The deputy general in charge of military affairs at Yanmen Pass was surnamed Li, a veteran in his forties. He took up the conversation.
"The general is right. That gorge is indeed a weak point. But manpower is tight right now. Eighty thousand troops have to be spread out to guard the pass and the surrounding villages. I'm afraid we can't spare many men to build fortifications."
"Send two thousand men over there and have them work day and night," Lin Taichu said. "Prepare more boulders and arrow clusters. Even if the work can't be finished, we must let the Jin soldiers know that place won't be easy to breach."
The day before their departure, the emperor personally came to the Barracks to see them off. He bestowed two precious swords upon them and said, "As long as the swords remain, so shall their wielders. Hold the border. I will await good news from you in the capital."
Lin Taichu and Gao Yang accepted the swords and answered in unison, "This subject will not fail Your Majesty's trust!"
Early the next morning, the two forces set out separately. Lin Taichu's troops moved swiftly. Eighty thousand men marched west along the official road, raising rolling clouds of dust as their banners snapped in the wind.
After half a month of marching, they finally reached Yanmen Pass.
The Soldiers guarding the pass had long been waiting at the gate. When they saw Lin Taichu's force, joy spread across every face—they had already heard that something major had happened in the capital and had feared the Jin soldiers might suddenly attack. Now that reinforcements had arrived, they finally felt reassured.
Lin Taichu did not rest. The moment he entered the pass, he climbed the walls. Beyond the pass stretched open grasslands, and in