The straight-line distance between the east and west sides of the Motianling section of the Qianshan Mountains is about a hundred miles. If the winding and winding roads are included, the total distance is at least 270 miles.
The straight-line distance from Lishan City, located in the western foothills, over Motian Ridge to Lianshanguan is only more than forty miles, which is more than sixty miles less than Gao Xinggong's group who fled around the southern foot of Motian Ridge.
Although Gao Xinggong's team is mainly composed of cavalry, except for the more than ten miles upstream of the Blue River, the road conditions of the Jiumaoshan River from east to west and the Caohe River from west to east are extremely poor, making it impossible for horses to gallop; The two sections of the road not only did not replace transportation, but also became a burden on the march.
As Yang Ji expected, there are indeed many hunters and ginseng collectors in Lishan City. The steep and steep Motian Ridge is an insurmountable and fatal natural hazard for Goguryeo nobles and officials. In the eyes of ginseng pickers, it is a treasure land with countless rare treasures. If you find a thousand-year-old ginseng, it will be enough for a ginseng picker family to live a generation with ease.
Hunters and ginseng pickers have been neighbors for generations. In addition, it is difficult for one person to cross the steep Motian Ridge, so they always go together when climbing. Over time, the mountain trails are among these two groups. It's not a secret at all.
Facing the Sui army's coercion, inducement, and separate interrogations, these hunters and ginseng collectors told all the mountain roads they knew. The Sui army eliminated more than fifty mountain roads one by one based on the principle of the minority obeying the majority, and locked in what most people thought were good. There were three ways to go, and then we gathered together the people who said these three ways were good, and asked them to discuss and analyze them one by one, and finally settled on one of them.
The Sui army used these orders to climb mountains
"Professionals" suggested that we should make sufficient preparations and set off at around five o'clock in the morning. Motian Ridge is actually not very high, less than a thousand meters above sea level, but it is very irregular, showing a pattern of steep in the middle and east and gentle in the west. There are strange peaks pointing to the sky in the middle and east, and the mountains are covered with dense In the forest, straight and steep cliffs are everywhere. These cliffs look like they have been chiseled with knives and axes. They are piled with rocks of various shapes, ranging from as small as goose eggs to as large as a house. What is even more terrifying is that there are many large rocks. The stones gave people a feeling of being crumbling and falling at any time. If the hunters and ginseng collectors who were serving as guides had not said that they had been there for hundreds of years, many soldiers of the Sui Army would not have dared to walk under them, fearing that if they did something wrong, they would fall from them. It was smashed in the sky.
The steep walls and big rocks are either barren of grass or covered with vines that look like they can be used for strength but are actually extremely loose and fragile. Whenever you want to climb over the narrow gap in the middle, you can only use ropes. If you want to save trouble and catch the Wisteria, the cliff dozens to hundreds of feet below is where it belongs.
It took a group of more than 6,000 people a full four and a half hours to successfully cross the Motian Ridge from Lishan City and reach the west slope. However, the distance they traveled was only more than 30 miles. This was a difficult march in the past. It's incredible and enough to kill one's head.
At three o'clock in the morning, the army finally arrived at a vast pine forest on the western slope of Motian Ridge. They only had to walk four or five miles down the gentle hillside to reach the upper reaches of the thin river at the foot of the mountain. On the other side of the river was the mountainous Guanxi City.
Yang Ji looked back at the assembled soldiers with tired faces, and a smile appeared on his face: Overcoming all difficulties is what soldiers have to do, and if they just avoid it because the terrain is difficult and dangerous, they are just a rabble and are not worthy of their fate.
"Soldier" title. The Sui army marched according to the organizational structure, and Yang Ji and his soldiers were the vanguard. They were not afraid of chaos in which the soldiers could not find the generals, and the generals could not find the soldiers. Seeing that the soldiers were gathering towards their side one after another, Immediately ordered: "The whole army will use this regiment and this thousand-man team as the basis to choose a place to rest and recharge."
"Here!" The order was passed, and each thousand-man team leader selected a place to hang the team flag, and summoned his subordinates to assemble in the direction of the team flag.
Yang Ji's location is very good. Through the gaps in the pine forest, he can see the open west gate of Lianshan Pass. It can be seen that the defenders have not received news of the fall of Lishan City, which makes him feel very lucky: if they had not If he comes, or comes too late, he will miss this military fortress in vain. If he wants to capture it next time, it won't be as simple and easy as now.
