Although they marched in the tunnel for such a long time, all the Liang Army soldiers still maintained extremely high combat qualities. Following Zhu Muwu's order, more than two thousand soldiers immediately set up a defensive formation around the tunnel exit. More than ten scouts were sent out to set up a warning in the surrounding area. At this time, Wan He discovered that the location of the tunnel exit was actually at the foot of a hillside. With thick weeds and soil, and the presence of the tunnel that had been bitten by Cheng before, The stone slab that Jin and the others broke opened covered the exit. This made the exit unknown. After figuring out the location of the tunnel exit, Du Ruhui immediately asked people to seal the tunnel entrance. And Wan He He also immediately led everyone to sit around and discuss the next matter.
First of all, what needs to be clarified is what time it is now and how long they have been walking in the tunnel. Regarding this question, Wan He's subordinates can't come up with a clear answer. On the contrary, Shang Ruyun's second son Shang Ke gave the answer. It turned out that when Shang Ke was rushing in the tunnel, he had nothing to do. He actually counted the time hour by hour. Although it was not very accurate, he calculated the approximate time. About seventeen days have passed from the time we set out from the underground cave in Jianyang Valley to the time we came out of the tunnel. In total, it has been more than half a month.
After figuring out the approximate time, the next thing to figure out is where exactly this place is. Although it is marked on the map that this exit is near Tongguan, there are many places near Tongguan. Where is it? The location, whether it is outside the pass or inside the pass, is not clear. Of course, these are not problems yet, because in addition to being vigilant, the scouts sent out before will also check the surrounding directions. I believe there will be an answer soon.
The most critical issue now is how to get in touch with Luoyang. After entering the tunnel, Wanhe also released the letter harrier used to communicate with Luoyang. Although there are still two letter harriers left. After so many days in the tunnel, although there was nothing wrong with him, Xinyao couldn't bear it. He had died long ago. Without Xinyao, if the current position is in the pass, Wanhe really doesn't know how to recover from Luoyang. Contact. Ask Qin Qiong’s army to cooperate in rescuing them from seclusion.
"Your Majesty." Du Ruhui gently stroked his beard and said to Wan He: "Why don't you send some smart soldiers first, put on common people's clothes, go to the surrounding areas to search for villages, and inquire about the surrounding situation. If this is already outside Tongguan Pass. That would be easy to handle. If this is inside the pass, it would be better to let them try to get out of Tongguan. One or two soldiers, as long as they don't carry weapons, there should be no problem if they want to get out of Tongguan. As long as they get out of the pass, let Qin There is a message from the general. Then we can get back in touch with Luoyang."
"Well, that's a way." After listening to Du Ruhui's words, Wan He also nodded. This is considered a helpless solution. But I don't know if Li Yuan is still searching for traces of Wan He. If Li Yuan orders Tongguan to be blocked If so, then the matter would be even more troublesome. Then Wan He seemed to have remembered something and said: "It has been more than half a month now. I don't know the previous plan. How is Shu Bao and the others going? If If everything goes smoothly, not only can we get out of the border, but we can also give Li Yuan a hard time."
What Wan He said was a plan that Wan He had already set before going to Jian Yang Valley. The purpose was to prepare for Wan He to escape Chang'an. After hearing Wan He's question, Du Ruhui lowered his head and thought for a moment. . Said: "That plan is handled by Lord Changsun and Brother Qiao Song, and General Qin personally executes it. I think there should be no problem. It's just that people are deeply separated from each other. Whether this matter can be successful or not, my subordinates don't know. Not sure. Brother Shujie, you are familiar with Qu Tutong. What do you think about this matter?"
Du Ruhui asked. Wang Gui, who was sitting opposite Du Ruhui, also pondered for a moment. Then he said: "Actually, I have only met Qu Tutong a few times. But in my opinion, Qu Tutong is very important to the Great Sui Dynasty. There is still a trace of loyalty left. The reason why he surrendered to Li Tang was because of bad luck. I heard that Li Yuan had captured Qu Tutong's family and sent Qu Tutong's servants, subordinates and even Qu Tutong's son. He came to persuade him to surrender, but he refused. In the end, if he had not been in a desperate situation, he would not have surrendered to Li Tang. And it was precisely because of this that although Li Yuan appeared to praise Qu Tutong's loyalty, in fact The commander-in-chief did not trust Qu Tutong too much. Even if Qu Tutong was allowed to stay in Tongguan, he secretly transferred all Qu Tutong's subordinates away and completely ignored Qu Tutong. This was not enough. He also sent his general Yin. He opened a mountain and garrisoned in Weicheng to monitor him. It can be seen that Qu Tutong did not live well under the Li family. Now Li Yuan has usurped the Sui Dynasty and established himself. This is another bad news for Qu Tutong. So I think .This plan is very feasible.”
