"This time we are attacking Zhenxian City, Governor Liu is the chief general, and I am the deputy general. The general will lead the troops to attack the city from the front, and the deputy general will lead the troops to go around the path to climb the mountain. How can we do it if I don't go there myself?" Wang Wenzuo raised his arms and asked Sang behind him. Qiu tightened his belt: "You don't have to worry about me! When the enemy changes, you and He Bayong are not as good as me!"
"That's what you say, but that Governor Liu is also strange. He has to personally supervise the army for such a trivial matter as attacking Zhenxian City. Can't he stay in Sixi City and wait for good news?"
"Do you think he doesn't want to?" Wang Wenzuo smiled: "On the surface, he is the governor of Fangzhou, but in fact he is just a death row prisoner waiting to be executed. He has offended Li Yifu, the prime minister of the dynasty. If it were you, I would not be able to sleep. An’an, how dare you stay in Sixian City to wait for the good news?”
"That's true, it's just a pain for you!" Cui Hongdu smiled and shook his head: "By the way, what do you think of that guide? Is it reliable?"
"Silla people and Baekje people have been fighting for hundreds of years. There has been a blood feud between the two sides for a long time. Are you still afraid that they won't work hard?" Wang Wenzuo lightly jumped twice, made sure that the belt was tied firmly, and said with a smile: "You You'd better put more wax on your bowstring, I'm counting on your amazing shooting tonight!"
The Silla guide was a slender, strong middle-aged man. His head was wrapped with a piece of black cloth, and he wore a tight leather jacket. He had a dagger in his waist and held a long-handled bone in his hand, which could be used as a weapon or as a weapon. Hiking poles. He bowed in an elegant manner: "Mr. Jun, I promise you, I walked this road hundreds of times in the dark when I was a boy, and nothing will happen to me!"
His confident tone also infected Wang Wenzuo, and he couldn't help but smile: "Very good, what's your name?"
"Golden kudzu! Gold of gold, kudzu of kudzu!"
"Very good, I will hand over to you the hundred people I am traveling with. If everything goes well, you can be the first to choose the trophies. In addition, I will also reward you with twenty bolts of silk!"
"Thank you, Sir!" Jin Ge kowtowed, stood up and said, "My first suggestion is that all of you should put on hemp shoes and tie them up with straw ropes. Just like me, the road on the mountain is slippery, and it's still difficult." There are ten people tied together with ropes so that even if someone loses their footing, they won’t fall down the valley!”
"Very good, everything is as you said!" Wang Wenzuo asked, "But if you are hiking at night, do you really not need to raise a fire?"
"No need!" Jin Ge looked at the sky: "It must be a good weather tonight. The stars and the moon are enough. Just follow my footsteps and there will be no problem!"
As Jin Ge expected, the weather was good that night, and the moonlight shone on the mountain road like a jade jade. At the beginning, this mountain road was much easier than Wang Wenzuo originally expected.
The forest was very close to them, stretching out to cover the mountain road and erecting a rustling green roof. Even the moonlight was blocked, so they seemed to be traveling in a dark passage.
However, the mules being hauled were walking steadily and without fatigue, and Jin Ge was indeed walking steadily as he said. The mountain road was winding and rugged, and the group of people walked slowly along the road and crossed the mountain wall. Thick pine needles lay on the ground like a velvet blanket, and the mules walking on the stone steps made only the faintest sound. This even gave Wang Wenzuo the illusion of safety, as if he was not on a night raid, but on a night outing with his friends.
"Yingchui Ridge is ahead!" Jin Ge announced: "The rest of the way is difficult. We need to unload the baggage on the mules. Let's rest here for a while, eat something, and we will set off in a moment!"
Wang Wenzuo sat cross-legged and spat out the wood chips in his mouth. Only then did he feel that his cheeks were numb. The food was dry biscuits and dried meat in the bag, which he cut into small pieces with a knife and swallowed.
Then they packed up and set off again under the moonlight. As Jin Ge had warned before, the road ahead was more difficult and dangerous. Not only was the road steeper, but the ground was also littered with cobbles and rock fragments. The sentinel at the front of the team had to use The branches clear the road so that no one steps on them and slips.
"It would be terrible if someone fell down here!" Jin Ge whispered.
Wang Wenzuo nodded repeatedly. He could feel the height he was at. The trees here were getting thinner and the wind was getting stronger, pulling at his clothes and blowing his hair into his eyes. The mountain road kept twisting and turning, so he could see the Baekje people's mountain gate below, and the Tang army camp further below, where the fire was like a candle flame.
It was not until dawn that Wang Wenzuo stopped. His legs had lost all feeling. With the morning light, he could clearly see the stone walls of Zhenxian City.
The scale of this mountain city is not large, only one acre in size. It has a reinforced tower, a main castle made of wood, and stables, warehouses, and dormitories hidden behind low stone walls. The walls were very rough, just made of large stone strips and not plastered.
Even so, it is close to the mountain, and its situation is enough to control all the stone steps up the mountain from Shanzha. If an enemy wanted to attack Zhenxian City, he would have to climb up from the mountain gate little by little, and at the same time he would have to withstand the flying arrows and falling rocks falling from the mountain city.
"How can we climb the city without a ladder?" Wang Wenzuo asked in a low voice.
"No need for a ladder!" Jin Ge stretched out his right hand: "Look over there!"
Wang Wenzuo looked in the direction of Jin Ge's finger and couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. He saw an extremely steep cliff about two arrows away from Zhenxian City. It was almost a vertical cliff leading straight to the top of the mountain. Standing on the top of the mountain, you can overlook Jinhyeonseong Castle.
"You are not a spy of the Baekje people, are you?" He Bayong said angrily: "We are not monkeys, how can we climb up!"
"You can climb it!" Jin Ge insisted: "I climbed it many times when I was a child, and I am familiar with this road!"
"Even if you can climb up, it doesn't mean we can climb up!" He Bayong became more and more angry: "Besides, this place is so close to Zhenxian City, how come there are so many of us climbing up there without any movement? If everyone is discovered, everyone There is only a dead end on the cliff!"
"He Ba, no need to say more!" Wang Wenzuo stopped his subordinates, turned to the soldiers behind him and said: "I don't need to say the reward for being the first to climb. It only requires twenty people. Those who are brave enough will step forward. Just wait here!"
After a while, a few soldiers stood out sparsely. Wang Wenzuo counted and found that there were only seventeen people in total. He smiled: "Okay, these are enough! Everyone, take off the things that are in the way. It will be easier to climb later!”
The people who were about to climb the cliff walked to a huge boulder next to the cliff. They took off their armor and weapons, wrapped them in cowhide and tied them up. Then they wrapped a roll of thick hemp rope around one shoulder, crossed it diagonally across the chest, and then They were strapped into special soft deerskin boots with protruding iron hooks at the top, and mountaineering hooks hung from their waists. There were four people in each group, and the last group was five people. Wang Wenzuo was about to go into battle in person, but was pulled back by He Bayong.
Lewen
