National color raw owl

North Ridge.

The [-]-mile North Ridge is like a huge dragon crawling on the vast land. It traverses the northwest of the empire, from the south of Xishan Road to the north, and extends to the north of Anyi Road. , the North Ridge is lush and verdant, stretching the three northwest routes of the empire beyond the North Ridge.

From inside the pass, there is only Xigu Pass.

Xiguguan is jokingly called Tianmen. It stretches for tens of miles, and the wall is high and thick. West Valley Pass.

Xiguguan can be said to be the first pass in the world, easy to defend and difficult to attack. There is a garrison of more than 5000 people stationed here. On the wall that stretches for dozens of miles, there will be soldiers guarding it at intervals. .

Although the defenders of Xiguguan belong to the guard army of Xishan Road, they are not under the control of Xishan Road, but directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. Even so, no one can mobilize Xigu Pass without the imperial edict One soldier of Guan Guan Army.

The main gate of Xiguguan is like a big mouth of blood. The gate is heavy and heavy. It is made of pure copper and weighs several thousand catties.

The left and right sides of the main gate are less than five miles apart, and each has a secondary gate, which is much smaller than the main gate, but it is also guarded by a copper gate. Under the gate, there is of course heavy inspection. More than a dozen checkpoints were set up in a row, and they had to go through a lot of searches before closing the gate, which shows the importance of Xiguguan to the empire.

Now that there is war in the northwest, Xigu Pass is the only pass to enter, so it is naturally more tightly guarded. The number of guards above the pass has doubled, and it is equipped with longbows and crossbows.

When the mission arrived at Xigu Pass, the general guarding the pass, Da Xizhang, greeted him personally and led the mission out of the pass.

Da Xizhang didn't talk much, Xue Huai'an occasionally asked a question, and he would answer. If he didn't ask a question, he wouldn't say a word. He was not a sociable person, but it could be seen from his eyes that this person was not only He is a general, and he is very shrewd. Just imagine how important Xiguguan is, how can an ordinary general take on this important task.

When the mission arrived at Xiguguan, it was at noon, there was no time, and Da Xizhang didn't say any polite words, he asked the mission to rest for a while, Xue Huai'an said he wanted to leave the pass immediately, so he personally led the way.

The mission did not come out from the main entrance of Xiguguan. Xu Congyang had already issued an order that people could only enter and exit through the secondary gates on both sides. The main gate was intended to transport supplies to the northwest.

Xuanyuan Shengcai came to Xiguguan for the first time. When he passed through the gate, he found that he had walked for a long time. Just now, he saw Xiguguan towering toweringly, very tall. Only now did he know that the wall of Xiguguan is actually It was extremely heavy, and I was amazed in my heart. I couldn't help but think that if the Xiliang people really occupied the northwest, would they really be able to break through the world's number one barrier?

But soon I thought of the words of my cousin Xuanyuan Shao. According to Xuanyuan Shao, there is no pass or city that cannot be conquered in this world, but Xuanyuan Sheng still feels that the people of Xiliang have really arrived at Xigu Pass. It is extremely difficult to break through this iron-walled pass. If they want to cross the North Ridge and enter the pass, unless they really have the ability to take down the West Valley Pass, or fly over the North Ridge from the sky.

After leaving Xigu Pass, Xuanyuan Shengcai and many guard cavalry couldn't help but look back after counting the checkpoints. The thick and tall city walls gave people a strong sense of oppression.

Unknowingly walking to the last checkpoint, I suddenly heard a noise coming from the front, and saw a lot of people gathered at the checkpoint, the checkpoint was sealed off, and dozens of guards in armor were moving forward with long spears. The sword was unsheathed, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.

Da Xizhang was expressionless at first, but at this moment his thick eyebrows tightened, and he patted his horse forward. Xue Huai'an glanced at Chu Huan, frowned and said, "Master Chu, something seems to be wrong here?"

Chu Huan had already seen that something was wrong in the situation ahead, and said, "Master Xue, let me go over and have a look!" With a shake of the rein, he urged the horse to go over. When he approached, he saw hundreds of people in shabby clothes outside the checkpoint blocked by the crossbar. The common people looked haggard and sluggish, old and young, pushing small wooden carts, and the carts were full of tattered things. Chu Huan knew that this group of people must be from the Northwest just by looking at them. refugees who escaped.

At this moment, there are twenty or thirty young and strong men crowded outside the crossbar, with angry expressions on their faces, while the soldiers behind the crossbar are moving forward with spears, and one soldier has already sternly shouted: "Stay back, whoever If you dare to act recklessly, you will be stabbed to death on the spot!"

"Why don't you let us enter the customs?" A man in ragged clothes shouted angrily: "We are the people of Qin State, why don't you let us enter the customs?"

Someone shouted: "We came from Tianshan Road, and we wanted to enter the customs. Why didn't you let us in?"

Tianshan Road is in the most northwest part of the empire, a frontier land. These people came to Xiguguan from Tianshan Road, but it was a long way.

Da Xizhang had already rode his horse to the edge of the checkpoint, and said in a deep voice, "Listen to me, no one is allowed to enter the customs without a letter of entry issued by the government. If anyone insists on coming, don't blame me for being rude!"

