As soon as the rain stopped, Pasha quickly came to the center of the 'black dragon', waved his shovel and began to make a hole.

Qi Shang couldn't be surprised for the time being, and ran forward to help his partner, the two of them moved very fast, and there was no trace of the two on the ground after a short period of effort, Song Yang and others surrounded them, this kind of 'professional' thing others can't do anything, but at least they can help them transport them out of the wasteland.

The hole is beaten diagonally, the 'slope' is gentle, Xiao Yu wondered again, she has an advantage, she generally doesn't pretend to understand when she doesn't understand, most of them have to ask: "Why don't you hit it vertically down?" Diagonally you have to dig a lot more ......"

Although Song Yang is a layman, he can understand this truth, and responded with a smile: "It's not drilling wells." If you dig vertically up and down, you won't be able to fall down until the end. ”

In the 'Thief Cave', Qi Shang's voice came muffled: "Hou Ye sees it clearly, he is steady, and when he gets through, he can probe his brain first..." ”

The cave was dug deeper and deeper, until it was completely dark, and Pasha returned to the ground covered in mud, and without saying much for the time being, he took knives, ropes, fire folds, and other applications, and returned to the cave again...... After waiting for another hour, Pasha came back and nodded to Song Yang and the others: "Basics, follow me." ”

None of the people were pickled, crawling obliquely down from the mud hole, Pasha was in the front, Song Yang followed closely, the temporary cave was narrow, there was a person in front of him, Song Yang couldn't see the front at all, he could only follow the bow and crawl deeper, about ten zhang away, Pasha stopped, turned his head and said: "It's here, I'll go down first." Then he put his hands on it, and the whole person rushed forward.

Song Yang's eyes suddenly brightened...... Just as it appears on the ground, underground, there is a wide tunnel, not flat but bright enough, even if two carriages come opposite each other, you can easily miss it.

Song Yang followed Pasha's example, turned around and took care of the person behind him, and jumped into the tunnel. Others are coming in the same way.

Qi Shang had already come down, and was holding a torch to look around carefully, his face was full of doubts, and when he saw Song Yang coming down, he frowned and said, "Master Hou, something is wrong." This road was dug up... It's too regular. ”

As he spoke, he stomped his feet first and motioned to Song Yang to pay attention to his feet: "It has just rained heavily, and it stands to reason that there must be at least waist-high water on the road, but you see, the soles of your feet are muddy, and you can't see the water at all; As he spoke, he pointed upwards again: "We are about seven feet above the ground, less than eight battles, which is quite deep, but you can take a breath and try it, the air is very fresh, and there is no evil smell at all." ”

Song Yang nodded, fully understanding what he meant, this tunnel is extremely well done in terms of ventilation and drainage, and the craftsmanship is exquisite and the engineering is strict.

"And then this tunnel is strong," Qi Shang's words were not finished: "I have seen it just now, there are straight beams, oblique purlins, and load-bearing wells, and they are all real kung fu, and at a glance, you can see that it is the process of the Han family to dig the tunnel, which can last for 700 years without collapsing." ”

Previously, Qi Shang's judgment that 'there are at most narrow underground roads' was based on the 'craftsmanship level' of the earth monkeys.

The surface is solid, and it doesn't mean that there can't be a big road or a big hole underground, but the key is that the earth monkey shouldn't have such ability...... "Let's just talk about this tunnel, when was it built?" Qi Shang casually patted the side wall of the tunnel: "Before the ancestor of the earth monkey came out of the mountain?" Impossible, they were all savages at that time, and they probably didn't know where they learned the Han craft when they caught a gopher and then ate it. ”

"Or is it a tunnel built by the descendants of the earth monkeys after they return to the mountain? At that time, they learned the skills of the Han family...... Still not possible! Qi Shang asked himself and answered, and said quite vigorously: "Grandma Mu En made it clear that after they came back, they were beaten up by Shanximan, and there were only a few hundred people left, and in addition to the old, weak, sick and disabled, how many young and strong people could there be?" With so few manpower, if you want to dig such a tunnel, you may not be able to dig two miles in ten years. And from the traces in front of you, you can see that the direction of this tunnel is dug deep into the mountain from us...... Even if the earth monkeys are hard-working and determined to dig a good road, but the project is there, they have to do this work, logging, digging soil, diverting water, etc., they have to mess up the ground, you must know that there is a camp on the ground at that time, and the barbarians can tolerate them such a toss? ”

Then, Qi Shang added: "Besides, I haven't heard the ancestor of Shanximan mention that the earth monkey has worked hard since he came back. ”