However, the Sui army was a lightly-armed infantry after all and did not have any siege equipment. If the defenders in the city closed the city gate, they could only
"Looking at the ocean and sighing", he returned in disappointment. Yang Ji was bound to have an accident. After settling the army, he immediately sent for Yang Shanhui, Pei Xingyan, Ling Jing, Zhu Can and Gao Xingwen, and at the same time summoned four guides who could speak Chinese.
He looked at a very tall and sturdy guide and asked, "Brother Zou, are there any gentle and more secluded hillsides nearby?" The guide's name was Zou Zhe. His ancestral home was Zouping County, Qi County, and the country of Zou was the state of Chu. After the demise, the Zou surname began to migrate to Hebei, and later gradually became popular in the Fanyang area. During the dispute between Cao and Yuan in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Zou Zhe's ancestors defected to Gongsun Du, who was the governor of Liaodong at the time, and officially settled in Liaodong. He now claims to be a descendant of Zou Yan, who founded the Yin-Yang theory, but only God knows whether he is.
Zou Zhe's family fortune has declined, and now he is just the most famous hunter in Lishan City. He later used the family's Feng Shui, Yin Yang and Five Elements to find ginseng and read Feng Shui. In his thirties, he became the most famous ginseng picker and Feng Shui within a few hundred radius. gentlemen.
The other two guides are one from Mohe and the other from Huhua Han. They are also surnamed Zou. Not only are they neighbors of Zou Zhe, but they have also learned from Zou Zhe’s father in the East and West since childhood. Now they are Zou Zhe’s classmates and assistants. When hunting, gathering ginseng, or reading Feng Shui, the three brothers would go together. It was precisely because they worked together to do one thing well that this three-person team became famous.
Hearing this, Zou Zhe hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, you really asked the right person. The people who do our Feng Shui business are particularly keen on topography and landforms. As long as they find a place with good Feng Shui or bad Feng Shui, they will record it. Our Zou family is here Lishan City has lived in Lishan City for six generations. The notes and drawings passed down from generation to generation have given me at least 60% understanding of Motianling. I know that there is a relatively hidden mountain col in the north corner of the mountain. That mountain col is very cold and has extremely bad feng shui. It’s an extremely gloomy place, not only can’t bury people, but people don’t even dare to go there.”
"That mountain col faces the thin river and is located in the northwest of Lianshan Mountain. There are weeds about a foot high in it, which can hide thousands of people. When Goguryeo built Lianshan Pass, in order to prevent the col's luck from leaking out and damaging the feng shui of the city gate, We also blocked the southern part of the entrance and tilted the entrance towards the lower reaches of the river. This can lead the feng shui away and spread it into the mountains and rivers, so that it will not accumulate and leak out and harm people."
"Great! This saves us a lot of effort. By the way, does your junior brother know where the mountain col is?" Yang Ji doesn't understand Feng Shui or Yin and Yang, but he knows that the best Feng Shui masters are often the best. Famous surveyors, astronomers, geologists, and many Feng Shui masters working for the Liangzhou Kanyu Bureau can easily determine where springs, streams, and valleys are in a large mountain range with their naked eyes. The final survey results are very accurate. map.
"I know!" Zou Zhe nodded and explained: "Motian Ridge is too steep for one person to do one thing well, so our brothers and sisters have always been inseparable. As long as I have been to the mountains, rivers and cliffs, they will also Come with me. Not only do they know where the mountain col is, they also know where there are sentry towers and lookout towers." Zou Zhe is a very ideal Feng Shui master. He has long been tired of the life in the mountains where the mountains are everywhere. He is very fond of the prosperous Central Plains that has been passed down from generation to generation. Yearning, after he becomes invincible here, he would like to pay a visit to the famous Feng Shui master in the Central Plains to see what level his skills are in the Central Plains.
This time, Yang Ji not only promised to accept him as a staff member and counselor, but also promised to take them back to the Central Plains after the war and recommend them to Zhangqiu Taiyi, who even he knew, so he worked extremely hard.
"Two brothers Zou, take General Zhu to the mountain col." Yang Ji turned to Zhu Can and said, "After you take Yang Tian and the Xuanwu Guards down the mountain, take the nearby patrol posts and the soldiers on the lookout tower. All cleared.”
"Here!" Zhu Can responded and left.
