Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 395 Dragon Gate Ferry

Longmen Ferry.

Yao Xiong led the army, stood on the cliff, and looked into the distance.

The sound of a waterfall can be faintly heard in the distance. The water flow is very strong and echoes throughout the valley.

The location of Longmen Ferry is extremely dangerous. Only when you actually come here can you understand the reason.

Longmen Ferry is surrounded by mountains on both sides and a river in the middle.

The mountains on both sides seemed to have been cut by a knife, split into two, forming two cliffs.

Half of the cliff was in the hands of the Han State, and half of the cliff was in the hands of the Zhou State.

Even Gao Yanzong, who had been the most confident before, now looked at the cliff in the distance with an unsightly expression on his face.

He swallowed and looked at Yao Xiong beside him.

“Is it really possible to pass through here???”

He finally understood why the Zhou people did not set up defenses here. These were two cliffs with a turbulent stream in between. Even if there were no defenses, who could get through? ?
Going further west, there is a ferry where the terrain is lower. If the river is frozen, you can ride across on horseback. However, there are people guarding the place, and they are the elite troops under Da Xiwu. Once attacked, Da Xiwu can lead the elite cavalry to support in half a day.

Yao Xiong was as confident as ever, "Of course I can pass."

"If we can't get through, why should we come here?"

Gao Yanzong stuck his head out and looked down the cliff.

"If we tie a rope, people can get through, but what about the horses?"

"How do we cross the river?"

“How do we take the boat down?”

"There are knights patrolling on the other side. How can we avoid alerting them?"

The more Gao Yanzong looked at this strategy, the more he felt it was unreliable.

Yao Xiong suddenly laughed, "Do you think that our ancestors came here before they came up with the plan?"

"Ancestor is a cautious person, he must have been here before."

"The ancestors who came here all thought it was possible to cross the river, so naturally it is possible."

"How about this, let's start with you. Come on, jump over there."

Gao Yanzong glanced at Yao Xiong and knew in his heart that the other party was joking, but he didn't want to take the joke. "General Yao, just tell me, how are we going to get there?"

"Okay, don't panic."

"I've been prepared."

"Prepare?"

"Yes, you will know it tonight. Come on, follow me back."

Yao Xiong led the knights under his command and quietly left here again.

After defeating Dugu Yongye last time, Yao Xiong returned to Liu Taozi to receive the reward, and then exchanged places with Zhang Heizu. Zhang Heizu led the army to fill the vacancy, while Yao Xiong stayed by Liu Taozi's side. Of course, this was only in name.

Yao Xiong selected 3,500 elite warriors and secretly came to the other side of Longmen Ferry.

The camp where he is currently stationed is only three miles away from the cliff, and sometimes he can even hear the sound of flowing water.

The camp was rather simple, and the soldiers were waiting here.

Gao Yanzong and Yao Xiong were sitting in the small hut. Yao Xiong was eating meat nonchalantly, with a look of enjoyment on his face.

Gao Yanzong, however, felt a little restless.

Yao Xiong said nothing and refused to reveal anything.

The two men didn't know how long they waited until dark. When Gao Yanzong was about to go back to rest, a warrior finally came in.

The samurai was followed by several men.

These people were not soldiers. They were dressed in ordinary clothes and had ordinary looks. They looked like old farmers.

Yao Xiong hurriedly stood up and met a few people, and his attitude was extremely friendly.

Gao Yanzong was a little stunned. Although he didn't know the reason, he stood aside and saluted with Yao Xiong.

Yao Xiong warmly invited several people to sit down, and then left only Gao Yanzong and asked the rest to go out.

Yao Xiong's face no longer had the previous nonchalance, it was now very serious.

He looked at Gao Yanzong and explained, "These were sent by our ancestors. They are the masters of the Shaofu Supervisor."

"Shaofujian?"

"Yes, the ladders and catapults we used this time were all made under the supervision of these people."

