Opening the mountain
Jingwan sneezed several times in a row, and Lu Chang pressed a soft handkerchief to her little nose: "Blow gently!"
She tugged at Lu Chang's clothes, blew hard, and finally felt much better.
Seeing her lying comfortably on the bed, Lu Chang turned around and told Fang Juan not to give her any more iced watermelon, because she must have eaten so much cold food to keep sneezing all day long.
Jingwan was immediately dissatisfied, but Lu Chang didn't listen to her and ignored her even when she clung to him and acted out.
With his shift time fast approaching, Lu Chang decided not to argue with her any longer. He easily grabbed her wrist and carried her to the bed, saying, "Get up and have some porridge after you're done arguing. We'll have lunch when I get back today."
Jingwan gave him a hard knock on the back and watched him leave, her face flushed with anger.
Lu Chang didn't need to look back to know what she looked like. He walked forward, not letting Jing Wan see the slight smile on his face.
Upon arriving at the government office, his assistant informed him that Lord Yuan had invited him.
When he arrived with the documents, Yuan Cheng had just put down his pen and was rubbing his aching brow. Seeing him coming over, he invited Lu Chang to sit down and said he would also have a chance to rest for a while.
"Shiyu Water City is still under construction, but the number of foreign merchant ships that can dock there is increasing day by day, which is a good thing. But these past few days I have been feeling uneasy. Lu Chang, do you know why?"
Lu Chang presented the official document, saying, "Please take a look, Your Excellency."
Yuan Cheng flipped through the documents, and after he finished reading them, he finally felt a little relieved.
Lingnan is mostly mountainous, with very few roads connecting it to the Central Plains, and the journeys are long and difficult, almost isolating it from the world. Only the sea area has the closest connection with the outside world.
Because Shiyu Port was valued by the government and well-managed, many foreign merchant ships chose it as a transit point. However, the merchant ships eventually headed north, and all the buying and selling of goods was conducted in the harbor controlled by the Feng family.
Even though Shiyu Water City has grown and prospered because of the presence of these merchant ships, one cannot put all one's eggs in one basket. If Shiyu Port falls into the hands of others, a new route must be opened to connect Lingnan with the Central Plains. Only in this way can goods from foreign merchant ships and goods from Lingnan circulate in all directions.
Yuan Cheng had always worried about the same thing that Lu Chang had worried about. When his mother sent people to do business in Lingnan, she complained to his father that the official roads were difficult to travel and that goods were hard to transport in and out.
At the time, the family was eating, and the father put the deboned small fish into the mother's bowl, dismissing her complaints: "There are so many mountains and so much miasma. As long as there is a road to walk on, that's enough. Why are you complaining that the road is difficult to walk on?"
While eating the fish, the mother continued to complain about the government's incompetence: "I think Daguanling is very good. If a proper road were built on the mountain, it would be much more convenient."
He was too young to understand what his parents were saying; he was only thinking about going outside to play after dinner.
After his parents passed away, he went to Pingdu. Recalling those times in the Northwest was what he did most often. It was like carving words on stone with a knife. He would go through it again and again, and all the details would be engraved in his heart and he would never forget them.
As early as when he was leading the mountain people to reclaim the land, he had thought about opening a new road to the Central Plains. His mother would not mention this mountain range for no reason. She never spoke carelessly and always spoke with reason and evidence. Moreover, she was a merchant in Lingnan. There must be a reason why she could point out this place, Daguanling.
Therefore, when building the water city, Lu Chang consulted a lot of materials, including local gazetteers, maps, and even asked feng shui masters to conduct on-site surveys.
Although feng shui masters talk in a mystical way, they are skilled in land surveying. Geomancy is their specialty. After several surveys, Daguanling was found to be the northernmost of the twelve ridges in Lingnan, but its terrain was relatively gentle and it was rich in rocks and timber, making it a major pass for entering the Central Plains.
More importantly, this place has a very advantageous military location, easy to defend and difficult to attack. If war breaks out in the Central Plains, as long as this pass is sealed, the south will be temporarily safe.
The biggest problem now is that very few mountain people have ever been to Daguanling. The forest roads are complicated, making it difficult to draw maps and build blueprints. He sent people into the mountains several times, but they could only walk a short distance.
After listening to his difficulties, Yuan Cheng thought for a long time and said, "I recommend someone to you. With her, it will not be difficult to draw a map of Daguanling." He looked at Lu Chang and continued, "It is Jingwan. With her, it will not be difficult to understand the situation in the mountains."
Lu Chang naturally refused. He hadn't brought her to Lingnan to suffer, and he was even less willing to put her in danger. Miasma, wild beasts, getting lost—any of these could easily take a life.
"I don't believe that such a large area as Lingnan can't find a single person who knows the way. As for Jingwan, sir, you shouldn't even think about taking her."
Yuan Cheng knew he wouldn't agree so easily, so he poured Lu Chang a cup of tea and told him about his personal experiences in the Northwest.
That year, when he first arrived in the Northwest, he was rescued by Jingwan. To express his gratitude, he went to Xiaoxing Village to find her and thus met this young friend who was much older than him.
He left a promise for Jingwan: if she ever encounters any difficulties, she should come to him for help.
But before Jingwan could even ask for his help, he found himself in danger again.
