C35

Chapter 35 - Tongguan

Although the Tongguan s didn't have the title of the first stage of this world, they were definitely worthy of being called one of the most important hurdles of the ancient era!

To a certain extent, this place decided the fate of the world! In the late Han Dynasty, the great battle between Cao Cao and Ma Chao was here. At the end of Sui Yuan, Li Shi Min also entered the from here. After that, they guarded the Tongguan and slowly developed in the pass. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang took down the Tongguan, cut off the connection between the Central Plains and the Central Plains, and made it difficult for the Yuan Army in the Central Plains, Sichuan, and Yunnan to head north. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng was also fighting with the Ming Dynasty's soldiers, but he was defeated by the soldiers, and became a bandit in the Central Plains, without a base of his own!

The strategic position here was too important. From generation to generation, it was a place where all the armies fought for! Anyone who wanted to obtain this position had to obtain it first!

Now, in the first month of 1127 AD, this will once again play an important role!

Zhao Chen, Li Gang, Yue Fei and the rest had already reached the shore of the Yellow River, it was cold outside but the Yellow River was still frozen. They got off their horses and carefully crossed the Yellow River.

Not long after passing through the Yellow River, they finally arrived at Tongguan City!

In the modern world, the Tongguan had long since been destroyed, leaving only a few remnants behind. From afar, they could see the mountain ranges and mountain ranges everywhere. The Tongguan was situated in the middle of a mountain stream, and only from here could one enter the pass.

"The mountains converge, the waves rage, the road to Tongguan on the surface! Wangxi Du, meaning hesitating, sad Qin and Han classics, palace thousands of miles have become clay! "Xing, the people suffer, die, and the people suffer!" Looking at the Tongguan far away, Zhao Chen could not help but think of the name of the Qu family's Zhang Youhao's Tongguan, the Huaigu of the Qu family.

"Good song, good song!" Li Gang clapped and praised from the side.

The so-called melody of Tang Shi and Song, was mainly composed of the lyrics in the Song Dynasty, but there were already some loose songs appearing in the Song Dynasty, but most of them were sung by artistes from the people! In the Song Dynasty, a melody was nothing special, but Zhao Chen was actually able to "compose" a melody that had such a profound meaning, Li Gang could not help but exclaim in admiration.

"Who knows how many battles this Tongguan has experienced, and how many more dynasties this Tongguan has experienced! The dynasty was flourishing from here. Once it flourished, the emperor would build a palace, and the people would not be able to live if they ate too much! Grandfather Huang had built a peerless imperial garden, but it was a pity that there was the Song River uprising in the north, Fang La uprising in the south, and why would the people uprising in the south, and why would they still be unable to live? "The dynasty's demise started from here. The dynasty's demise caused a lot of trouble for the people, and naturally, the people suffered a lot more!" Zhao Chen said softly.

After hearing what Zhao Chen said, Li Gang, Yue Fei and the rest were all stunned!

They were very much in agreement with Zhao Chen's explanation of "suffering to the death of the citizens", but they found it difficult to accept that Zhao Chen was actually an example of such a thing! In the Song Dynasty, the Confucianism was flourishing, with its own laws and regulations. The so-called "If the monarch wants his subjects to die, the subject has no choice but to die", "If the father wants his son to die, the son has no choice but to die", no matter how big of a fault Song Huizong had committed, as his grandson, Zhao Chen could not be blamed. However, Zhao Chen was also the Sovereign King of Li Gang, Yue Fei and the others, and it was difficult for them to criticize Zhao Chen!

In the past, I only read about this in books. Ever since the Kaifeng City was destroyed, I truly felt the reason behind it! From now on, you have to put an end to the suffering of the rising and falling citizens from my hands, so that all the people in the world will no longer suffer from the suffering of the rising and falling! " Zhao Chen said.

"It is great that Your Highness has such ambitions. This old servant will definitely assist Your Highness in this matter in your lifetime!" Li Gang said.

"Let's go, the Tongguan is right in front of us!" Zhao Chen laughed.

They rode their horses and looked over, after fifteen minutes, they had already arrived at the Tongguan.

In the distance, they could see that there were still soldiers stationed at the top of Tongguan's city walls. However, these soldiers looked loose, and each one of them leaned against the city wall weakly, some were joking, some were playing chess, some were making fire, and some were roasting meat.

Only when Zhao Chen and the rest were already outside the city did a few soldiers stand up, and shout down below: "Who are you people?"

The walls of the Tongguan were extremely high, so Li Gang's voice might not be able to reach them. Yue Fei looked at Zhao Chen and nodded, only to hear Yue Fei say loudly: "The crown prince is here, we are escorting the crown prince, quickly open the city gates!"

Hearing Yue Fei's words, the soldiers above were stunned for a moment. Then, they looked at each other, and started to laugh loudly.

