"Hey, this bird is too good, and it's even more difficult to climb than Yanshan. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info"

When they officially stepped on the well road, Goutu raised his head and looked to the sides, feeling like a little frog thrown into the well. The twisting and winding path beneath his feet was just between two peaks, which were so steep on all sides that the cliffs were almost upright that birds could cross them, and the sun could only shine through the narrow sky and fall on his bearded face.

"The ancients said that its land is high and flat on all sides, and the middle part is low like a well, because it is called a well, look at this terrain, but it is worthy of this name."

The familiar Yan Guo dialect came, it was Cai Ze riding a mule to walk behind, this is his mount along the way - only two cars can pass in the narrowest part of Jingcheng Road, so except for the baggage, the rest of the people mostly ride horses. Although Cai Ze was a Yan man, he was a little short and weak, and he couldn't control the tall horse, so he rode a more docile mule, and although the mule's pace was slow, it was very steady, and he was already very satisfied.

Zhao is better than the other six countries, that is, there are a lot of livestock, after all, the ancestors of the Zhao family started by raising horses and driving, and Zhao Jianzi also likes white mules, which are still relatively scarce in the spring and autumn season, and now they have become a necessary means of transportation to cross the Taihang Mountain.

Although they are from Yan State, they are all Chang'anjun's disciples, in early March, with Chang'anjun's fief set as Qi County, this diligent son is busy going to the territory to inspect it. So half of the rangers, doormen, and private warriors in Chang'an's Mansion had to go with him.

In the middle of March, under the watchful eyes of the relatives and nobles in Handan City, a group of more than 100 people set off for the north.

The reason why they did not take the shorter Fukou Road to the west was because the area around Wu'an and Yanhe was hit by heavy rain, and mudslides occurred, which caused the road to be blocked, so the brigade had to change to the Jingcheng Road in the north.

It took them a few days to cross the Hebei Plain, and this section was easy and pleasant. After arriving in Zhongshan, entering the mountainous and hilly area, the city begins to disappear, the forest becomes more numerous, the turquoise bushes are lush, and the water flows rapidly in the ravines below the mountain beams.

Then after entering the Taihang Mountain, the road becomes more and more difficult to walk, if you look down from the sky, this Taihang Mountain Road is like an earthy yellow flying snake, passing through the mountains and deep valleys. Sometimes, they have to climb to the top of the mountain, and there are thick clouds on the left and right, and the road is only for one horse. Solo riders can only slow down, dismount and walk, and sometimes even have to connect their horses back and forth with ropes, carefully moving forward one after the other.

Sometimes, the road stretches rapidly downwards through the gorge, where dense primeval forests and rocks block the sunlight and apes cry. In rainy days, rainwater like pillars spreads on the road surface, making the road slippery. The march was even slower, and along the way, a number of pack horses slid into the deep pools by the side of the road with their baggage, but fortunately there were no casualties.

After stopping and stopping, their group finally arrived at the midpoint of the road.

……

The long battlements were built on the cliffs on either side, and the mountain path was narrowed to barely allow four people to ride side by side, while the stone battlements built along the mountain and water clinged to the rock wall, and vigilant faces watched them from the archery holes in the walls, the battlements, and the stone bridges.

"This is Jingcheng Pass." Mingyue looked up at this pass, which was not a majestic pass, but he knew that since the opening of the well, countless soldiers and horses had died here, and on the stone walls on the side of the road, there were many traces of fire burning and sharp weapons chiseling, and there were faint traces of dark purple blood on some stones......

When he was resting in Jingcheng Pass, Cai Ze, who was obsessed with the combination of vertical and horizontal, and claimed to know everything about the world's famous mountains and rivers, was indispensable to show off his geographical knowledge with Mingyue.

"Dafen, Shen'er, Jing Ruan, Fang Cheng, Cuihan, Jing Cheng, Ling Defect, Sentence Note, Ju Yong, this is the most dangerous nine stops in the world, and Jing Cheng Pass is one of them!"

The reason why Jingcheng Pass is included in it is because Taihang Mountain comes from north to south, with mountains and mountains, almost uninterrupted, especially the east slope is particularly steep, difficult to climb, and becomes a big obstacle to the traffic between the east and the west.

Fortunately, there are also many fault zones in the Taihang Mountains, and some rivers run from west to east, crossing the ridges and flowing into the plains, which scoured away the natural pores between the rocks, and the "Jingcheng" is one of them. From the east of "Jingcheng", you can go directly to Zhongshan; Go west, arrive at the hinterland of Taiyuan County, and can be transferred to Hedong and Shangdang. Although this road can't be square-tracked, can't ride in parallel, and it's dangerous, it's a battleground for soldiers, and that's how the traces that Mingyue saw outside the pass came from.

However, it was not the Zhao State that opened up the Jingcheng, but the Zhongshan State.

Mingyue drank water and wiped her sweat, and said with a smile: "Does that gentleman know when this well belonged to Zhao Guo." “

Cai Ze said: "It should be the time when King Wuling invades Zhongshan." “

About 40 years ago, King Wuling of Zhao attacked Zhongshan for the first time, and attacked Ningjia near Lingshou, the capital of Zhongshan Kingdom, opened up Taihang East and West, completely controlled Jingcheng, and also strangled the throat of Zhongshan Kingdom, since then, Zhongshan's demise is only a matter of time.