After a long speech, Song Yang smiled, turned his head and glanced at Mrs. Bo, who was a lackey of Xie Men, and tried his best to follow him, Song Yang was really embarrassed to say anything about him, and Mrs. Bo shook her head with a wry smile, and said to Qi Shang: "If you have a way, you can go, what do you want to do so much?" ”

Qi Shang thought about it and smiled: "It's such a reason, let's see, we're not academic." As long as I move the gold back, I can't figure out where this tunnel came from, and I can still eat and sleep soundly. ”

Everyone discussed, and the eight-person team from Yanziping continued to move forward. Mu En and Shan Xixiu stayed for the time being, first, to hold the retreat and respond at any time, and secondly, Song Yang was worried that there would be traps in front of him, and if something went wrong, it would be difficult to take care of, but it would add to the chaos.

The team checked the things they had with them, and everyone had blades, even the little catcher with a crossbow knife.

Lady Silk and Seven Up and Eight walked at the forefront, exploring the possible existence of hidden arrows; Luo Guanqing followed behind him, a few feet away, among the people, he was the highest cultivator and the fastest reaction, once the three people in front of him were in danger, he could immediately rescue; Song Yang and Xiao Yu followed closely beside Luo Guan; In the end, Gu Zhaojun and Nan Rong escorted the team, and the group lit torches and set off.

The road is wide, and it is better than I imagined, but the journey is not too fast, the first three pressed the steps, and they didn't dare to be careless as they walked, and even Qi Shang closed his mouth and couldn't speak.

The tunnel was built in a proper manner, with iron bars for torches on both side walls, but it was old and decayed, and it fell apart when you touched it.

After walking a short distance, the air in the tunnel became obviously damp, and between breaths, there was an extra smell of decay, everyone had explored the surrounding terrain when they were on it, and knew that the mountain stream barbarian camp was adjacent to an amazing swamp pond, it was estimated that it was a large lake in ancient times, but for some reason it gradually dried up, and became the current mud swamp, and now this tunnel should be passing through the swamp from below.

All the way was safe and sound, Pasha walked while counting the steps in his heart, and every time he walked out of the second mile, he turned back and told him, and just like that, after changing the torches twice, several people walked forward along the broad road for more than six miles, and finally the situation before them changed: there were two more walls in the tunnel, and they lay across the tunnel...... They are all low walls, most of them are tall and short, thick and strong, and the two walls are staggered before and after, separated by three zhang.

The nearby wall was erected from the left wall of the tunnel, but it did not completely block the tunnel, but extended to the front six feet of the right wall and stopped, leaving a gap for two or three people to pass side by side; The same is true for the farther wall, but in the opposite direction, starting from the right wall...... The wall is not used to block the road, but when people pass through here, they have to walk around the wall in a zigzag.

What's more, with such a low wall, even a doll can climb over it.

Qi Shang became curious again, and frowned, "What does this mean?" Afraid that we will get bored of walking in a straight line? Then he began to chatter again, and the upper and lower lips discussed the usefulness of the two walls...... A mile further, there were two identical sturdy low walls.

The situation was strange, everyone walked more and more carefully, Xiao Yu was the most unproductive, holding a torch in one hand, and the other hand had pulled out the knife at some point, but after walking for a short time, she found that it was better to hold the knife than to pull Song Yang's sleeve to make herself more down-to-earth, and quietly returned the knife into the sheath to grab her sweetheart's sleeve, but it turned out to meet Song Yang's warm palm, which made her happy.

Another mile, I faintly saw two low walls in front of me...... For the third time, Xiao Yu even felt as if he was going around in a circle, the unchanged straight tunnels and repeated low walls were in a trance, and Song Yang suddenly reminded in a low voice: "There are corpses in front, don't panic." ”

Song Yang's eyesight was much stronger than Xiao Yu's, and he could see farther, this time, around the two low walls, there were a large number of corpses scattered, the skin and flesh had long been rotted, even the bones were rotten, and the east and west were mixed in the mud on the ground.

The front 'seven up and eight down' also stopped, crouching under the low wall, fiddling with the corpses around them.

Song Yang patted Xiao Yu's shoulder, leaned forward by himself, and checked the bones with the tomb robbers, almost all the people who died here were without exception, with deep eye sockets, short body bones and thick hand bones, not to mention that it was a trick, even a layman could see at a glance that the deceased was not a Han Chinese, but should be a monkey.

Standing next to the low wall and looking into the depths of the tunnel, there were faintly visible bones on the ground, Song Yang and the others probably stepped forward to check, and the remains near the low wall, the dead who had already turned into dry bones were all earth monkeys, their postures were distorted, and the sharp wounds on their bodies were still clearly recognizable, obviously they were not good to die, and they were killed in the fight.

