Chief Armaments Master of the Ming Dynasty

At the end of July, at Jinshuo Pass, located on the border of Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces.

This pass is located southeast of Yan'an Prefecture, guarding the vital passage from northern Shaanxi to the Guanzhong Plain. Its strategic location has made it a hotly contested area since ancient times.

The fortress is built against the mountain, with walls made of bluestone and gates that are thick and sturdy.

There was a military commander stationed at the pass, named Wang Lian, who commanded about five hundred soldiers.

Wang Lian is in his early forties and has been serving in the border army for over twenty years, rising from a lowly soldier to a commander.

He wasn't particularly good at fighting, but he wasn't too cowardly either. His greatest skill was knowing how to curry favor with his superiors, and he never missed a day of polite greetings during holidays, so he kept his lucrative job secure.

Although Jinshuo Pass is remote, it guards the official road and has a lot of merchants coming and going. The customs tax alone is a considerable source of income.

Wang Lian gave the lion's share of the profits to Zhang Nian in Yan'an Prefecture, and divided the rest among himself and his brothers. Life wasn't wealthy, but in Shaanxi, where hunger was rampant, having food to eat meant being among the elite.

The severe drought that year did not spare Jin Suo Guan Pass. The soldiers inside the pass had been owed pay for several months and were only given two meals of coarse grain porridge each day. The soldiers were so hungry that their eyes were green with hunger, and they could barely stand on guard duty without leaning against the wall.

Wang Lian had no worries about food or drink—the city gate kept several sheep and a flock of chickens specifically for him, as well as fine wine collected from merchants. He spent his days sitting in his military commander's residence, drinking wine and eating meat, living a very comfortable life.

On July 26th, several "merchants" arrived.

As evening approached, the guards were about to close and lock the gate when they saw seven or eight people coming up the main road to the south.

They were all dressed in coarse cloth short tunics, leading several mules, with bulging burlap sacks on the mules' backs.

The man in the lead had a broad, angular face with a high nose and prominent brow bones. He had broad shoulders and a thick back, and his steps were heavy and powerful.

He walked to the gate, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said in a thick Shaanxi accent, "Brother, we are merchants from Yan'an Prefecture, selling furs and medicinal herbs to Shanxi. It's getting late, so we'd like to rest here for the night and leave early tomorrow morning."

The guard sized him up. The man was dressed like a merchant, but his eyes were too wary.

A true merchant should only have calculation and ingratiation in his eyes. This person's eyes held a quiet calm that was unspeakable yet chilling.

"Where's the travel permit?" the guard asked.

The man took out a travel permit from his pocket and handed it over.

The guard took it and examined it closely against the light. The travel permit was genuine—or at least it appeared to be.

The document bears the official seal of Yan'an Prefecture and reads, "Zhao Da, a native of Bao'an County, Yan'an Prefecture, accompanied by eight others, was traveling to Shanxi to sell furs and medicinal herbs, passing through Jinshuo Pass."

The guards didn't notice anything amiss, returned the travel permit to him, and waved his hand: "Go in. But there are no inns inside the pass, so find a temple to spend the night. Tie the mule behind the temple, don't block the road."

"Thank you, brother." The man clasped his hands in thanks again, then led the mule through the gate.

As night fell, the fortress fell silent. The merchants found a temple to stay in, their mules tethered behind it. Everything seemed as usual.

But the merchant who called himself "Zhao Da" did not sleep.

He sat in the corner of the barracks, observing the movements inside the fortress through the cracks in the wall.

These people were certainly not merchants. They were the men of Prince Shun, the "King of One Characters Across the Sky".

Wang Zishun's troops had been besieged by government forces not long ago and had fled back to Shaanxi. They were currently lying in ambush in the mountains outside Tongguan County.

They needed to open up a road—the only way to get south to the Guanzhong Plain.

This road is now controlled by government troops, especially Jin Suo Guan, which is a vital strategic point. Without removing this thorn in their side, their forces will be unable to expand their reach or move even a fraction of their way to the more prosperous areas.

Zhao Da and his men's mission wasn't to capture the pass—eight men couldn't take a pass. Their task was to act as inside agents, opening the gates for the larger contingent to follow.

It was past midnight. The moon was obscured by clouds, revealing only a few pale streaks of silver light.

The soldiers inside the fortress were all asleep, even the sentries on night duty were dozing off against the battlements.

The man named Zhao Da emerged from the barracks, his companion following behind him, moving as lightly as a cat.

They crept up to the gate. There stood a sentry, crouching in the corner with a spear, nodding off.

Zhao Da walked over silently and drew a short knife from his waist. The blade gleamed coldly in the darkness. He covered the sentry's mouth with one hand, while the knife in his other hand slit the sentry's throat.

The sentry's eyes widened suddenly, and he made a "hoarse" sound, but soon his body went limp.

"Zhao Da" gently laid his body down in the corner and then gestured to his companion behind him.

The two men stepped forward and worked together to lift the heavy bolt.

The bolt was made of a single piece of jujube wood; it was thick and heavy, and one had to be extremely careful when lifting it so as not to make a sound.

Meanwhile, several other people made their way onto the city wall.

There were two sentries there, one leaning against the crenellation, snoring, the other rubbing his eyes sleepily. A flash of steel. Two heads rolled onto the city wall's passageway. Blood silently seeped into the cold bricks.

The latch was lifted. The door was silently pulled open a crack. Then, a torch was lit, tracing three circles in the night. This was the agreed-upon signal.

On the mountain ridges outside the pass, countless torches suddenly lit up in the darkness.

The sound of horses' hooves rang out like muffled thunder. Prince Shun's large army had been lying in ambush outside the pass, waiting for this moment.

The vanguard of the rebel army was Zhang Erhu, who had become a deputy general. He rode on horseback, carrying a long-handled axe in his hand, the blade gleaming with a bloodthirsty cold light in the firelight.

"kill--!"

The cavalry were the first to charge through the gate. The garrison inside the city was awakened from their sleep and rushed out of their barracks, their armor disheveled. Still dazed and unaware of what was happening, they were met head-on by the surging cavalry.

A flash of blade, a spurt of blood. Several soldiers at the forefront were cut down, their screams ripping open the silence of the night.

Wang Lian was awakened by shouts of battle in the commander's mansion. He rushed out of the mansion barefoot and saw torches and bandits everywhere in the city. His mind went blank.

His first reaction was not to organize resistance, but to turn around and run back into the mansion, frantically searching for silver and valuables.

But before he could run out the back door, the rebel army had already arrived.

Several blood-covered rebel soldiers rushed into the commander's mansion, dragged Wang Lian out through the back door, and took him to the open area in the center of the city.

Wang Lian knelt on the ground, trembling violently, kowtowing repeatedly. "Good...good sir, spare my life! Good sir, spare my life! I am Commander Wang Lian! I surrender! I surrender!"

Zhang Erhu, mounted on his horse, looked down at the commander who was sprawled on the ground.

"Are you Wang Lian?" Zhang Erhu's voice was like muffled thunder.

"Yes...yes..."

"I've heard you're very good at currying favor with your superiors, and you never miss a chance to present gifts during holidays. You've sent so many gifts to Yan'an Prefecture, but has Yan'an Prefecture ever given you anything in return?"

Wang Lian opened his mouth, but couldn't speak. Zhang Erhu sneered and waved his hand. "Take him away. Tomorrow morning, open the granaries and distribute the grain. Tell the people inside the pass that the King of Hengtian has arrived, and there will be food to eat."

Jin Suo Guan fell.