Chapter 94: Tong Pass
Black Iron Pagoda grabbed a wooden armchair and flung it around like a crazed tiger, hitting left and right, spinning and swinging it into weapons, followed by a wall of screaming.
Wenchang uttered a long cry and pulled down the big heavy counter and shoved it into Flying Bear who was trying to get to the cash office door. He followed after it.
Flying Bear relied on his amazing iron shirt qigong, so he rarely carried a weapon. But with the enemy he was facing today he needed to get into the sideroom and grab a weapon. The counter was down and he seemed a bit muddleheaded after that heavy blow, so his reaction time was not that fast. He was blasted into the wall with a bang, then Wenchang went around the counter and got behind him and locked onto his right shoulder and pulled him up and started pounding.
A punch to the chin. Two, three more punches. Wenchang’s hard fists were like a violent storm, raining blows on Flying Bear’s face and chest and stomach as he said, “Your iron shirt qigong is amazing, but I don’t believe you’re invincible. Let’s see how many punches you can take.”
His fists resounded like a string of firecrackers. Flying Bear jerked left and right, his arms flailing, but he couldn’t stop Wenchang’s hard lightning fast fists. He was beaten until he was addle-brained, no chance to fight back.
After twenty or so punches, Flying Bear went limp, nearly unable to circulate his qi as his breathing became weaker and weaker. Wenchang was surprised. Every punch was hitting with around a hundred catties of force, but this got could take it. He was not yet bleeding from his mouth or his nose; his iron shirt qigong was really something. Wenchang couldn’t even control his acupoints as they were all sealed off. Of course! They were not sworn enemies so he wasn’t about to attack Flying Bear’s eyes and it would not be good to kill him in the middle of their robbery. He took out his dagger, Lightning Bolt, and touched the tip to Flying Bear’s chest. “Just be good and stay glued to that wall or you’re dead.”
The tip of the blade bit into his skin, and a bead of blood finally appeared. His iron shirt qigong was no match for Wenchang’s enchanted dagger. Flying Bear was terrified and really did not move an inch but leaned against the wall, panting. “Very well,” he said spitefully, “we’ll settle this another day.”
“I, The Fugitive Cai Wenchang, will be waiting for you.”
“You…” Flying Bear asked, shuddering.
“I’m The Fugitive, Cai Wenchang. Did you hear that clearly?”
Black Iron Pagoda chased after the shop assistants and beat them all the way to the hall entrance. Suddenly he heard thundering hoofbeats as a bunch of riders reined and and dismounted, drew their swords and advanced.
In the midst of this pounding storm of hoofbeats, someone shouted, “Dismount! Archers, line up!” Government troops were here.
Black Iron Pagoda dropped his wooden chair and quickly shut the three heavy wooden doors and bolted them. “A shitload of government troops are here! Killing them would be rebellion. We have to go.”
Old Chai had already collected the gold and silver, but he harbored dark designs. He sat out the fight to reap the rewards once the others were exhausted. He pressed his ear to the door seam and listened to the happenings outside. He knew he couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled open the cash office door and tossed two large bags to Wenchang and Black Iron Pagoda, then he scurried around the counter. “Time to hightail it out of here! To higher branches!” He was telling them to go out through the second floor.
The bags were heavy as they were full of gold and silver. How could they not be? They each shouldered a large bag and ran for the covered passageway on the right that led to the second floor.
Wenchang put away Lightning Bolt and smiled at Flying Bear. “Taibai Tavern is too profitable. I’ll come back another time. I appreciate it, thanks.”
Then delivered a swift kick and knocked Flying Bear down and he took off running. By the time Flying Bear got to his feet, Wenchang was already at the top of the second floor steps. He called down, “Brother, don’t push your enemy into a corner. If you come after us you’ll be sorry. Your iron shirt qigong can’t withstand my dagger. We’ll see ourselves out. Catch ya later.”
There were too many people at the stair entrance, guests and serving girls pressed together in a panic, wanting to go downstairs to get out of there, but not daring to. They screamed when they saw three men rushing up the stairs.
Chai Feng led the way, waving his pipa, knocking down those to shocked and frightened to move out of the way fast enough, like he was parting the seas. “Make way! Anyone who wants to die can come at me.”
No one wanted to. The three of them blew onto the second floor like a raging wind and leapt out a window and onto the roof. The whole floor was pandemonium. Government troops had busted down the doors and charged in, but they didn’t dare loose their arrows, giving the three time to escape through the window and out into the starry sky. There wasn’t a soul up on the roof.