Qi Shang talked too much nonsense, but his brain was really flexible, first examined the bones, then looked at the low wall, rubbed his hand on the wall for a while, and said with a smile: "The wall here is not smooth, there are traces of knives and axes... Damn, I finally got it. ”

Gu Zhaojun nodded, and then spoke: "No wonder this tunnel is all the craftsmanship of the Han people. Song Yang said casually: "It's basically this road opened by the Han people!" ”

Estimating that her confused 'princess' had to ask questions again, Song Yang didn't wait for Xiao Yu to open her mouth this time, so he asked her with a smile: "Figure out what these two low walls do?" ”

I was going to ask and answer myself, but just now I 'asked myself', and before I had time to 'answer myself', Xiao Yu nodded and responded: "This is called 'sealing step', which is actually a zigzag double stack, which is used to block the enemy's attack and charge." ”

The two walls, built every mile, were tall and short enough to shoot at high enough to withstand a normal charge, and long enough not to block the road but to greatly slow down the enemy's charge...... Xiao Yu is also the daughter of Jiangmen, and he has heard people mention this kind of 'fortification' at home before, but he didn't think about it just now, and it was not until he saw the traces of the battle at this moment that he suddenly realized.

In fact, 'Fengbu' can also be often seen now, when the army camps in the wild, such a 'zigzag double stack' is still set up at the exit, but this line of people is either a reckless background, or a gate valve, and they don't know anything about the soldiers.

Song Yangquan didn't expect Xiao Yu to answer, and even said the exact name, and he was full of surprise, and Xiao Yu was proud, squinting his eyes and picking his chin, as if provocative, but more playful.

This time, the confused princess was in her mind, and after she recognized the arrow stack, she thought of the legend of Mu En and what she saw when she came, and immediately understood and figured out the whole thing.

Mrs. Bo deliberately flattered the princess, and asked playfully: "The situation along the way... Please also ask the princess to show me. ”

Unexpectedly, Xiao Yu laughed: "Don't tease me, Mrs. Silk, even I have figured it out, I don't believe any of you still can't figure it out." "Her Royal Highness the princess has never been presumptuous, but she knows very well in her heart that there is no one who can do things with Song Yang who is less intelligent than herself.

Xiao Yu is very modest...... However, she finally 'figured it out' once, and Song Yang was reluctant to let her say it, so she smiled and said: "Let's please tell me, and everyone will confirm it again to see if they all think the same." ”

Song Yang opened his mouth, and Xiao Yu was no longer polite, and gave a direct answer: "Seven hundred years ago, Shanxi moved away, and in another four years, an elite army of the Han family came to ...... This tunnel was not dug by earth monkeys, but by the Han army, because it was necessary to allow the army to pass through, so it was dug so wide and strong. ”

"From the old camp of Shanximan, there was a road leading to the nest of the earth monkeys, but that road was mostly narrow and rugged as Qi Shang said. If it is really the kind of path that can only be walked in line one by one, as long as the earth monkey guards one end, it is completely a situation where one is killed one by one, and the Han army is too passive......"

"The Han army should have been prepared before entering the mountain, and there were excellent craftsmen with the army, so they simply followed the ruins of the old road and re-excavated a wide road, you know, the original road also passed through the swamp, and the Han army wanted to find the nest of the earth monkeys, but there was no way to track it from the ground, only to dig tunnels without time and pain. In addition, although it is slow to dig the road by itself, it has a great advantage, and it is useless to use any mechanism ambush that the earth monkey has designed before. ”

"To put it bluntly, this thing is a bit like a big snake swallowing a small snake, and the Han people expanded a big road along the original path. When this tunnel gradually approached the nest of the earth monkeys, the Han army began to be cautious, in order to save their lives and not be afraid of slowness, every time they extended a mile forward, they built zigzag stacks to protect them, in case the earth monkeys would counterattack and kill from the front... Sure enough, in the third zigzag battlement, the earth monkey was killed, but it seems that the Han army should have won a complete victory, and the encounters have been the same since ancient times, and only the winner will collect the corpses of the same clan. ”

Xiao Yu said everything he thought of in one breath, and compared it to the situation in front of him, it was completely reasonable to explain. Gu Zhaojun was the first to smile and praise: "Well said! Then he added: "I don't know what happened at that time, but one thing is certain: the Han army didn't know what means they used to block the last earth monkeys in their nests, otherwise they wouldn't have been so patient and slowly digging tunnels to advance." ”