"We just got the news the day before yesterday that someone is pretending to be the Crown Prince. It must be those people below us, right?"

"Rumor has it that his Highness the Crown Prince has already been killed by the Nvzhen. It's impossible for him to escape to here!"

More and more soldiers came to the city wall and after a while, a Academy Officer arrived. He looked down and laughed coldly, "To pretend to be the crown prince, you deserve to die a thousand times for your crimes! Men, kill them all for me! "

Following Academy Officer's order, the soldiers on top all raised their bows and arrows, shooting down.

Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! Sou! The sounds continued, but the troops of the Tongguan were too weak, after their arrows reached the bottom, they did not have much energy left, Yue Fei did not need to use much strength to push the arrows to the side!

Everyone slowly retreated, Zhao Chen said: "What do we do now?"

Li Gang clenched his teeth and said: "Who spread this information? They actually said that his highness the crown prince had been killed by the Nvzhen? Either it was the information that the Nvzhen herself had sent out, or it was the information that the Emperor Kang … Your Highness, I'll go and tell them! "

Zhao Chen had no choice but to let Yue Fei go in order to protect Li Gang. Once again, Li Gang arrived at the entrance of the city and said loudly: "This old man is Li Gang, does anyone recognize this old man here? Back then, this old man had come to the Tongguan to read out an imperial edict, and was drinking with your General Crop.

His voice travelled far, and already became abnormally indistinct. However, there were still a few people who heard Li Gang's voice! A few soldiers carefully inspected the scene and exclaimed in surprise!

"That's right, it's Master Li Gang Li!"

"Back then, I followed the Home Breaker and welcomed Master Li there!"

"It's him!"

The bows and arrows had stopped, and the soldiers stood in confusion.

"So it really is Lord Li. We were rude!" Master Li, we have already sent people to inform the two generals, they are currently in Tongguan, they will be here soon! " Academy Officer said from above.

"Tell them to come quickly!" His Highness the Crown Prince is right below Tongguan City right now, and needs them to come quickly to pay their respects! " Li Gang said.

"Master Li, is the next one really the Crown Prince?" His Royal Highness sent someone to inform us that His Highness the Crown Prince had been killed by Jin Army! " Academy Officer said after hesitating for a moment.

"It really is the traitor Emperor Kang! A few days ago, His Highness the Crown Prince escaped from the Kaifeng City, so how could he have been killed by the Jin Army? " Li Gang gritted his teeth.

"A hundred thousand Jin Army s surrounded the Kaifeng City. How could His Highness the Crown Prince possibly escape?" The Academy Officer above did not know how to speak.

"At that time, I was also in Kaifeng City. I was just a scholar, didn't I manage to escape? They had Zhe Keqiu and Zhe Yanzhi come over, and had them go to the Kaifeng City before. They had them meet the crown prince too, so they naturally knew whether it was true or not! " Li Gang said.

"Lord Li, please wait!" The Academy Officer nodded.

There were no longer any arrows shooting down from above, Li Gang waved his hand at Zhao Chen and the rest, who came back. They had waited for an hour, but Zhe Keqiu and Zhe Yanzhi still had not come. Everyone was already somewhat impatient, but at this moment, the city gates of Tongguan slowly opened!

Everyone thought that Zhe Keqiu and Zhe Yanzhi would appear soon, but who would have thought that there would only be a group of soldiers rushing out, with spears and swords in their hands, surrounding everyone! The Academy Officer was among them!

"What are you doing? The Crown Prince is here, are you going to rebel? What about Zhe Keqiu, Zhe Yanzhi? Why haven't I seen them? " Li Gang said angrily.

"Damn it!" Li Gang could not help but curse.

"Teacher, what should we do now?" Zhao Chen looked at the surrounding soldiers, and said indifferently.

There weren't many soldiers in the surrounding area, only around a hundred. With Yue Fei and the other two here, if they wanted to leave, none of them would be able to stop them! But Zhao Chen did not want to leave this place right now. If he left, they would have nowhere to go!

"Your Highness … We'll follow them in! " Li Gang thought for a long time before he suddenly spoke.

"Good!" "I'll listen to teacher. I believe in teacher!" Zhao Chen laughed and said.

He knew that his own political experience was far inferior to Li Gang's, and now that Li Gang had made such a judgement, there must be a reason behind it.

Then, Zhao Chen and the rest were escorted by the soldiers into Tongguan City. Along the way, Zhao Chen's expression did not change much, but he continued to curiously size up Tongguan City in front of him! This was a checkpoint that decided the fate of the world. In the modern world, it was impossible to see such an ancient checkpoint!

Soon, they were brought to a small courtyard. The soldiers all retreated, but they kept watch outside, not allowing them to leave.