During the Han Dynasty, Shaofu was only responsible for the emperor's personal financial affairs, but after the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it gradually became the position of "in charge of the skills of all craftsmen."

There are many institutions in the palace, responsible for different aspects of manufacturing and invention.

This is a different concept from the Ministry of Works. The Ministry of Works is responsible for large-scale national projects, while the Shaofu is directly responsible for the craftsmen.

Gao Yanzong seemed to be thinking about something.

The leader of the group was an old man who looked quite strong, with broad shoulders and a thick waist.

He said, "We already know the situation here, but we still need to go and see it in person and verify it before we can start production."

"Climbing the cliff is easy now. We can use a rope ladder. Crossing the river is not difficult either. As for climbing the mountain, if we can set up a rope, we can carry heavy objects up the mountain. However, there are soldiers patrolling on the mountain. We should go over and take a look first, and then think of a solution."

"Easy to say! Easy to say!"

"Yanzong, take them to see it tomorrow!"

"only!!"

These people talked a lot to Yao Xiong, all of which were to verify the situation here, such as the number of people crossing the river, the supplies they carried, the war horses, etc.

They were busy until night, and then went back to rest.

Gao Yanzong and Yao Xiong saw them off, and Gao Yanzong asked, "Can General Yao and his men really do it?"

Yao Xiong glared at him, "Do you look down on craftsmen so much?"

"Let me tell you, these craftsmen who came here are all top talents in the Shaofu. Grandfather treats them like treasures. For example, the old man just mentioned is the Supervisor of All Smelting in the Shaofu, a seventh-rank official! Most county magistrates have to bow to him first when they see him."

Yao Xiong said seriously: "Your Majesty and Grandfather both particularly appreciate these people."

"In order to obtain these talents, the court publicly issued a notice to recruit talents, and various places promoted them one after another, which is how the current Shaofu Temple was formed."

"Grandfather said these people have a way to help us pass the Dragon Gate. Grandfather will not lie, so you can rest assured!"

When Gao Yanzong heard what Yao Xiong said, he chose to believe it.

The next day, Gao Yanzong took advantage of the time when the other party was on patrol and led the craftsmen to the ferry.

The craftsmen were not surprised when they saw the ferry for the first time. They were the talents in the relevant fields specially selected by Zu Ting. They had already seen the maps and various portraits of this place and just needed to verify it.

Before Gao Yanzong had the time to ask, he saw them making a very simple ladder with ropes, and after hanging it up, they easily climbed down the cliff.

Gao Yanzong was stunned by this.

These craftsmen are not young, but they are extremely agile in their work and do not look like old men at all.

They went down the cliff and then began to observe the water, and finally went to check the cliff on the opposite side.

Gao Yanzong saw them digging some soil and taking out various rulers to measure it.

Gao Yanzong had no idea what they were doing, but he thought they were very powerful.

After such a busy day, they hurried back before the enemy could patrol again.

On the way back, Gao Yanzong finally found an opportunity and started asking questions.

"In fact, we only need a large ladder truck to complete the crossing and landing. We have considered building a bridge, but the distance between them is too far. It is not possible to build a bridge during the inspection period, and it is impossible to assemble it."

"You've just seen it. It's not difficult to get down. It's not difficult to move the things down. We can build a floating bridge to cross the river. We just saw that the width of the river is not very large."

"It's hard to figure out how to get up there. We can make a big ladder first, then disassemble it and quickly cross the river to reassemble it after we get down."

Gao Yanzong listened to them and felt quite relaxed. "Is it really that easy?"

They all smiled but didn't answer.

After returning to the camp, these people began to get busy.

The tent seemed to have been turned into a factory. All day long, I saw them cutting wood and hammering on it.

After two days, Yao Xiong finally decided to send out his troops. At dawn, Yao Xiong led his soldiers to the edge of the cliff.

