bookbashuk Page 1567
Page 1567
"The army set up cooking pots and pans,"
"We will depart in half an hour."
Gave an order,
The army then entered the stronghold in an orderly manner.
The fire in the village was quickly extinguished.
However, hundreds of bonfires were lit instead.
Chapter 1877 Stone Fortress
Although it is already June,
But the soldiers still gathered around the campfire to warm themselves.
Dry the slightly damp clothes on your body.
I walked on the river all day.
Although they are all large ships
No water splashed.
However, the moisture from the river still made the soldiers' clothes somewhat damp.
If it's not dried,
Sailing through the night,
The humidity will be higher at night.
Many people will likely catch a cold.
The army did not eat the rations they carried.
Instead, they ate a hot dinner.
Two strongholds were captured in succession.
No one was injured.
The soldiers were all in high spirits.
There was no fatigue from a day's sailing.
.....
The sun hasn't risen yet.
The sky was already beginning to lighten.
Last night around midnight,
The fleet then entered the Yellow River from the Hulu River.
The Yellow River's flow is much faster than that of the Hulu River.
Zhao Yuan performed a set of boxing moves at the bow of the boat.
Stretching their muscles and bones.
The cabin space is limited.
The soldiers could only sleep sitting up.
Zhao Yuan was no exception.
After one night,
It's inevitable to experience some back pain.
To the left of the river lies the majestic Helan Mountains.
To the right is a vast desert.
The undulating sand dunes in the distance looked somewhat dark at this moment.
It was very quiet all around.
Only the sound of flowing water could be heard.
The sun slowly peeked out from behind the sand dunes in the east.
The dark sand dunes slowly began to shine.
Until the sun is high in the sky,
The sand dunes have turned completely golden.
The soldiers gradually woke up.
They took turns going up onto the deck.
Zhao Yuan walked to the bow of the boat.
Humanity towards those who give directions
Where are we now?
Zhong Shidao sent three people familiar with the roads of Western Xia.
Although there are no forks in the road here.
However, the three were still divided into three classes.
Make sure someone is always at the bow to guide the way, in order to avoid mistakes.
"We'll reach the entrance to Qingtongxia Gorge in another ten miles,"
"There is a stone fortress at the mouth of the gorge,"
"By destroying that stone fortress, we can enter the Tanglai Canal,"
"If Shunzhou doesn't intercept them,"
"We will arrive at Xingqing Prefecture by evening."
Zhao Yuan nodded and said, "Alright, let's rest at the gorge entrance then."
This section of the Yellow River, however, flows all the way north.
The vast desert on the right suddenly turned into a mountain range.
Both sides are sheer cliffs tens of meters high.
The river then flows through the middle.
There's no need to smash it; a stone simply falls from the riverbank.
The speed generated by a height of ten or so feet was enough to smash a large hole in a wooden boat.
Li Jun looked at the mountains ahead and exclaimed in surprise.
"They traveled many waterways,"
"I have never seen such a treacherous gorge."
Han Shizhong also said, "The two mountain ranges seem to be one."
"As if it had been cleaved in two,"
"Otherwise, how could the river be so steep where it flows through?"
The guide said, "The locals say that the mountains on both sides of the river are part of the Helan Mountains."
"Originally, it was one entity, and even river water couldn't flow between them,"
"The surrounding area is frequently flooded."
"When Yu the Great was controlling the floods, he used a divine axe to cleave out the Qingtong Gorge,"
"The river then flowed through."
"Only then can the downstream fields be irrigated."
Li Jun laughed and said, "I wonder if this divine axe is the same as Brother Li Kui's battle axe?"
"Ha ha!"
When everyone heard Li Jun's teasing,
He couldn't help but burst into laughter.
The guide laughed and said, "It's a myth, just something to make everyone laugh."
"After passing Qingtongxia, there will be plains."
"The Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties all built many irrigation canals,"
"Irrigating hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland on both banks,"
It is known as the "Jiangnan of the North".
"In autumn, the rice paddies are fragrant, the fish are plump, and the fruits are ripe and delicious."
"A Tang Dynasty poet once wrote, 'Orchards flourish at the foot of Helan Mountain,'"
“A famous line of poetry from the north and south of the Great Wall.”
Li Junqi asked, "Can rice be grown here?"
"It started sometime in the earliest days,"
"Rice was already widely cultivated during the Tang Dynasty,"
"The rice eaten by the Western Xia people all came from the Yinchuan Plain."
Zhao Yuan, however, focused on something different and asked,
"The Qin and Han dynasties cultivated the land here,"
"Then there must be quite a few Han Chinese here?"
"When Emperor Wu of Han expanded the borders, he sent people here to cultivate the land,"
"There are indeed many descendants of Han Chinese."
The stone fortress at the mouth of the gorge is built on the Helan Mountain range on the north bank.
The fleet docked about two miles from the entrance of Qingtongxia Gorge.
There's no way to get ashore if you go any further.
After everyone got ashore,
After spending some time by the river,
Zhao Yuan left Zhang Qing's four thousand-man squads to rest and reorganize on the spot.
He led only a thousand card players under Li Kui's command toward the steep cliffs at the mouth of the gorge.
The stones in this section of the mountain range are all bluish-green.
A blue stone fortress can be vaguely seen on the summit.
Heading north along the river,
The mountains gradually become steeper.
This section is already part of the Helan Mountains.
Looking north,
You can also see towering mountains in the background.
However, the group doesn't need to climb those mountains.
All that's needed is to solve the stone fortress suspended above the riverbank.
Chapter 1878 Sneak Attack
The cliff at the stone fort is only a dozen or so feet above the river.