The Chu and Han dynasties were restless, and the chasm and painting circles swallowed each other.

"Historical Records: Xiang Yu Benji": "King Xiang is a covenant with the Han, dividing the world in the middle, cutting the gap to the west for the Han, and the gap to the east for Chu." ”

The chasm, the land of Xingyang, was the temporary dividing line between the two armies when Chu and Han fought each other, and the term insurmountable chasm was derived.

The chasm is located in the east of Xingyang, connecting the Huai River and Surabaya, adjacent to the Yellow River in the north, connecting the Suohe River and Songshan in the south, and connecting Luoyang and Chang'an in the west through the Tiger Prison.

"Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, whom Li Jingye admired, fought with the Qin army here, and in the end it ended with a great victory for the Qin army, and Wu Guang died in Xingyang." Li Hong stood in the bow of the boat, the weeds on both sides of the bank had withered and yellowed, revealing a large area of yellow earth in front of him, and the breeze blew, making a rustling sound, with a hint of late autumn and early winter.

Bai Chun swept the wind-disturbed hair on his forehead, and on his beautiful cheeks, a pair of bright eyes looked at the scenery on both sides of the river, and muttered as if he had reminisced about the past: "Didn't the 'Battle of the Tiger Prison' that the first emperor often talked about happen here, with more than 3,000 people, he defeated Dou Jiande's 100,000 army, so as to take the Tiger Prison Pass, Niukouyu and other dangerous places, and forced Wang Shichong, who was entrenched in Luoyang, to surrender. ”

"Yes, the first emperor has a career in his life, and the battle of the tiger prison can be said to be a battle of pride, and it is also since this stop that the first emperor was canonized as the 'Tiance General'. In this way, it also laid the groundwork for the changes in Xuanwumen later. Li Hong said with emotion.

The Wuya battleship slowly landed, the river in front of it was silted, and it was no longer possible to move forward, and the grain ships that were transported to Luoyang and Chang'an from the south on the river also had to go ashore here, and then changed to land, or directly transported the grain to Chang'an, or temporarily stored in the Tiger Prison Warehouse and Heyin Warehouse in Xingyang.

The team of 200 people did not appear very prominent on the river where merchant ships came and went, so Li Hong and his party abandoned the ship and took the land route, which naturally did not attract the attention of others.

Mang Chong, Cheetah and Wei Tuqi stood on the riverbank, looking at the hot wharf, a cart of grain was carried down from the boat, and said with some complaints: "If you don't repair it early or late, you will know that it is really inaction to clean up the silt. ”

Mang Chong kicked Yu Tu Qi, vigilantly looked at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Bai Chun not far away, and said in a low voice: "Are you saying that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is inactive?" His Royal Highness is a scholar, and the Ministry of Industry is naturally within its jurisdiction, if your words are heard by Your Highness, be careful and be punished. ”

Yu Tuqi hurriedly turned his head and glanced at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Miss Bai Chun, who were calm and calm, with an embarrassed smile on his face, scratched his head and said, "I didn't mean that, I mean it's too strange, right?" I went to ask just now, this silted place was only cleaned up three days ago, and it was chosen at the juncture of His Highness's return to Chang'an. ”

"Who would have thought that the silting up of the river is cleaned up piece by piece, and it happens that it is not the turn of the person here, and besides, the Ministry of Industry is afraid that he will not know that His Highness will return to Kyoto, if he knows, it will naturally not be the case." The cheetah glanced at the stunned mangzhong who was looking at the grain convoy, and said in a low voice.

Wei Tuqi listened to the cheetah's words, nodded quite approvingly, and then the three of them stood on the dock, and after a while, a thin horse was led over.

The soldier saluted and said, "I have searched all the docks, but there is only one horse." ”

"Well, you can ride it, but fortunately, the road is not too far, so it should be fine." Mang Chong came back to his senses, looked at the skinny and bony horses, and said with satisfaction.

Now they went ashore in a hurry and switched to the land route, so they didn't even have horses to walk, so they could only go to Xingyang County to borrow two hundred war horses from the county order or Zhichong Prefecture and a carriage.

Cheetah and Wei Tuqi are naturally speechless, the wharf is not a big deal, compared with the wharves in Yangzhou and Hangzhou, it is like a warehouse.

Although there are several carriages to transport grain, it seems that those horses are even weaker than the one in front of them, so it is an ox cart, I am afraid that it is not as fast as the two legs of Mangzhong to catch up with the road.

What's more, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has an order, try not to alarm too many powerful people in Xingyang, and it is best to get war horses and carriages unknowingly, so having such a thin horse is already very good.

"Will the Zheng family of Xingyang know the order of Xingyang County, in case it is known that you are coming to Xingyang, I am afraid that they will come to greet you with great fanfare, right?" Bai Chun and Li Hong, standing in a corner of the dock, looked at the clear river and said.

"Xingyang Zheng? I'm afraid it's too late to hide from me, right? I suddenly descended from the sky to Xingyang, and it is estimated that the Zheng family in Xingyang will have to ponder for a long time, but who knows, just leave it to them. Li Hong put his hands behind his back, wondering if he wanted to take advantage of this waiting time to take a look at the Tiger Prison Pass?