Speaking of which, Wan He and his team's plan couldn't be more obvious. They wanted to use Li Yuan's opportunity to usurp the Sui Dynasty to let Qu Tutong plot a rebellion. What Qu Tutong was guarding was the most critical link from Chang'an to Luoyang. As long as Qu Tutong rebelled, it would be much easier for Wan He to return to Luoyang.
Of course, this was only Wan He's plan when he was still in Chang'an. According to the original plan, Wan He was going to take advantage of Li Yuan's usurpation of the Sui Dynasty to make Qu Tutong dissatisfied, and then let Qin Qiong lead his troops to suppress the situation, while holding high the The banner of rescuing Emperor Gong Yang You. This gave Qu Tutong a hint. Only Luoyang was the orthodox side of the Sui Dynasty. Finally, he sent an envoy to contact Qu Tutong and asked Qu Tutong to betray Li Tang and defect to Wan. He comes this way.
When Wan He arrived at Jian Yang Valley that day, the information he got was that Qin Qiong had begun to send troops from Luoyang and rushed to Tongguan. Next, Wan He led the army directly into the tunnel. He just had time to send out the last message. As for How well Qin Qiong implemented the plan? Wan He knew nothing about it now. Then Zhu Muwu also said to Wan He: "According to Mr. Wang, Qu Tu Tong has now been ignored in Tongguan. Even if we have successfully instigated Qu Tu's rebellion, Now it seems that guessing is of little use."
Hearing Zhu Muwu's doubts, Wang Gui couldn't help laughing. He looked at Zhu Muwu and said: "General Zhu, don't underestimate this Qu Tutong. When he was in the Sui Dynasty, he was a famous warrior. Although the general is not as famous as General Zhang Xutuo, I am sure that his ability will never be worse than that of General Zhang Xutuo. Yang Guang is willing to hand over Chang'an to Qu Tutong to guard it. This shows that Yang Guang How much trust do you have in Qu Tutong's strength? Although Li Yuan ignored Qu Tutong, in my opinion, this is just that Qu Tutong deliberately asked Li Yuan to ignore him. After all, he also knew that Li Yuan did not trust him. He didn't want to It made Li Yuan suspicious of him. And Li Yuan's methods in Tongguan were of no use to Qu Tutong. As long as we can really instigate Qu Tutong, Qu Tutong will naturally take over the military power in Tongguan as soon as possible."
Hearing that Wang Gui was so confident in Qu Tutong, Wan He couldn't help but look forward to it. Among the four powerful soldiers of the Sui Dynasty, the counter-rebellion army had been completely wiped out. The new counter-rebellion army has now become the cornerstone of Liang Jun. The Jianghuai soldiers followed Wang Shichong in the battle of Luoyang and disappeared between heaven and earth. As for the fierce soldiers of Yan, they are now divided into two armies. One is under Xue Shixiong and the other is under Luo Yi. Before, there was a turmoil in the north. Under the planning of Wan He's counselor Liu Wenjing, both armies were also used by Wan He. Now three of the four powerful armies have fallen apart. Only Naxidu Tiejia still maintains an almost complete organization. Although the current command The power is no longer in Qu Tutong's hands. But if Wan He recruits Qu Tutong to surrender, then he might be able to win the Xidu Iron Armor to Wan He's command in the future. Wouldn't that be great?
Of course, everything is just Wan He's lust now. We don't even know whether Qu Tutong has surrendered, let alone what the Western Capital Armor is. Then Wan He discussed some matters with everyone. And in At this time, a sound of horse hoofbeats came from a distance. The direction of the sound was exactly to the east of the hillside where Wan He stayed.
Wan He raised his head and looked in that direction. His heart sank immediately. He saw that the one coming over was the scout who had been sent out to find out the news. Sure enough, when the scout rode up the hillside, he walked straight towards it. He quickly ran to Wan He and others. He knelt down with his fists clasped in front of Wan He and shouted: "Prince Qi, I have found out clearly. This place is still in the pass. Go southeast for three hundred miles and you will find Tongguan." The villain is checking with the local people. Tongguan is completely closed today. No one is allowed to go out, and no one is allowed to enter."
Hearing the scout's report, Wan He and others' hearts immediately sank to the bottom. It seems that the worst case scenario has happened. Li Yuan has ordered Tongguan to be blocked. In this way, unless Qin Qiong implements the plan in place. Otherwise, it would be almost impossible for Wanhe's people to pass through Tongguan.
What should I do? Everyone is looking at each other in confusion. They cannot pass Tongguan. Then there is no way to re-establish contact with Qin Qiong outside the pass. They don’t know what the situation is outside the pass. If this continues, Wan He and others will be trapped and die. Even if Li Yuan could not find Wan He's trace for a while, over time, the two thousand soldiers and horses would be defeated due to lack of food. By then, even if Li Yuan didn't come looking for him, Wan He would still take the initiative. Appeared.
Everyone was silent for a long time. Then, Wang Gui suddenly raised his head and glanced at Wan He and others. As if he had made a very important decision, he shouted in a deep voice: "Why don't you let me go to Tongguan?" Let me go and meet Qu Tutong in person."