor's order. Since the general came here to do things under the order, he must have brought the emperor's order with him. Then, please bring out the imperial order and let me take a look at it. I will lead you through the pass."
"Bullshit!" Qiu Yizi could no longer bear it. "What kind of rules are these? Tongguan is such a big place, but you need the emperor to issue an order to pass through it. Are you crazy?"
When the captain heard someone scolding him, he immediately got angry. However, seeing Qiu Yizhi's determined expression and not showing any fear, he did not dare to underestimate her. He quickly calmed down and said, "Please be patient, this is an order from above. It's just a small person..."
The centurion was still chattering on and on, but Qiu Yizi was full of doubts: the old emperor Zheng Rong had already passed away, and the "order from the emperor" he mentioned was a forged imperial edict, so where did the imperial edict that "only an imperial edict can be passed" come from
"Could it be that Zheng Xin issued an order in the name of the late emperor?" Qiu Yizi almost screamed, "This is terrible. Since Zheng Xin has sent people to falsely convey the imperial edict, it is natural that his people have passed through the customs to Luoyang. In this way, the Third Prince Zheng Miao will also..."
Thinking of this, Qiu Yizi was already panicking, and hurriedly said to the centurion: "Shut up! Let me ask you, which general is in charge of your side?"
The centurion was in charge of the customs affairs of Tongguan. All the merchants who came and went would use his connections and flatter him. He was suddenly scolded in person, but he did not react at all and answered casually, "It's General Wang, General Wang Shijie."
When Qiu Yizhi heard the name, he knew that Wang Shijie was also a general from the Old Youyan Dao, and said, "Okay, then you can ask Wang Shijie to come over and tell him that Qiu Yizhi has something to ask him."
The captain finally realized what was happening and asked, "Who are you? You want to see General Wang right away? Are you crazy?"
At this time, Qiu Yizi really regretted not bringing the emperor's "Golden Order" with him. Otherwise, he could use it to order Tongguan to open the gate. Why would he waste time talking to him here
However, he had to enter the pass, so Qiu Yizi could only grit his teeth, took out his name card from his pocket, and asked for Zhao Chengxiao's name card, stuffed it into the centurion's hand, and said: "Just give it to Wang Shijie, he will naturally know what to do."
The captain could recognize a few characters. Seeing the words "Shanyin County Magistrate Qiu Yizhi" written on Qiu Yizhi's name card, he couldn't help but laugh: "You are so arrogant, who did I think you were? It turns out that you are just a small county magistrate, and General Wang can see you whenever he wants. Do you think you are an imperial envoy? It's not impossible to see General Wang, but General Wang is very busy now. If you want to see him, you have to wait in line!"
Qiu Yizhi was about to get angry, but Lin Shuhan said first: "Let's queue up, you lead us first!"
After that, he whispered in Qiu Yizi's ear: "At least we can get to General Wang's yamen. When the time comes, we can make a scene and let Wang Shijie know Mr. Qiu's identity, and then things will be easier."
Qiu Yizi nodded in agreement, and then said to the captain, "Okay, you can take us to see General Wang Shijie now."
Qiu Yizi and Zhao Chengxiao were, after all, civil and military officials appointed by the imperial court. Although the centurion was dissatisfied, he did not dare to offend them too much. He immediately climbed down the stairs when he saw them, glanced at Lin Shuhan and said, "Is this the teacher? After all, he is a scholar, so he should know when to speak. All right, follow me now."
In this way, Qiu Yizi, Lin Shuhan, Zhao Chengxiao and Yuchi Lianghong followed the centurion and headed towards Tongguan.
After a while, after going around a high wall, they arrived at the office of the commander guarding Tongguan. However, they did not expect that the small square in front of the office was already crowded with people. Judging from their appearance and clothes, they seemed to be merchants waiting to pass through the customs.
Qiu Yizi was a smart man. When he saw this scene, he guessed that Tongguan must have been closed suddenly, and these merchants could not pass through, so they gathered in front of the general's office guarding the pass to ask for an explanation.
Sure enough, the captain said, "See? These are the people waiting to pass through the checkpoint. General Wang has to deal with them one by one. I don't know when he can get rid of them all."
Qiu Yizi's request was actually no different from those of the merchants, but he was ten thousand times more anxious than them. He snatched two business cards from the centurion, shouted "Let's go" loudly, and led Zhao Chengxiao and Yuchi Lianghong into the crowd.