News of Cai Wenchang robbing Taibai Tavern once again set Chang’an City into an uproar. The authorities ran a search throughout the prefectural city, creating a lot of turmoil. Therefore, most people assumed the notorious bandit, Cai Wenchang, was still hiding out in the city somewhere. He might go to Taibai Tavern and strike again.
The powerful families living on the outskirts of the city were jittery and paranoid. Northwest Escort Agency was in luck; all the armed escorts had been hired for their protection services, and some of the lesser martial arts masters vied with each other to offer their services, imperceptibly upsetting the populace, and so more and more young men began taking up martial arts training.
The Prince of Qin residence flew into a violent rage, and along with the Provincial Administration Commission office, dispatched men to go door by door searching for the notorious bandit Cai Wenchang. Little did they know, Cai Wenchang and the others were riding east on horseback, laying low by day and setting out at night. Since government notices for their arrest had not yet reached their destination, they could leisurely make their way to the first strategic pass between Shaanxi and Henan, the area around Tong Pass.
Of the three, Wenchang was already a wanted criminal. His robbery case against BLoodsucker Feng was still open, though the reward for his capture was lower than White Demon Ke He and Jade-faced Tiger Yan Ruyu. The reward for their capture was a thousand taels of silver, while Wenchang’s was only 500 taels. His wanted poster had been up for a while and was likely battered and disfigured by the elements, but he was still reluctant to show his face in public, so they traveled by night.
Once they reached Tong Pass they would have to show themselves in order to draw attention from men of the jianghu, so they decided beforehand that Tong Pass would be the place they revealed themselves.
He had finally accumulated some experience in his roamings among the jianghu. and he had learned the knack of being discrete and holding back when speaking with others and not give himself away completely. Aside from Black Iron Pagoda, he would never divulge his intentions to Chai Feng or anyone else. Although Chai Feng asked him over and over again, either with some motive in mind or not, Wenchang kept his mouth shut and cleverly deflected. He said he was an exile of the jianghu, roaming the world and making his living establishing himself with his own two hands.
In order to get through Tong Pass they stopped over for a day in Tongzhou so Chai Feng could go find some of his jianghu friends and pay twenty taels of gold to procure three travel permits to Luoyang on the pretense of visiting relatives.
Tong Pass was strictly controlled by the Prince of Qin’s faction. Since ancient times it had been an important strategic military point, more so even than Hangu Pass. It was backed by the Qinling Mountains and it faced the Yellow River. It was an easy place to defend against a lot of troops. North of the city was Fengling Ferry, which led to Shanxi’s public ferry. Therefore, this place was the center of traffic for three areas and traveling merchants came and went nonstop.
As far as the military government was concerned, the pass belonged to the Henan Regional Military Commission, but later came under direct jurisdiction of the Central Chief Military Commission, which was originally a Battalion, but later was increased to a Guard. Every guard had 5,600 troops and had jurisdiction over five battalions. In the seventh year of the Hongwu reign (1374) the Battalions were established, and in the ninth year (1376) the Guard was established. The military strength here increased to four times its former size in just two short years. So one can see how much importance the Ming court placed on this pass.
As for Tong Pass County, that came about later during the Qing dynasty. Before that it was called Tongjin County, but after the Tang dynasty it ceased to be called a county and was constantly assigned to various military government systems of command. Here, the commander of the Guard was a Regional Supervisor and also Acting Principal Official, not only supervising the State Farms, Army Inspections, Troop Training, Policing, Sentries, Defense, Garrisoning, military equipment, etc., he also in charge of governing the surrounding populace. He had the authority to sentence people to death. Anyone who acted up could be subject to martial law enforcement, so anyone who caused trouble there would be in for real trouble; his life would be at serious risk.
But this pass had no control over fugitives of the jianghu. South of Tong Pass was a succession of mountains and ranges. Fugitives would take shortcuts over hill and dale through various paths on their way east to Mt. Xiao, west toward to the northern region known as Huabei, in order to escape inspections. But it was hard-going and exhausting. If one was afraid of wild mountain animals, one could get together with eight or nine others and go together, wielding swords or sabres for protection.
Wenchang didn’t go through the mountains, but made overtly and openly right for the pass. It was about 300 miles from Chang’an prefectural city. Government petty officers would need three days to get there, but Wenchang and company got there within two nights. At daybreak of the third day they strolled along the main road to the west gate of the pass.