The heights of the cliffs at the two places of Longmen Ferry are not the same. Generally speaking, the cliff on the Han side seems to be much shorter, which is more unfavorable for hiding the body and is easy to be discovered by the other side.

Therefore, they had to grasp the timing of the enemy's patrol.

The craftsmen fixed several different ropes on the cliff and made a crude "hanging basket". This thing was originally used to carry things to the city wall when defending the city. The production process of this thing is not complicated, and ordinary craftsmen can also master it skillfully. The only difficulty is the current fixing problem. The craftsmen directed the military craftsmen to work together and quickly began to lower people.

They did not send down the army and all the supplies.

This takes a lot of time and can easily be discovered by the enemy.

After putting down more than 400 people, they began to use the tools prepared in advance to install the pontoon bridge.

The craftsmen on the cliff began to dismantle their equipment.

Both sides proceeded almost simultaneously.

The scorching sun slowly rose and the wind howled past.

In such a climate, the sun's rays do not seem so warm.

Several Zhou knights huddled up and rode their horses along the edge of the cliff.

There were about ten people in total, led by an officer, running forward along the path along the edge of the cliff.

All these places bordering the enemy were patrolled by knights, two groups, twice a day, to ensure that there was no enemy movement on the other side.

The officer exhaled a puff of thick mist and shuddered.

The crowd did not walk too fast, but leisurely. Their arrival time was regulated. In order to prevent them from just riding around without checking carefully, a time was specially set. If they arrived at the destination too early or too late, they would be punished.

Several knights were complaining at this moment.

"People from several nearby prefectures were taken to the north to establish their careers. Why do we have to stay here and not be able to go anywhere?"

"It was like this when the Duke of Yun was here, and it is still like this now that the Duke of Zheng is here."

"Have we never fought a war in our lives?"

"Even His Majesty doesn't trust us?"

These soldiers were the ones who had been imprisoned with Old Wei in the past. They had been guarding here the whole time and had never gone out. Later, Wei Xiaokuan's position was replaced by Da Xiwu. They thought there would be some differences, but unexpectedly, they still had to continue to stay here.

It is hard to say whether this is fortunate or unfortunate. When Yuwen Hu summoned the twenty-four soldiers, he did not call them together. He just let them stare at the Qi people opposite in a daze.

It had been a long time since the State of Qi attacked Yubi or the surrounding strongholds.

The officer heard the complaints coming from behind him and couldn't help but curse: "Stop talking nonsense!"

"Your Majesty lets us stay here, which shows his trust in us!! Do you think going to the north to fight Gao Changgong is such an easy job?"

"Do you still remember when Gao Changgong and Liu Taozi rode their horses around Chang'an and no one could stop them?"

"People like you will just die if you go to the north!"

The officer scolded them a few times and finally suppressed the complaints.

As the crowd walked and watched, someone suddenly pointed to the distance and asked, "Has that tree across the street been cut down?"

"Which tree?"

"It's that big tree, the one we used to shoot targets at."

The officer stopped and looked into the distance for a long time, but didn't see anything different. He got off his horse and walked to the edge of the cliff again. He looked down and didn't find anything wrong. Then he pondered for a long time, "The wind was strong yesterday, maybe it was blown down."

"Zhao Yi, write this down."

"only."

The officer did not rush to mount his horse, but untied his skirt and poured out the water he had drunk when he came out towards the cliff.

The knights slowly left.

At the foot of the cliff, a group of Han soldiers clung to the wall with many things placed under their feet.

Fortunately, there is a gap under the cliff here that can accommodate soldiers. They can be seen from the opposite bank, but it is difficult to see from above.

They waited for a long time before rushing out. The craftsmen on the other side also came out and assembled it again.

When it was about to get dark, the second wave of knights came to inspect, but these people didn't look at anything for long. They all looked a little absent-minded and just left slowly.

The craftsmen came out again and continued to work.