After Mingyue came here, she felt a lot: "I can now know why Grandfather Wang must destroy Zhongshan, Zhongshan is not only a danger that can threaten Handan's heart, but also an obstacle to block Jinyang and Handan, imagine fifty or sixty years ago, when Jingcheng was still in the hands of Zhongshan, Handan and Jinyang's traffic can only go to Fukou, once Fukou is difficult, the traffic will be cut off, you can only beg Zhongshan to borrow the road, or detour to the South Korean-controlled Yiguan, Yangjiban, Wei-controlled Mengmen Pass Baicheng, no matter which way, It's all about asking for people......"

This situation is like the body of a snake being cut into two parts, and the head and tail cannot be touched. The state of Zhao was weak for a hundred years after the founding of the country, and there were repeated centrifugal rebellions, which was largely determined by this geography.

It's good now, thanks to King Zhao Wuling, not only Jing Cheng, but also the Flying Fox in the north are also controlled by Zhao State, Zhao can be the only strong in the six countries of Shandong, thanks to these arteries to connect the east and west regions.

But it is ironic that after more than 30 years, Wang Qian, the general of the Qin State, also went straight to Handan and destroyed the Zhao State......

Thinking of this, Mingyue couldn't sit still, and early the next morning, he set off again with all the guests, leaving Jingcheng Pass and coming to the world west of Taihang Mountain.

……

The first thing they passed was Qiuyou County, and the slope under the horse's hooves began to slow down, but the remnants of Taihang had not disappeared. Occasionally, there are some quiet small mountain villages in the mountains, with nearly 100 households, located in the mountain col, surrounded by mountains and rivers, peaceful and comfortable. The local guide told the story of "knowing the cause of the enemy", the people here are descendants of the Rong people, and there are still a lot of Rong Di habits in the dialect and customs.

After leaving Qiuyu, they entered Yuci, and the road gradually widened, became straighter, and traveled faster. When I came to the hinterland of Taiyuan County, I reproduced the prosperity that I had not seen for a long time in the Taihang Mountains: the group walked through verdant green forests and quiet small villages, passed plum orchards and green fields of millet seedlings, as well as wheels, wells, temples, sheep and people's homes, and the people of Yuci County worked hard in the fields.

People here are enjoying the peaceful spring of March, the sun is shining, the fields are verdant, and in a roadside clearing, a group of children are swearing and fighting with sticks......

This is a child from two villages fighting, it is commonplace, among them, there is an eight or nine-year-old, soap-colored short clothes of the child holding a wooden stick posture like holding a sword, backhand to throw a few dozen teenagers from the neighboring village who pounced on him to the ground, don't look at his young age, but the attack is very heavy, the pain makes them scream!

And this kid has very thick eyebrows, very fierce eyes, and he is so ruthless when he stares at people. This frightened the teenagers in the neighboring villages a little scared, and they held the "weapon" in fear, not daring to go on again.

As the two groups confronted each other, the horses' hooves splashed across the sun-drenched stream, accompanied by a hearty laugh.

The laughter disturbed them, and the group stopped fighting, and turned their heads in unison, only to see a group of more than 100 people riding on the small bridge behind them, and two samurai in swordsman's uniforms and long swords in their hands were riding on tall horses, pointing them and laughing.

The two were Gou Tu and Lu Goujian, and when they were on guard beside them, they found this group of children who were fighting, so they came to take a look, and then found that the eight or nine-year-old children in soap-colored clothes used wooden sticks to make wooden sticks, as if they had practiced swords.

"Son." Lu Goujian rode on his horse and said to the soapy boy: "Who taught you this kung fu?" ”

The thick-eyebrow boy looked at the two rangers with a straight face, Lu Goujian and Gou Tu looked at him, he glared back without admitting defeat at all, and said, "My father taught me!" ”

Lu Goujian was supposed to ask a few more questions, but at this time, the team had already crossed the stone bridge and passed Yuci, which was their end point Qi County, and the two of them didn't care about saying more, so they had to fight the horse and go back, but Lu Goujian turned the horse's head again, ran to the thick eyebrows boy, and threw his wooden scabbard to him.

"Send you, learn from your father!"

Then, they didn't waste time, they hurried up, didn't even enter Yuci County, and headed towards Qi County.

The group of teenagers also lost the interest in fighting, and the children of the neighboring villages looked at the majestic rangers and samurai with envy, while the children of the village gathered around the thick-eyebrow boys, looking enviously at the scabbard he had been given, and carefully touching it, the patterns on it were more delicate and beautiful than the swords of the county captain!

The young man gave them a blank look: "What's so beautiful, it's just a scabbard, not a real sword!" With that, he snatched the scabbard and went to the water's edge to wash the mud that had just fallen on the ground.

Not only the children of the neighboring villages, but even the teenagers of the village were a little afraid of him, and no one waited for him, so they dispersed in a hurry.

The thick-eyed boy spent the afternoon alone by the stream, either holding his scabbard as if he were gesturing a sword, or lying in the grass and squinting at the white clouds in the sky.

After a long time, it was not until the sun went down that a village woman stood on the ridge and shouted at him, "Gai Nie! Go home for dinner! ”

It was only then that the thick-eyebrow boy named Gai Nie sniffed and said impatiently, "It's here!" “

……

PS: Gai Nie is a historical figure in the book, and has nothing to do with Qin Shi Mingyue.