Off in the distance they could see a hill towering out of the water. Huge bricks made up a wall twenty feet or so high that followed along the mountain ridge, crenelations running the length of it. The west gate to the pass towered above them as if it would reach the clouds. On top were two imposing four-storey towers. The one on the right was the gate tower, adn the one on the left was the enemy lookout tower. In between them were two beacon towers.
There were few people scattered throughout the gate tower. Four horsemen rode along the wall. The riders wore mandarin duck battle jackets. One look and you’d know they were garrison troops.
The public road went over a hill and along wheatfields. The three of them were dressed like traveling merchants. Their mules and horses carried loads on their backs as they leisurely made their way down the road.
The spring cold spell had not yet snapped, but it was normally not necessary to wear too much, but in order to obscure their eyes and ears they all wore fur-lined jackets and overcloaks, though they were dressed colorfully from head to foot, spirited, saddlebags filled with rolls of gold foil notes. They had prepared in Huazhou and exchanged their heavy and cumbersome gold and silver ingots for gold foil notes. With all their silver exchanged for gold they were traveling three times as light. They each had around 400 taels of gold in their saddlebags. It weighed about thirty catties, but the gold was packed evenly so that the horses didn’t feel it was heavy. They couldn’t use cloth bundles anyway for fear of government inspectors getting suspicious.
Tong Pass was the only frontier pass city where buildings were not allowed to be erected outside the city, so in the distance one could see the pass border walls. It was particularly striking.
On either side of the pass gates was a small blockhouse from which eight guards inspected traveler’s permits. They would frequently inspect the loads people carried and whether their travel permits were in proper order. But they were quite quick about it and they rarely gave travelers a hard time. Beside the city gates were public announcement boards. The one on the left listed items prohibited from being taken in and out of the pass, and the one on the right has several notices pasted on, many with drawings and figures, though some without, but all were wanted posters calling for the apprehension of criminals at-large. Just above the gates was a carved the words: Tong Pass.
The wanted posters calling for the arrests of Wenchang, Yan Ruyu, and Ke He were pasted up at the very end. They were torn and tattered from wind and rain; it was already hard to make them out.
As they neared, the first thing Wenchang saw was his wanted poster. He nodded and smiled, pleased. He raised the earflaps on his fur hat and lightly flicked his horse whip. He was the first to reach the inspection station. He leapt down and led his horse forward, swaggering about like he owned the place as he went up to two guards with sabres at their waists and smiled. “You officers must be working hard. Let me trouble you to take a look at my travel permit.” He reached into his robe and handed over his permit.
He was handsome and genial, laughing. The guards had a great first impression of him. One of the guards took the permit while the other felt his saddlebags.
“Surname?” the guard said, looking at the permit as he asked the standard questions.
“My surname is Wen, given name Bowen,” Wen Bowen answered promptly.
“Where are you coming from and where are you going?”
“From Huazhou. Going to Luoyang to visit relatives. Officer, you have a Henan accent. Are you familiar with the Longmen Wen Family of Luoyang? It’s the fourth largest clan in Luoyang. Officer, if you ever have official business in Luoyang, please drop by my place on your way. You would be most welcomed with all the requisite niceties.” He was just bullshitting. Longmen had no large clan surnamed Wen, and he knew full well that the guards stationed there were there on hereditary posts and would not have any chance to leave their station and go to Luoyang on official business.
The officer was originally going to have a look at the wanted board, but he was stopped by Wenchang’s smiling blather. He didn’t look at the permit any longer or ask any more questions, but handed the permit back and laughed. “Heheh! Little brother, I’m grateful for your kindness. Have a safe journey.”
“Thank you, officer. In a couple weeks I’ll be heading back to Huazhou. I’ll bring you back some pomegranates from White Horse Temple for you as a token of my esteem.” He said this as he led his horse through the gates.
Luckily the officer laughed it off as he stopped Black Iron Pagoda. Where were there any pomegranates in spring? Absurd! White Horse Temple’s pomegranates were world-renown, but rebel troops had cut them down at the beginning of the Ming dynasty. By this time the phrase “One sweet pomegranate from White Horse is worth an ox” had already come and went and once gone would not be coming back. It wasn’t that the pomegranates were as big as an ox, but that they were worth the price of an ox. Nowadays, though, there were pomegranates at the temple, but their look and flavor were completely different.
The main thoroughfare of Tong Pass was broad, but the commercial district was not large. Military chariots and horses could be seen everywhere. This was a uniformed military city. Everyone in uniform was a soldier. Anyone not wearing a uniform was a civilian.