"We are from Qin. If we want to enter the customs, what entry letter do we need?" Someone shouted: "When I entered the customs before, why didn't I use it?"

"This is Shangfeng's order!" Da Xizhang said firmly: "Where did you come from, where do you go back, don't get entangled here!"

These people have traveled a long distance to come here, how can they give up like this, several people have rushed to say: "We don't go back, the people from Xiliang have already called, we have to enter the customs!"

A group of people from behind crowded up, all shouting loudly: "We are going to enter the customs, we are going to enter the customs...!"

Da Xizhang's face was frosty, he raised his hand, and immediately behind him more than a dozen archers stepped up, bent their bows and set their arrows, and aimed at the refugees. Seeing that the bows and arrows were aimed, the people all backed away, but after a few steps, there was a The man took a few steps forward and said loudly, "Are your bows and arrows aimed at your own people? The people of Xiliang are in the northwest. If you have the ability, why don't you go to the northwest and kill the people of Xiliang?"

Chu Huan hurried forward, frowning and asked, "General Daxi, what's going on?"

Da Xizhang said: "There has been an order from above. Unless there is an entry letter, no one can enter the customs. Anyone who enters the customs by force will be killed without mercy!"

Chu Huan asked: "I saw a few carriages just now, why can they enter the customs? Could it be that they all have a certificate of entry?" When he just left the customs, he saw several carriages entering the customs, and only thought that refugees could enter the customs , Unexpectedly, he was stuck here.

Da Xizhang nodded and said, "Yes!"

Then some refugees asked: "What the hell is the entry letter? We are Qin people, and we pay taxes every year. Can we not even enter the pass of our own country?"

Another person said: "Some people entered the customs just now. They are from Qin, and we are also from Qin. Why can't we enter the customs?"

Da Xizhang frowned and said: "The people of Xiliang will withdraw their troops soon, you all go back to your hometown, take advantage of this time, go back home and farm."

"Farming?" Immediately someone sneered and said, "Northwest will soon be occupied by Xiliang people. What kind of fields should we grow? For Xiliang people to farm?"

"Nonsense." Da Xi scolded, "I have said that the people of Xiliang will soon withdraw their troops. They have already surrendered to us, Great Qin."

Someone shouted from behind: "We don't believe it. The Xiliang people are still in the northwest. I heard that they will attack soon. Let's not go back and die."

Noisy, the scene was very chaotic for a while.

Chu Huan was a little puzzled. Don't these people know that Daqin has negotiated peace with Xiliang?

Then he was relieved, the people in the northwest were in a war zone, and the people in Xiliang had not retreated for a long time. Of course, they didn't know whether the peace negotiation was successful. among things.

He was about to speak when he suddenly heard a voice from behind saying: "Let's make way, let's make way!" The people moved out of the way, but they saw several cars coming slowly, and in front of them was a car with carriages. In the carriage, the carriages behind were pulling wooden boxes. Twenty or thirty guards on horses with sabers stood beside them, yelling loudly, and drove hundreds of people out of a road.

The people were divided into two sides, but they saw the leader of the team riding a horse to the edge of the checkpoint, got off his horse, stepped forward, took out a letter from his arms, and handed it over, smiling: "My lords! , for convenience, this is the entry letter!"

A soldier took it and looked at it, then turned to Da Xizhang and said, "General, you can let him go!"

But Chu Huan had already said: "Bring it to me to see!"

The soldier saw that Chu Huan was wearing an official robe, even Da Xizhang had a bit of respect for Chu Huan, and he didn't dare to neglect him. He glanced at Da Xizhang, saw Da Xizhang nod, trotted over, and handed the entry letter to Chu Huan. joyous.

Chu Huan took it, opened it and looked at it, but the entry letter was very simple. It was stamped with an official seal, which was the official seal of Qingzhou Household Department. He knew that after leaving the customs, he would enter the territory of Ganzhou, Beishan Road, which is under the jurisdiction of Beishan Road. The land of the three states, Qingzhou is also within the territory of Beishan Road. Frowning, he looked at the guard and asked, "Is this the official seal of the Qingzhou Household Department? Is it the entry letter issued by the Household Department?"

Seeing that Chu Huan was wearing official robes, the guard didn't dare to neglect, nodded and said, "Exactly, it was issued by the Department of Household Affairs of Qingzhou."

"Where are you from?"

The guard straightened his chest and said: "Cao Min is the subordinate of Lord Yu, the chief of Qingzhou Military Department. He was ordered by Lord Yu to send the old man into the pass!"

"Old Master?" Chu Huan looked at the carriage and asked, "Is Old Master Yu in the carriage?"

The guard nodded and said, "Exactly!"

Chu Huan smiled lightly, and asked, "I want to ask you, how is this entry letter issued? Who can have this entry letter?"

The guard was stunned, and glanced at Da Xizhang, but Da Xizhang kept a cold face, and said in a deep voice: "Master Chu asked something, hurry up and say it!"

The guard said helplessly: "My lord, the grassroots don't know much, it's just...it's just that this entry letter is not available to ordinary people. If you want to enter the customs letter, it's... really difficult!" With a cold smile, he got off his horse and walked to the side of the crossbar. Before he could open the crossbar, he jumped up and jumped over the crossbar. do what.