Although Liu Xie was angry and did not speak for a long time, he finally agreed. In Wang Zifu's eyes, the whole process was smooth.
Half a day later, an imperial edict had been sent to Tong Pass. Along with the imperial edict were Liu Xie and Zhang Ji's troops. Because Li Jue and Guo Si's troops were close at hand, Zhang Ji's troops had no room to maneuver.
"On the 22nd day of the seventh month of the second year of Xingping, the Great Han Dynasty presented a policy book to the Emperor and conferred Blazing Sun as the King of the Eastern Sea.
The King of the Eastern Sea wields the Nine-Section Whip to eradicate the traitorous officials and support the country.
Blazing Sun is ordered to prepare weapons and command the troops to guard Tong Pass to stop the pursuers of Li Jue and Guo Si. They are to protect the Emperor … "
When the imperial edict came down, Yang Rui was conferred the title of King of the Eastern Sea. Even Yang Rui himself was surprised.
The King of the Eastern Sea here was a real king with a different surname. Previously, when Yang Rui received the title of King of the Bohai Sea, he only governed a commandery. The King of the Eastern Sea covered all of Yang Rui's existing territories.
It could be said that the areas controlled by Yang Rui in Qingzhou, Yan Zhou, and Xu Province had almost become Yang Rui's private territory. Even if Yang Rui implemented some policies there, it would be justified.
The most important thing was that the ratio of the various tax systems within the jurisdiction should be changed. This had been verified in the Bohai Kingdom. There was still a big difference between a commandery and a normal commandery.
In other words, when Liu Xie's imperial edict came down, even if nothing changed, it would bring a lot of tax increases to Yang Rui!
At the same time, Yang Rui also received a tool — the Nine-Section Whip.
"Nine-Section Whip: Special tool. The Great Han Dynasty presented the Emperor's token. The effect is as if the Emperor was present in person. Number of uses: 3/3."
Yang Rui obtaining the nine-section whip was equivalent to obtaining three unsigned imperial edicts. Obviously, it would provide great convenience for Yang Rui.
The whole matter of the reward seemed very coincidental, and it couldn't even be considered a quest. At the end of the day, it was because Yang Rui fulfilled the game's hidden settings, such as Reputation. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been possible.
Following this, Yang Rui naturally opened the gates of Tong Pass and allowed Zhang Ji's army to pass through. This was an extremely dangerous move.
Although Yang Rui's and Zhang Ji's troops belonged to the neutral camp, they could attack each other at any time. Therefore, Yang Rui set up heavy guards on all the ramps leading to the city wall other than opening the main entrance to Tongguan Pass.
The Fifth Grade Iron Guards, who were the best at wall battles, stood guard. A large number of archers on the walls also aimed at the ramps. If Zhang Ji's troops made any strange movements, they would be able to launch a thunderous attack at the first sign of trouble.
With all the defenses in place, Yang Rui's troops all went up to the walls and opened a path for Zhang Ji's army. Zhang Ji's army didn't seem to be in the mood to do anything. They simply passed through the gates.
There were no strange movements at the pass.
Under such circumstances, Zhang Ji's army only took four hours to pass through Tong Pass. During this entire process, Yang Rui didn't show himself in front of Liu Xie, claiming that he was busy with the defense.
At this point, Li Jue and Guo Si's pursuers had already arrived at Tong Pass. It was only a matter of time before Zhang Ji's army.
That meant that Zhang Ji's army wasn't going to cause any trouble. More importantly, Li Jue and Guo Si's armies were following right behind Zhang Ji's army. In a way, they were coordinating Zhang Ji's and Yang Rui's progress.
By the time Li Jue and Guo Si arrived, Zhang Ji's army had already passed through Tong Pass. Yang Rui's forces had also closed the gates. Naturally, Li Jue and Guo Si were unwilling to give up when they saw Liu Xie pass the pass. They immediately launched an attack on Tong Pass.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"… …"
As it turned out, Li Jue and Guo Si's forces had made a grave mistake. They had launched an attack on Tong Pass before they had a clear understanding of its defenses. The first thing that greeted them was a wave of arrows.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
"… …"
A large number of Li Jue and Guo Si's soldiers were shot down by the rain of arrows. However, the two continued to underestimate the strength of the guards at Tong Pass. They thought that the guards at Tong Pass were Zhang Ji's troops.
Because of this misjudgment, some of Li Jue's and Guo Si's subordinates even rushed to the top of the city wall. It could be seen how much vision and knowledge could affect the outcome of the battle. However, they were quickly pushed down by Yang Rui's Iron Guards.
Li Jue and Guo Si's army were not fools. After launching a few attacks, they suffered heavy losses and temporarily ceased their attacks.
In just a few attacks, Li Jue and Guo Si's troops had lost more than 10000 soldiers. This provided Yang Rui with a large number of plot points.
After being conferred the title of King of the East Sea, Yang Rui had been a little puzzled. He couldn't figure out why Association Liu had done this. Guo Jia was also facing the same problem. He wanted to fight for some benefits for Yang Rui, but he didn't expect that the benefits he got in the end exceeded his expectations.
In comparison, Guo Jia's main concern was whether this was Liu Xie's idea or someone else's.
Soon, there were some clues.
For some reason, after Zhang Ji's army crossed Tong Pass, they set up camp not far from the pass, just like Li Jue and Guo Si in Guanxi.
After Zhang Ji set up camp, a messenger soon arrived at Tong Pass and asked to borrow provisions from Yang Rui.
"Greetings, Lord King of Donghai!"
The person who came was dressed like a scholar. He was in his forties or fifties and casually greeted Yang Rui.
"This humble one is Jia Xu, Jia Wenhe. I specially came to borrow provisions from the King of Donghai for General Zhang Ji."
The messenger this time was Jia Xu. He didn't beat around the bush and directly reported his name.
Jia Xu's name was actually not very well-known. Thus, Guo Jia, who was standing at the side, didn't have much of a reaction after hearing Jia Xu's name. He only sized Jia Xu up, probably because he saw that this person was extraordinary.
However, when Yang Rui heard Jia Xu's name, he immediately paid attention to him. Jia Xu's name might not be very famous among NPCs, but it was a different story among players.
"Oh? What do you mean, Wenhe? "
Yang Rui grasped the opportunity to ask Jia Xu.
"Due to the pursuit of Li Jue and Guo Si, General Zhang Ji abandoned a large number of supplies. At this time, he has very limited provisions. He specially came to borrow some from Lord King of Donghai.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