Chapter 94: Tong Pass
Black Iron Pagoda grabbed a wooden armchair and flung it around like a crazed tiger, hitting left and right, spinning and swinging it into weapons, followed by a wall of screaming.
Wenchang uttered a long cry and pulled down the big heavy counter and shoved it into Flying Bear who was trying to get to the cash office door. He followed after it.
Flying Bear relied on his amazing iron shirt qigong, so he rarely carried a weapon. But with the enemy he was facing today he needed to get into the sideroom and grab a weapon. The counter was down and he seemed a bit muddleheaded after that heavy blow, so his reaction time was not that fast. He was blasted into the wall with a bang, then Wenchang went around the counter and got behind him and locked onto his right shoulder and pulled him up and started pounding.
A punch to the chin. Two, three more punches. Wenchang’s hard fists were like a violent storm, raining blows on Flying Bear’s face and chest and stomach as he said, “Your iron shirt qigong is amazing, but I don’t believe you’re invincible. Let’s see how many punches you can take.”
His fists resounded like a string of firecrackers. Flying Bear jerked left and right, his arms flailing, but he couldn’t stop Wenchang’s hard lightning fast fists. He was beaten until he was addle-brained, no chance to fight back.
After twenty or so punches, Flying Bear went limp, nearly unable to circulate his qi as his breathing became weaker and weaker. Wenchang was surprised. Every punch was hitting with around a hundred catties of force, but this got could take it. He was not yet bleeding from his mouth or his nose; his iron shirt qigong was really something. Wenchang couldn’t even control his acupoints as they were all sealed off. Of course! They were not sworn enemies so he wasn’t about to attack Flying Bear’s eyes and it would not be good to kill him in the middle of their robbery. He took out his dagger, Lightning Bolt, and touched the tip to Flying Bear’s chest. “Just be good and stay glued to that wall or you’re dead.”
The tip of the blade bit into his skin, and a bead of blood finally appeared. His iron shirt qigong was no match for Wenchang’s enchanted dagger. Flying Bear was terrified and really did not move an inch but leaned against the wall, panting. “Very well,” he said spitefully, “we’ll settle this another day.”
“I, The Fugitive Cai Wenchang, will be waiting for you.”
“You…” Flying Bear asked, shuddering.
“I’m The Fugitive, Cai Wenchang. Did you hear that clearly?”
Black Iron Pagoda chased after the shop assistants and beat them all the way to the hall entrance. Suddenly he heard thundering hoofbeats as a bunch of riders reined and and dismounted, drew their swords and advanced.
In the midst of this pounding storm of hoofbeats, someone shouted, “Dismount! Archers, line up!” Government troops were here.
Black Iron Pagoda dropped his wooden chair and quickly shut the three heavy wooden doors and bolted them. “A shitload of government troops are here! Killing them would be rebellion. We have to go.”
Old Chai had already collected the gold and silver, but he harbored dark designs. He sat out the fight to reap the rewards once the others were exhausted. He pressed his ear to the door seam and listened to the happenings outside. He knew he couldn’t wait any longer. He pulled open the cash office door and tossed two large bags to Wenchang and Black Iron Pagoda, then he scurried around the counter. “Time to hightail it out of here! To higher branches!” He was telling them to go out through the second floor.
The bags were heavy as they were full of gold and silver. How could they not be? They each shouldered a large bag and ran for the covered passageway on the right that led to the second floor.
Wenchang put away Lightning Bolt and smiled at Flying Bear. “Taibai Tavern is too profitable. I’ll come back another time. I appreciate it, thanks.”
Then delivered a swift kick and knocked Flying Bear down and he took off running. By the time Flying Bear got to his feet, Wenchang was already at the top of the second floor steps. He called down, “Brother, don’t push your enemy into a corner. If you come after us you’ll be sorry. Your iron shirt qigong can’t withstand my dagger. We’ll see ourselves out. Catch ya later.”
There were too many people at the stair entrance, guests and serving girls pressed together in a panic, wanting to go downstairs to get out of there, but not daring to. They screamed when they saw three men rushing up the stairs.
Chai Feng led the way, waving his pipa, knocking down those to shocked and frightened to move out of the way fast enough, like he was parting the seas. “Make way! Anyone who wants to die can come at me.”
No one wanted to. The three of them blew onto the second floor like a raging wind and leapt out a window and onto the roof. The whole floor was pandemonium. Government troops had busted down the doors and charged in, but they didn’t dare loose their arrows, giving the three time to escape through the window and out into the starry sky. There wasn’t a soul up on the roof.