His squeezing was terrible. The originally somewhat orderly team suddenly became chaotic. Several merchants who were getting impatient immediately started to curse: "Why are you squeezing? Are you in a hurry to be reincarnated? I have been here for three hours and I haven't even seen the gatekeeper!"
Qiu Yizi was so anxious that he was like an ant on a hot pot. He didn't bother to explain to them. He immediately drew the sword from his waist and shouted, "The government is doing business, outsiders, please get out of the way. We will not be responsible for any accidental injuries!"
The merchants were of low status to begin with, and when they saw Qiu Yizi and the others were so aggressive and confident, they voluntarily made way for them, allowing them to calmly pass through the crowd and arrive at the gate of the government office.
At the gate of the government office, there was an officer in a censor's uniform who was in charge of meeting everyone. When he saw Qiu Yizhi coming forward under the escort, he was unsure of what he was up to, so he put his hand in front of Qiu Yizhi's chest and asked, "Who is coming? Please tell me your name."
This man was short and stocky, with a beard on his face. He stared with his eyes wide open and pursed his lips when speaking, which was really quite scary.
But Qiu Yizi was not scared by him and said, "Don't ask me who I am. I am under the order of the emperor to go through Tongguan and go to Beijing to handle important business..."
When the inspector heard the reason, he immediately interrupted Qiu Yizi and said, "Since you are sent by the emperor, you must have the imperial edict with you. Bring it to me and I will let you pass immediately."
Qiu Yizi replied, "We left early, and we were following the emperor's instructions, so we didn't bring the imperial edict with us. Please let me go first, and I will come back to complete your formalities after I finish my mission."
The inspector was obviously annoyed by the merchants who were blocking the gate of the yamen and clamoring to pass through. He refused without hesitation: "No, no one can enter without an imperial edict. Since you have urgent matters to attend to, why don't you return to Jiangnan and come back to pass after obtaining an imperial edict. Go back!"
After hearing this, Qiu Yizi immediately became anxious - the old emperor was dead, and the new emperor had not yet been found. Where could he go to ask for the imperial edict
Qiu Yizhi got carried away and pulled out the precious sword that he had just put back into the scabbard. He placed it across the neck of the inspector and shouted, "Are you going to let me pass or not? If not, I will kill you on the spot!"
The soldiers behind the inspector quickly drew their swords and rushed to rescue their leader. Zhao Chengxiao and Yuchi Lianghong beside Qiu Yizhi saw this and immediately rushed out, knocking the soldiers to the ground in the blink of an eye and taking away their weapons.
The inspector was quite courageous. He showed no fear when the knife was on his neck. He shouted, "Go ahead. I am following orders. If I let you go, I will be guilty of defying orders and deceiving the emperor. I will die anyway. What's the difference? Go ahead!"
After hearing this, Qiu Yizi suddenly grinned and said, "You have guts! You have guts! I have butted the government troops head-on in front of the yamen, which is a serious crime. According to the law, I should be arrested and imprisoned immediately. It's a pity that you guys are useless and are no match for me. You hurry in and see General Wang Shijie and gather a large group of people to arrest us. We will not leave and will wait here." After saying this, Qiu Yizi took the sword off the prosecutor's neck.
"Those who disobey orders always do so secretly. How can they make a big fuss and ask the court to mobilize the army?" The inspector was stunned when he thought of this. He felt that Qiu Yizi's actions were strange and unpredictable. No matter what, the only correct way was to control him first and then question him in detail.
So he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, okay, just wait, I will lead the troops back to catch you."
Just as he was about to turn around and enter the government office, he caught a glimpse of countless merchants staring at him in a daze. His face suddenly turned red and he shouted, "Get out! Get out of here! I'm going to arrest people. The sword and the gun have no eyes. Be careful not to get splashed with blood!"
When the group of merchants heard that the government was going to take action, they immediately panicked and scattered, and no one knew where they went.
It turned out that although the inspector looked rude, he was a man of great skill. He deliberately dismissed everyone to make room for his own tricks. Therefore, he was happy to see the merchants scattering like birds and beasts. He raised his mouth, called out to the soldiers who were knocked to the ground, pushed open the door and went in to call for help.
Qiu Yizhi stopped him and said, "Take my name card and show it to Wang Shijie in the government office, so that he won't scold you for making a fuss and doing something absurd."
The inspector thought what Qiu Yizi said made some sense, so he quickly reached out to take Qiu Yizi's business card, glanced at it, and without knowing whether he could see the words written on it clearly, he entered the yamen.