Chapter 301 Tong Guan Seeks Death and Cai Jing Seeks Life
"Break the bucket, spill the vegetables, and the world will be better!"

"...eat his mother, eat her mother, eating is not enough to have the King of Wei...have land to plant, have clothes to wear, everyone can live happily."

In the chaotic city of Tokyo, songs are sung all the time.

The proletariat were all delighted.

Tong Guan pulled a lame warhorse towards the imperial palace, ignoring the noise on both sides of the street.

"Your Majesty, the old minister is here."

In the palace, Tong Guan bowed and said, "He was a eunuch, so he could enter and leave the palace."

"The Remaining Stories of the Xuanhe Period of the Great Song Dynasty" said: Cai Jing, Cai You, and Tong Guan's followers were unbridled at the top; Gao Qiu, Yang Jian, and Zhu Zhen's followers were evil at the bottom.

However, Tong Guan did contribute to the Song Dynasty by recovering four states in the northwest, conquering Xixia, and suppressing Fang La. Although he lost his army in the war against Liao and was executed, he was still a tough guy.

After all, at the age of 66, he is still working hard for the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Ji glanced at him but said nothing, his eyes dull.

Tong Guan kowtowed three times and choked up, saying, "Your Majesty, I have fought in wars all my life, but I have not yet mastered even 10% of my adoptive father's accomplishments. Otherwise, how could I have allowed Cao Cao to become so powerful? I am ashamed of your majesty and the Song Dynasty!"

The physical defects of eunuchs can easily cause psychological distortion.

Therefore, once such people gain power, they are likely to engage in perverted behavior that ordinary people cannot understand, and in serious cases may bring disaster to the entire country.

As people who are always around the imperial power, the eunuchs naturally understand the principle of "the fox borrows the tiger's power to bully others".

For example, eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty could depose and enthrone emperors; eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty were the most notorious in history; but eunuchs in the Song Dynasty were different. Although there were also some who were notorious, most of them were heroes who could command the three armies and fight on the battlefield.

Dou Shenbao in the early Song Dynasty was just an insignificant little character in the Song court before he was thirty years old. He did odd jobs all day long and had no future to look forward to.

It was not until Emperor Taizong led his army to attack Northern Han that Dou Shenbao personally put on armor and went into battle as a soldier in the siege army. He was the first to attack the city wall and made great contributions in the battle.

This battle destroyed the Northern Han in one fell swoop, and Dou Shenbao's outstanding performance also won the appreciation of Emperor Taizong of Song.

From then on, this eunuch was unstoppable and began a military career that lasted for decades.

He guarded Bingzhou and defeated the Khitan and Dangxiang tribes, and almost captured Li Jiqian.

Tong Guan's adoptive father, Li Xian, had fought bravely in the northwest battlefield, conquered cities and forts, and frightened the enemy. In the Five-Way War against Xia, Li Xian led his troops into Tiandu Mountain, the heartland of Western Xia, and burned down the palace of Western Xia.

Although Tong Guan was a notorious traitor, if he wanted to be a traitor under the emperor, he had to have some ability.

He was the eunuch who held military power for the longest time in Chinese history; the eunuch who controlled the most military power; the eunuch who obtained the highest title; the first eunuch to represent the country on a diplomatic mission; and the only eunuch to be officially canonized as a king.

Even though he was over sixty years old, Tong Guan was still tall and strong, with skin and bones as hard as iron. His eyes had not dulled because of the defeat, but were still bright and his complexion was dark. At first glance, he was full of masculinity and did not look like a castrated eunuch at all.

Because he is a master in refining essence.

Dozens of Liangshan warriors failed to catch him on the battlefield.

"Tong Guan, the Song Dynasty fell in my hands. How can I face the seven previous emperors?"

It has been twenty years since Zhao Ji ascended the throne. He lived a happy life, but finally tasted the bitterness of losing his country.

Tong Guan seemed to have made up his mind. He clasped his fists and said, "Your Majesty, although I am powerless to save the situation, the Song Dynasty cannot perish because of this. The pen of history is as sharp as a knife. I am willing to lead the palace people to fight for your Majesty again, and die without regrets."

The pen of history is as sharp as a knife. Tong Guan had no children, so all he could hope for was a posthumous reputation.

He knew that he would die. If that was the case, why not die on the battlefield?

The Song Dynasty was about to fall, so how could there be no one to bury it alive? Tong Guan had been in power for more than a decade, so he had his own decision.

But the victor makes the king, the loser makes the bandit, so how could he calculate his reputation after death?

Outside the city of Tokyo, Tong Guan led hundreds of eunuchs from the palace and three hundred soldiers from the generals' entourage to charge at the Cao bandits who were ready for battle.

Hundreds of men and horses were just like a stone thrown into the lake, causing slight ripples.

"die!"

Facing the heavy infantry phalanx charging with cavalry, the soldiers all roared wildly, raised their spears at an angle, with the butts of the spears touching the ground and the sharp tips of the spears pointed at the chests of their horses.

What needs to be done at this time is not to kill the enemy, but to stop the cavalry from charging.

The steel spear penetrated the horse's chest in an instant, as easily as stabbing tofu.

The war horses were still moving forward, and the soldiers in the front row had already let go of their spears and were using their feet to hold tight against the butt of the spear, which was half buried in the mud.

The sharp tip of the spear pierced the warhorse, then came out from the horse's neck and penetrated into the cavalryman's lower abdomen.

At this time, the warhorse had been lifted up high by the spear, and its front hooves were paddling weakly in the air. Together with the cavalryman who was sitting on it with his head down, it had turned into an ochre statue.

"Enter the city!"

When Cao Jie passed by, Tong Guan's blood had been drained and his body was hanging high in the air.

He took a glance and ordered his men to chop off the head and hang it on the top of the city wall.

How can the six thieves of Zhao Song die so easily? They must give an explanation to the people of the world.

At this time, I saw a group of civil servants kneeling on both sides of the city gate, all of them with bare upper bodies and carrying whips on their backs. Who else could it be if not Cai Jing? !
"Your humble servant Cai Jing pays respect to the King of Wei. Long live the King of Wei!"

In the Song Dynasty, in order to ensure the so-called "dignity and dignity" of the literati, a special rule was introduced, that is, if the literati were guilty, they could not be held accountable directly, but had to be impeached internally first. If the crime was not serious, they would be punished by "reprimand" or "court training", rather than going through the formal judicial process, let alone being punished.

I don’t know what Cai Jing and his group were thinking. They thought it was the Wei Dynasty or the Song Dynasty!

"Master Cai!"

Cao Jie spoke.

"I dare not, Cai Jing is guilty! Cai Jing deserves death!" Cai Jing prostrated himself on the ground.

"You really deserve to die! At least, Tong Guan still had the courage to fight to the death. You guys are worse than a eunuch without balls."

Cao Jie scolded Liu Tang a few times, then said to him, "Throw them all into jail and hand them over to Pei Xuan for trial. Dig into the root of each one of them, and expose their crimes to the public, so that they will be infamous forever."

"King Wei, this is unjust!"

"King Wei, spare my life!"

There were some strong-willed people in Huizong's reign, but none of these people who were asking for forgiveness were good.

The main army did not enter Tokyo City. Only Cao Jie's 3,000 personal soldiers entered the imperial palace.

(End of this chapter)