News of Cai Wenchang robbing Taibai Tavern once again set Chang’an City into an uproar. The authorities ran a search throughout the prefectural city, creating a lot of turmoil. Therefore, most people assumed the notorious bandit, Cai Wenchang, was still hiding out in the city somewhere. He might go to Taibai Tavern and strike again.
The powerful families living on the outskirts of the city were jittery and paranoid. Northwest Escort Agency was in luck; all the armed escorts had been hired for their protection services, and some of the lesser martial arts masters vied with each other to offer their services, imperceptibly upsetting the populace, and so more and more young men began taking up martial arts training.
The Prince of Qin residence flew into a violent rage, and along with the Provincial Administration Commission office, dispatched men to go door by door searching for the notorious bandit Cai Wenchang. Little did they know, Cai Wenchang and the others were riding east on horseback, laying low by day and setting out at night. Since government notices for their arrest had not yet reached their destination, they could leisurely make their way to the first strategic pass between Shaanxi and Henan, the area around Tong Pass.
Of the three, Wenchang was already a wanted criminal. His robbery case against BLoodsucker Feng was still open, though the reward for his capture was lower than White Demon Ke He and Jade-faced Tiger Yan Ruyu. The reward for their capture was a thousand taels of silver, while Wenchang’s was only 500 taels. His wanted poster had been up for a while and was likely battered and disfigured by the elements, but he was still reluctant to show his face in public, so they traveled by night.
Once they reached Tong Pass they would have to show themselves in order to draw attention from men of the jianghu, so they decided beforehand that Tong Pass would be the place they revealed themselves.
He had finally accumulated some experience in his roamings among the jianghu. and he had learned the knack of being discrete and holding back when speaking with others and not give himself away completely. Aside from Black Iron Pagoda, he would never divulge his intentions to Chai Feng or anyone else. Although Chai Feng asked him over and over again, either with some motive in mind or not, Wenchang kept his mouth shut and cleverly deflected. He said he was an exile of the jianghu, roaming the world and making his living establishing himself with his own two hands.
In order to get through Tong Pass they stopped over for a day in Tongzhou so Chai Feng could go find some of his jianghu friends and pay twenty taels of gold to procure three travel permits to Luoyang on the pretense of visiting relatives.
Tong Pass was strictly controlled by the Prince of Qin’s faction. Since ancient times it had been an important strategic military point, more so even than Hangu Pass. It was backed by the Qinling Mountains and it faced the Yellow River. It was an easy place to defend against a lot of troops. North of the city was Fengling Ferry, which led to Shanxi’s public ferry. Therefore, this place was the center of traffic for three areas and traveling merchants came and went nonstop.
As far as the military government was concerned, the pass belonged to the Henan Regional Military Commission, but later came under direct jurisdiction of the Central Chief Military Commission, which was originally a Battalion, but later was increased to a Guard. Every guard had 5,600 troops and had jurisdiction over five battalions. In the seventh year of the Hongwu reign (1374) the Battalions were established, and in the ninth year (1376) the Guard was established. The military strength here increased to four times its former size in just two short years. So one can see how much importance the Ming court placed on this pass.
As for Tong Pass County, that came about later during the Qing dynasty. Before that it was called Tongjin County, but after the Tang dynasty it ceased to be called a county and was constantly assigned to various military government systems of command. Here, the commander of the Guard was a Regional Supervisor and also Acting Principal Official, not only supervising the State Farms, Army Inspections, Troop Training, Policing, Sentries, Defense, Garrisoning, military equipment, etc., he also in charge of governing the surrounding populace. He had the authority to sentence people to death. Anyone who acted up could be subject to martial law enforcement, so anyone who caused trouble there would be in for real trouble; his life would be at serious risk.
But this pass had no control over fugitives of the jianghu. South of Tong Pass was a succession of mountains and ranges. Fugitives would take shortcuts over hill and dale through various paths on their way east to Mt. Xiao, west toward to the northern region known as Huabei, in order to escape inspections. But it was hard-going and exhausting. If one was afraid of wild mountain animals, one could get together with eight or nine others and go together, wielding swords or sabres for protection.
Wenchang didn’t go through the mountains, but made overtly and openly right for the pass. It was about 300 miles from Chang’an prefectural city. Government petty officers would need three days to get there, but Wenchang and company got there within two nights. At daybreak of the third day they strolled along the main road to the west gate of the pass.