Tiger Prison Pass, also known as Bishui Pass, is naturally not too far from the place where Li Hong and they landed, so Li Hong looked at the distance to the south, the stretching mountain range at the end of Song Mountain, which is not high, and his heart rose up to go to Tiger Prison Pass, and pay tribute to the place where the first emperor was most proud of the battle.

After the unification of the Tang Dynasty, although there was still a Zhichong Mansion here, compared with when the country was just founded, the troops stationed here were not as large as they were back then.

What's more, the Tiger Prison Pass is only one of the eight passes of Gongwei Luoyang, so in terms of the distribution of troops, the Tiger Prison Pass, which is dangerous, has also been submerged in the crowd and has become unremarkable.

But even so, it doesn't mean that the guards at Tiger Prison are loose.

The afterglow of the setting sun is reflected on the wharf, and the tired figures, busy ox and horse carts, and lonely grain boats form a picture of the golden years.

Two hundred iron horsemen and a carriage kicked up a cloud of golden smoke and dust, and slowly stopped under the gaze of the people on the dock.

Li Hong pulled Bai Chun to run away, dodging the flying dust that was scattered, and after a long time had passed, Li Hong led Bai Chun to the carriage.

It's getting late, and it's too late to rush back to Xingyang, so instead of rushing to Xingyang, it's better to go south into the mountains, go to the Tiger Prison Pass to be more convenient, and go to Xingyang early tomorrow morning.

It is only more than 300 miles away from Luoyang now, and for Li Hong and others, there is nothing to take into account, and everyone has gradually relaxed their vigilance.

Yu Tuqi led a team of ten horsemen, quickly rushed to the most appropriate side, along the potholed loess road, stepping on the dim yellow golden sun, and took the lead in breaking into the remaining veins of the Songshan Mountain, looking for an excellent place for them to set up camp.

The carriage bumped on the road, even at the slowest speed, which made Li Hong and Bai Chun sitting in the carriage a little unbearable, as if they felt that their internal organs had been displaced.

So in desperation, he had to abandon the carriage and ride a horse, and the mangzhong and cheetah who were driving saw that the prince and Bai Chun were already riding, so they had to climb on the horse's back, and then drove the empty carriage and walked slowly into the mountains.

Where the carriage could not pass, after obtaining Li Hong's consent, he unloaded the carriage and put it in the jungle, and then led the two horses to the mountains.

To Bai Chun's surprise on horseback, in the already dim light of the mountains and forests, when he came to the camp that Yu Tuqi had found in advance, he found that it was backed by mountains, the terrain was steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was also an excellent lookout place.

Except for the mountains and dense forests behind him, the other three directions, standing in the campsite, can clearly see the situation in the distance.

Li Hong was very satisfied with Wei Tuqi's vigilance, even if he was not far from Luoyang, when choosing a campsite, he still chose a camp according to the standards of the wartime barracks.

Mangzhong and Cheetah led a group of soldiers to set up a tent for Li Hong, and then formed a tight encirclement in the distance, while Mangzhong and Cheetah camped not far from the tent, like a mountain gate, making Li Hong's tent become an easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack Chinese military tent in an instant.

Night has fallen, and several fires have been lit, exuding warmth and popularity in the cold night.

Li Hong and Bai Chun sat in front of a fire, and couldn't help but sigh: "It would be good if Bai Qi was here at this time, at least there would be no fresh meat to eat." ”

As soon as the words fell, I saw Wei Tu Qi grinning, carrying two hares that were not completely dead, and happily handed them to the other soldiers, telling them to deal with them and bring them over.

Li Hong beckoned to him, motioned for him to come over and sit down, and when Wei Tuqi came over, a group of five people formed a circle in front of the bright fire.

Mang Chong's expression was much more solemn than before, looking at the cheetah on the left and at Yu Tuqi on the right, and then his eyes began to look at the small wooden stick in Li Hong's hand, drawing on the ground.

After a while, a brief map of Luoyang and Xingyang, including Dengfeng (which seemed to be called Songyang County at this time) that had been going south along Songshan Mountain, took shape under the branches in Li Hong's hands.

The three places are like a triangle, with the distance between Xingyang and Luoyang being the farthest, while Dengfeng, which is located in the south of the two places, is roughly equal to the distance between the two places.

"Therefore, if we want to return to Luoyang, it is impossible to go directly to Luoyang by Xingyang, and the only thing that can be done is to hope that the Tiger Prison Pass is not controlled, and take the Tiger Prison Pass, and then go around to Dengfeng, and then go to Luoyang from Dengfeng." After Li Hong finished speaking, he threw the branch in his hand into the fire, and looked at a few people for a while.

Bai Chun's hot cheeks, which were roasted by the fire, were a little red, and he looked at Li Hong with a puzzled look, not understanding how the camping that had been a trip had become so cautious.

Li Hong ignored her doubts for the time being, but looked at Mangzhong who went to Xingyang to borrow a war horse, which was originally a two-hour journey back and forth, but Mangzhong took three hours to come back.

Among them, is there any secret hidden, so Li Hong decided to enter the mountain, and then chose to take a detour to Dengfeng to return to Luoyang.