"Three months later, I was ordered to go to Fengyin Mountain. Because I was not familiar with the road, I mistakenly entered the Shuilong Desert. Suddenly, a sandstorm arose, and I had to get off my camel and rely on it to wait for the sandstorm to pass. But after the sandstorm passed, I got lost."
Even now, Yuan Cheng still feels a chill when he thinks about it: "I walked in the desert for three days and three nights. At that time, I hadn't drunk any water for two days."
“I never thought I would meet Jingwan again. When she appeared in front of me, I thought it was my hallucination. It wasn’t until I was drinking the water from the cowhide bag that I realized she was really standing in front of me.”
"Later, she led me out of the desert and back to the military camp. I told everyone about it, but no one believed me. They told me that no one could get out of the Water Dragon Desert. Anyone who went to Fengyin Mountain had to stay far away from the desert, because it was a forbidden place for death."
“I never told anyone else about this. Later, I lived in the Northwest for many years and believed what everyone said. No one dared to go to the Shuilong Desert.”
"I once asked Jingwan how she got out of the desert. I still remember the way she said it; she scratched her head, thought for a long time, and only told me, 'Just follow the path, and you'll get out.'" I was speechless. There are people like Jingwan in the Northwest, but none are as remarkable as her.
Lu Chang knew how capable she was, and secretly cursed her for not being able to guide him alone, but he still refused again.
“She spends her days at home carving jade and reading. She’s doing very well. I don’t want her to suffer in the mountains. As for finding someone, you don’t need to worry. I will find a skilled person myself.”
After saying this, Lu Chang left.
Yuan Cheng was somewhat helpless. If they didn't take advantage of this good season to repair the road, the construction would be delayed when the rainy season came. What would they do then?
At noon, Lu Chang returned to the mansion for lunch. He saw Jingwan still clinging to him, wanting to eat some watermelon. He relented and allowed her to have a few bites, on the condition that she eat more lunch.
Jingwan then happily sat back in her seat and ate two small bowls of rice.
Lu Chang thought she was fine as she was. Why go to the deep mountains and suffer? Staying at home peacefully was good enough.
However, he still underestimated Yuan Cheng. When he led his men to survey Daguanling again, he actually saw Jing Wan walking back and forth at the foot of the mountain, with Yuan Cheng following behind her.
Upon seeing him, Jingwan cheered and ran towards him. Lu Chang caught her and asked, "Why are you here?"
Jingwan snorted: "Lord Yuan asked me to find a way out of the mountains, so of course I came!"
"Don't bother finding the way, just come home with me later." Lu Chang didn't even glance at Yuan Cheng, and pulled Jing Wan's hand to leave.
Jingwan sighed repeatedly, "But I've already found it!"
As soon as she said this, everyone looked at her.
She pointed in a direction and explained, "Cousin, I noticed Daguanling on my way to Lingnan that year, but we were still on the other side of the mountain at the time. Look, as long as you follow the mountain, you can reach Jiaozhou."
Jiaozhou was the place where the former governor, Shangguan Yi, once served. If Jiaozhou could be accessed, it would provide another route through the Central Plains.
Yuan Cheng asked her, "You said we just need to follow the mountain's contours and don't need to change course?"
She thought for a moment and said, "There is an ancient path here that follows the contours of the mountain, but it has been out of use for so long that it is now hidden by bushes and no one can see it."
Because of her suggestion, Lu Chang led his men to continue the survey for days and finally decided to carve out the ancient road.
On the first day, Yuan Cheng and Lu Chang mobilized soldiers and gathered hundreds of civilians to set up camp at the foot of the mountain. Following the old craftsmen's methods, they collected nearby rocks and timber along the winding ancient road and carved stone steps into the mountainside, one by one.
Jingwan also came along. While everyone was carving stone steps, she led people to explore the mountains and drew maps bit by bit.
I didn't want her to draw so detailed or so extensively, but she said, "This place will be very important in the future. If war breaks out, the more familiar we are with the mountains, the more likely we are to survive!" After saying that, she went back to her work.
The deeper they went, the more difficult the path became. Although Lu Chang didn't know the way, he took the lead and let Xiao Jingwan point the way for him. A few dozen meters away, a thin layer of mist rose from the forest.
She had a wicked thought, stopped in her tracks, and deliberately spoke to Lu Chang in an ethereal and mysterious tone: "Cousin, let me tell you a story."
Lu Chang turned to look at her: "What story?"
"The Book of Searching for the Supernatural records a kind of monster called Xinang. When it sees a person, it will reach out its hand and make them fall into the illusion it creates. If a person follows it away, they will get lost in the mountains and forests and then die. Some people say that when there is fog in the forest, it means that it is about to appear."
She pointed to the mist in the distant forest, and everyone who looked at it got goosebumps.
"Girl, why don't we leave? What you're saying is so creepy!"
Lu Chang gripped her hand much tighter, but he told her, "I'm also from the Northwest, and I've heard of this monster before."
Jingwan's face fell immediately; hey, she didn't scare her cousin.
Just then, she heard a rustling sound in the grass beneath her feet, which startled her so much that she jumped onto Lu Chang, crying out, "Cousin, save me!"
A soldier reacted quickly and swung a branch at it, only to discover that it was a small, shiny lizard.
It turned out to be a false alarm.
Jingwan got off Lu Chang somewhat embarrassed. She was still a little awkward and didn't want to look at Lu Chang's face. She just pulled his hand and walked to the other side, saying, "Cousin, there's miasma over there. Let's go to the other side!"
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