Off in the distance they could see a hill towering out of the water. Huge bricks made up a wall twenty feet or so high that followed along the mountain ridge, crenelations running the length of it. The west gate to the pass towered above them as if it would reach the clouds. On top were two imposing four-storey towers. The one on the right was the gate tower, adn the one on the left was the enemy lookout tower. In between them were two beacon towers.
There were few people scattered throughout the gate tower. Four horsemen rode along the wall. The riders wore mandarin duck battle jackets. One look and you’d know they were garrison troops.
The public road went over a hill and along wheatfields. The three of them were dressed like traveling merchants. Their mules and horses carried loads on their backs as they leisurely made their way down the road.
The spring cold spell had not yet snapped, but it was normally not necessary to wear too much, but in order to obscure their eyes and ears they all wore fur-lined jackets and overcloaks, though they were dressed colorfully from head to foot, spirited, saddlebags filled with rolls of gold foil notes. They had prepared in Huazhou and exchanged their heavy and cumbersome gold and silver ingots for gold foil notes. With all their silver exchanged for gold they were traveling three times as light. They each had around 400 taels of gold in their saddlebags. It weighed about thirty catties, but the gold was packed evenly so that the horses didn’t feel it was heavy. They couldn’t use cloth bundles anyway for fear of government inspectors getting suspicious.
Tong Pass was the only frontier pass city where buildings were not allowed to be erected outside the city, so in the distance one could see the pass border walls. It was particularly striking.
On either side of the pass gates was a small blockhouse from which eight guards inspected traveler’s permits. They would frequently inspect the loads people carried and whether their travel permits were in proper order. But they were quite quick about it and they rarely gave travelers a hard time. Beside the city gates were public announcement boards. The one on the left listed items prohibited from being taken in and out of the pass, and the one on the right has several notices pasted on, many with drawings and figures, though some without, but all were wanted posters calling for the apprehension of criminals at-large. Just above the gates was a carved the words: Tong Pass.
The wanted posters calling for the arrests of Wenchang, Yan Ruyu, and Ke He were pasted up at the very end. They were torn and tattered from wind and rain; it was already hard to make them out.
As they neared, the first thing Wenchang saw was his wanted poster. He nodded and smiled, pleased. He raised the earflaps on his fur hat and lightly flicked his horse whip. He was the first to reach the inspection station. He leapt down and led his horse forward, swaggering about like he owned the place as he went up to two guards with sabres at their waists and smiled. “You officers must be working hard. Let me trouble you to take a look at my travel permit.” He reached into his robe and handed over his permit.
He was handsome and genial, laughing. The guards had a great first impression of him. One of the guards took the permit while the other felt his saddlebags.
“Surname?” the guard said, looking at the permit as he asked the standard questions.
“My surname is Wen, given name Bowen,” Wen Bowen answered promptly.
“Where are you coming from and where are you going?”
“From Huazhou. Going to Luoyang to visit relatives. Officer, you have a Henan accent. Are you familiar with the Longmen Wen Family of Luoyang? It’s the fourth largest clan in Luoyang. Officer, if you ever have official business in Luoyang, please drop by my place on your way. You would be most welcomed with all the requisite niceties.” He was just bullshitting. Longmen had no large clan surnamed Wen, and he knew full well that the guards stationed there were there on hereditary posts and would not have any chance to leave their station and go to Luoyang on official business.
The officer was originally going to have a look at the wanted board, but he was stopped by Wenchang’s smiling blather. He didn’t look at the permit any longer or ask any more questions, but handed the permit back and laughed. “Heheh! Little brother, I’m grateful for your kindness. Have a safe journey.”
“Thank you, officer. In a couple weeks I’ll be heading back to Huazhou. I’ll bring you back some pomegranates from White Horse Temple for you as a token of my esteem.” He said this as he led his horse through the gates.
Luckily the officer laughed it off as he stopped Black Iron Pagoda. Where were there any pomegranates in spring? Absurd! White Horse Temple’s pomegranates were world-renown, but rebel troops had cut them down at the beginning of the Ming dynasty. By this time the phrase “One sweet pomegranate from White Horse is worth an ox” had already come and went and once gone would not be coming back. It wasn’t that the pomegranates were as big as an ox, but that they were worth the price of an ox. Nowadays, though, there were pomegranates at the temple, but their look and flavor were completely different.
The main thoroughfare of Tong Pass was broad, but the commercial district was not large. Military chariots and horses could be seen everywhere. This was a uniformed military city. Everyone in uniform was a soldier. Anyone not wearing a uniform was a civilian.