A huge assembled ladder truck appeared on the edge of the cliff. This ladder truck was obviously much smaller than the one used for siege and had no defensive function. It was a pure tool for climbing the city walls. The principle was to put a piece of wood on the city wall and walk from this side to the other side.

The craftsmen calculated the distance carefully. The upper ladder of this ladder truck was almost in the water, but fortunately it was stable. The slope was a bit steep, so the craftsmen applied anti-slip treatment on it. Some military craftsmen even went directly into the water, dragged the ladder, and placed wood under the ladder. All this was to reduce the slope.

It was pitch dark, but Gao Yanzong did not dare to hold a torch.

He groped his way forward, following the traces, and climbed up the cliff with difficulty.

The more than 300 people who were accompanying him followed behind him.

Gao Yanzong was the first to climb the ladder. Seeing that he was unable to move the ladder at all despite his physical condition, everyone felt relieved and followed him up together.

Gao Yanzong climbed up the cliff and looked around vigilantly.

There was a forest on the other side of the cliff. It looked a bit desolate at the moment as many trees had been cut down. Gao Yanzong immediately organized people and began to guard the surroundings, and then continued to rescue the rest of the people.

It was such a busy night.

By the next day, Gao Yanzong had made preparations. He had his men dig several traps on the road, and then hid in the woods, waiting for the enemy's patrol knights to arrive.

There are many more knights coming today than yesterday, and I don’t know why.

They came with great force, heading straight for the area where they were crossing the river, carrying ropes and other items.

More than twenty riders came galloping over. Suddenly, a war horse let out a scream, its hoof broke, and it fell headfirst.

This trap is a horseshoe pit, specially designed to deal with cavalry.

The warhorse and its rider fell to the ground together. Before the rest of the people could react, the crossbows were fired and they all died quickly.

Gao Yanzong then came out and asked everyone to continue to force the crossing.

Yao Xiong led the rest of the people, carrying a lot of baggage, and finally crossed the Longmen Ferry and successfully arrived in the territory of Zhou State.

Everyone was very tired and hadn't rested for a long time.

But there was no other way. Since the patrolling knight had been killed, it would soon attract the enemy's attention. Now was not the time to rest. He had to implement his strategy before the enemy could fully react.

Yao Xiong led everyone on their war horses, and then according to the original plan, they quickly galloped towards the west.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!"

Suddenly, a huge drum sounded in Yubi City. In an instant, the city was quickly on alert. Many soldiers appeared on the city wall, all holding powerful crossbows, aiming at the outside.

A knight came galloping and entered the city.

Inside the government office, Da Xi Wu, who was playing the game of pitching pots with his subordinates, was also startled by the sound of the drum. He hurriedly asked someone to put on armor for him, and then hurriedly walked out of the inner courtyard.

A scout in charge of patrolling came to report: the patrolling knights who set out at 9:00 p.m. were missing, and the last place they went was Longmen Ferry.

The knights who went to search found their bodies at Longmen Ferry, and also found traces of the enemy crossing the river.

After hearing this report, Da Xiwu felt a buzzing in his head and almost collapsed to the ground.

How can it be?

How did you do it? ?

The soldiers stationed in Yubi City are not only responsible for the defense of Yubi City. The surrounding important cities and ferry crossings such as Jiangzhou, Longmen, etc. are also under the defense system of Yunzhou.

The enemy had cavalry passing through Longmen, which was very terrible news.

Because after Longmen is Wuxiang, after Wuxiang is Huazhou, and after Huazhou is Chang'an.

The distance between these three places can be traveled within a day by horse. What's more terrifying is that the elite troops of the states near Chang'an are all fighting with Gao Changgong in the north. There is no force to defend against the enemy at all.

Da Xiwu's eyeballs almost popped out, his face was ferocious, and he started yelling hurriedly.

"Someone is coming!!"

"Light the smoke signal!!"

"Quickly send someone to inform everywhere!!"

"King Qin!! King Qin!!"

(End of this chapter)