In the gap of discussion among others, Qi Shang was unwilling, leaned into Pasha's ear, and complained in a very low voice: "I wanted to say just now that it is useless for them to sue me for talking too much and digging for gold; Now as soon as the princess spoke, everyone listened with pleasure. ”

Pasha smiled: "You can kiss, whatever you want." ”

…… The road that Song Yang and his party found to the wild monkey's nest was carefully excavated by the Han army, and it was much happier to walk, but the road ahead became more dangerous...... Seven hundred years ago, the Han army, the equipment and number were far superior to the earth monkeys, and the advance and retreat were measured, patient and careful, no matter how Song Yang and these later people looked and thought, they could not find a reason for them to fail, but Mu En swore an oath, witnessed by the ancestors of Shanximan, that Han army never came out again!

The eight people stopped for a while, and the recovery queue set off again, and after less than two miles, the tunnel that had always been straight finally turned...... Dead end.

According to Song Yang's previous life, it was a ninety-degree bend, without any buffer and no warning, so hard and abruptly showed a turn, at this time Pasha snorted coldly: "How can there be a dead bend in the ground, it is very unlucky." ”

Qi Shang's tone hesitated: "It looks like I dug in the wrong direction before, and suddenly corrected and turned... It shouldn't be. As they spoke, the two brothers responded to each other, carefully turning the corner, and then both of them frowned at the same time, the tunnel in front of them was still spacious, but the terrain turned sharply.

Song Yang leaned in and took a look, and two words immediately appeared in his mind: slide.

The slope was steep and slanted down, and it was pitch black in front of me, and the air was so humid that it almost evaporated from the mist, as if it had gone deep into the netherworld.

Mrs. Silk didn't say much, she made a gesture, and together with seven up and eight down, slowly probed into the new tunnel, and the others followed, and the road under her feet was in a hurry, fortunately, everyone had a good skill, and they could barely stand on their feet, if ordinary people had already slid down, and after walking for a while, Qi Shang suddenly remembered something, so he stopped, and looked up with a torch.

The ground had become steeper, but the roof of the cave was still level before and after the turn, so that for those who had already slanted down, the overhead became unusually open, and the dome could not be seen with torches held high.

Seeing that he was thoughtful, Pasha pondered for a moment as if he had thought of something, and said, "I'm good at light weight, I'll go up." With that, he stuck his torch on the ground, groped the side wall of the tunnel, and began to climb upward.

Although he didn't know what Pasha was going to do, everyone understood that his move must have a deep meaning, so they didn't ask much for the time being, and they all stopped and waited patiently.

The side wall is slippery, but not smooth, the former Han army dug the road in the soil for the march, along the way at most with sassal wood, stone reinforcement, of course, will not bother to polish the cave wall, the side wall is full of potholes, there are many places to climb, soon after, there is a fire several feet above everyone's heads, Pasha has climbed to the top of the cave, and the fire fold is carefully looked at.

Soon, Pasha returned to the ground, and his tone was solemn: "The board is a living stone, and I can't see where it is connected." ”

Qi Shang's face was shocked, and he muttered, "No wonder the road is like this." ”

On the ground is a huge swamp; After the turn, the roof of the tunnel is transformed into a movable stone with controllable flaps. It is conceivable that if the machine is launched, there will be thousands of mud pouring down overhead, and it will be difficult to even stand firm on the ground...... Gu Zhaojun frowned: "No, I don't understand, this tunnel was dug by the Han army, right?" What are they doing with the tunnels they are marching into? Is it fun to cover yourself in mud? ”

From beginning to end, Paxia ignored the curiosity of others, and looked at Song Yang: "If you have a chance, it means that you are about to touch the right place." As he spoke, he reached out and patted Qi Shang's shoulder, the two of them had been cooperating for a long time, the latter understood exactly what he meant, took out the rope and tied it around his waist, and handed the other end to his partner, while Qi Shang himself lay on the ground, like a big lizard, and crawled forward.

Qi Shang's crawling posture is also very strange, first carefully groping the ground in front of his head with the palm of his hand, and after confirming that there are no holes and no surviving boards, he gently moves forward and explores with his hands...... The speed of travel became extremely slow, and everyone calmed down and adjusted their physical condition to the best at the same time, and also mobilized their five senses, carefully watching, listening, and feeling their surroundings, and they could respond to any abnormalities. Surprisingly, although this part of the road was tense and depressing, it was really safe and sound, until they saw the light, until they came out of the tunnel and returned to the world.

The exit of the road is a deep pit.

(To be continued)